All fairy tale reinterpretations

I read every reinterpretation of fairy tales I can get my hand on (especially adult novel format). I think it would be good for us to post a list of all the fairy tale reinterpretations we know of here so that we can find new books. My fairy tale books are all tagged as "Fairy Tale", so you can click my name and find all the fairy tale books I've got tagged.

I can suggest The Virago book of fairy tales and The second Virago Book of fairy tales, both edited by Angela Carter, as well as The bloody chamber, another collection of classic fairy tales as reinterpreted by the same Angela Carter.

You've got most of mine, the1butterfly, but I'll add:

--my Tam Lin collection: Tam Lin, The Perilous Gard, An Earthly Knight, and Fire and Hemlock
--Enchantment (Sleeping Beauty)
--Watching the Roses (Sleeping Beauty), The Tower Room (Rapunzel), and Pictures of the Night (Snow White), all by Adele Geras
--The Wild Swans and Daughter of the Forest (The Six Swans)
--Sheri S. Tepper's Beauty

(Edited to fix touchstone for The Wild Swans.)

Jane Yolen is currently working on a Rock 'n' Roll Fairy Tale series for middle grade readers. The first is Pay the Piper and the second is Troll Bridge.

These are "modern" retellings and reinterpretations of fairy tales, and while being aimed toward younger readers, make for quite a fun read.

I like Robin McKinley's fairy tale retellings.

I've been finding a lot of retellings in the children's/ young adult sections (as a future teacher, it's my duty to use my educator discount to purchase these ;} ). I've also noticed three children's series- The Princess School, Twice Upon a Time, and Further Tales. Those will be appearing in my catalog as I get around to reading them.

Thanks for the recommendations (Beauty should be in my catalogue, but is currently on loan, and you certainly can't go wrong with Robin McKinley).

I have two retellings on my 'to be read book pile' right now: Beauty by Robin McKinley and Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier. I just got Daughter of the Forest last weekend, after reading about it in LibraryThing!

I have a collection of short stories that are fairy tale retellings edited by Ellen Datlow called Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears.

And an old favorite is Briar Rose by Jane Yolen.

I'm really glad there's a group such as this on LT. I keep coming back just to see new titles that I can check out.

Anyone familiar with Pinocchio in Venice by Robert Coover? A post-modern kind of thing with Pinocchio now as an old man travelling back to Venice to look for his mother/the Blue Fairy ...

Robert Coover also did Briar Rose, a postmodern take on the Sleeping Beauty tale. IMO Coover is one the best American writers but I can understand why other readers may get frustrated with his work.

Mercedes Lackey has a set of VERY loose retellings.

The Fire Rose for Beauty and the Beast. This is in my top 10 of all time.

The Serpent's Shadow - Snow White

The Gates of Sleep - Sleeping Beauty

Phoenix and Ashes - Cinderella

The Wizard of London - Snow Queen (Don't bother with unless you are a completist.)

the1butterfly: a thought occurs to me .. have you read Bruno Bettelheim's The uses of enchantment? This is on my TBR list but looks like it might be of interest to you ... Bettelheim was a child psychologist and this is his take on "the meaning and importance of fairy tales."

The Uses of Enchantment is not an easy read - very much Freudian as well. This is a link to an excerpt of Bettelheim discussing Little Red Riding Hood.
Enchantment Litte Red Cap

Marina Warner's From the Beast to the Blonde is a more enjoyable non-fiction approach to fairy tales, not only does it include analysis of the classic works, Warner also looks at recent authors like Angela Carter.

Don't know how people feel about feist's Faerie Tale which I enjoy. Its a novel based on the traditional light and dark faery courts and an incidence when they are in mid-western USA for 6 months.

I enjoyed Mirror, Mirror by Gregory Maguire. It's an imaginative retelling of the Snow White tale set in 16th Italy, including appearances from the infamous Borgia clan.

Finally, for comic fans, I'd suggest the series Fables. It's about the characters from various fairy tales driven out of their own worlds and forced to take residence in ours. Most of it deals with it's own plot - rather than than those of the original tales - but it has fun takes on many of the characters, does include some more direct retellings, and some looks at what might have happened to the characters after the tales.

Donna Jo Napoli has done several clever retellings, including Beast (Beauty and the Beast), Zel (Rapunzel) and The prince of the pond : otherwise known as De Fawg Pin (The Frog Prince).

Not strictly a reinterpretation, but a number of tales are woven into Beauty by Sheri S. Tepper. It's particularly noteworth for it's addressing the relationship (or lack thereof) fairy tales heroines have with mother and step-mother figures. The sentiment that sometimes the best we can do for our children is "not to wish them ill" is still one that shakes me.

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor. Finished it last night and can't say enough good things about it. Can't wait for Seeing Redd in August.

I second the Fables graphic novels, anything Gregory Maguire and/or Angela Carter.

Also, Jasper Fforde--his Nursery Crime Division books, The Big Over Easy and The Fourth Bear are great reads.

it's a little younger but it's been my fave since i was in middle school Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson

and the only other book besides Wicked that I enjoyed by Gregory Maguire: Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister

Just finished Summer Knight which is a great interpretation of Midsummer night's dream set in chicago. Well written and good fun too.

There's a short story by Neil Gaiman called 'Snow, Glass, Apples' in the collection 'Smoke and Mirrors' which is the best retelling of Snow White I've ever read.

Thumbs up for Fables as well.

hi
am harshitha from india..am doing my project on fairy tales(final yr-english)
:-)
the topic which i have chosen is the fantasy and reality from selective fairytales.
to me,those stories appear real,as it kindles our imagination,gives us strength and even encouraes us to improve......it wud help my project if you give your interpretation....

I love fairy tale reinterpretations too and I also read a ton of them. If you look under my tags under "fairy tales retold," you'll find nearly 200 of them. I particularly love Angela Carter, Tanith Lee, Robert Coover, and Jane Yolen.

Cindy

I'm glad to know Robert Coover is recommended, I just found a book by him stepmother yesterday in a secondhand shop. it had no synopsis so i wasn't sure what to expect, but it was only £3 :)

This site has been very helpful in finding fairy-tale reworkings:
http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/.

Thanks for the link, bluereader! It is marvelous!!!!
:-))