Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Fairy Tales

Top Ten Tuesday is a weakly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  They love lists as much as I do, so it's only fair to tip my hat.

So this week’s ‘official’ topic is tips for new book bloggers, but get this friends, I am a new book blogger!  I feel like giving advice when I’ve been blogging for 3.5 months would be a tad pompous of me, so instead I’m going to do something else I think is totally wonderful and fun.  The Book Rat and Basically Amazing Books are hosting a Fairy Tale Fortnight for these last several weeks of April!  I love fairy tales, as I know many of you do as well, so you ought to go over and check out the festivities!  There are lots of wonderful posts, chances to participate, and giveaways for all.  Yesterday I posted my review of Shadows on the Moon, a fabulous retelling of Cinderella set in a fantasy world much like feudal Japan.  Today I’m going to share with you some fairy tales and retellings that I adore most, or want to read desperately.

Fables by Bill Willingham

Okay people, if you call yourself a fan of fairy tales, and you haven’t read the marvelous Fables by Bill Willingham, you really need to drop everything and do so.  Stat.  It tells the story of fables in exile after they’ve escaped their homelands to live in our own world, a refuge from the evil adversary that has destroyed their worlds.  I adore this series so much, and think that any fairy tale fan should read it, even if they’re not usually into graphic novels.



Cinder by Marissa Meyer: My review here.  I adored this futuristic Cinderella as a cyborg story, and cannot wait for the rest of the series which promises to draw on other favorites, like Little Red Riding Hood.
Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen: My review here.  I realize Robin Hood is more of a folk legend than a fairy tale, but I’m going to have to argue that that’s a very fine line, and since this is my list I’ll include what I want!
Stardust by Neil Gaiman: If you held a gun to my head and made me choose a favorite author, I’d probably say Neil Gaiman.  I love everything this man does, but Stardust was its own unique fairy tale esque story that shouldn’t be missed.

Like Stardust, these next three are more modern fairy tales.  None of them were written down by the Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Andersen, but that doesn’t mean they don’t share that magic!  Love them all:
Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle


Anything by Shannon Hale: I’ve just started reading Shannon Hale this year, and so far as I’m concerned with her MG work, she can do no wrong.  She writes wonderful fairy tale esque books that  any fairy tale lover will adore.

Anything by Robin McKinley:  I need to read these retellings in a bad way.  McKinley doesn’t only wright retellings or fairy tales, but I have heard absolutely amazing things about those she does, and plan to read some asap.

Anything by Juliet Marillier: Another author that weaves together her own fairy tales with retellings of those well-known.  I picked up Daughter of the Forest recently, and plan on reading pretty much everything else she’s written as well.