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My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me
My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me: Forty New Fairy Tales | Kate Bernheimer
The fairy tale lives again in this book of forty new stories by some of the biggest names in contemporary fiction. Neil Gaiman, OrangeAimee Bender, The Color MasterJoyce Carol Oates, Blue-bearded LoverMichael Cunningham, The Wild SwansThese and more than thirty other stories by Francine Prose, Kelly Link, Jim Shepard, Lydia Millet, and many other extraordinary writers make up this thrilling celebration of fairy talesthe ultimate literary costume party.Spinning houses and talking birds. Whispered secrets and borrowed hope. Here are new stories sewn from old skins, gathered by visionary editor Kate Bernheimer and inspired by everything from Hans Christian Andersens The Snow Queen and The Little Match Girl to Charles Perraults Bluebeard and Cinderella to the Brothers Grimms Hansel and Gretel and Rumpelstiltskin to fairy tales by Goethe and Calvino and from China, Japan, Vietnam, Russia, Norway, and Mexico.Fairy tales are our oldest literary tradition, and yet they chart the imaginative frontiers of the twenty-first century as powerfully as they evoke our earliest encounters with literature. This exhilarating collection restores their place in the literary canon.
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SomedayAlmost
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Writing a fairytale retelling, so I am reading some fascinating (& brilliantly disquieting) new fairytales! Knew Joyce Carol Oates‘ take on Blue Beard was interesting, and pleasantly surprised by Kevin Brockmeier‘s Rumpelstiltskin tale in Mad Lib form! #fairytales #writingfairytales #shortstories

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esurient
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Crazycatperson
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Some of the movies we have watched and a picture from a story I read!! The underworld series is really good! I recommend it to anyone who likes vampires or werewolves!
#scarathlon #teamharkness #screamathon @StayCurious @4thhouseontheleft

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Sweettartlaura
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Pickpick

Like every short story collection, this one is a mixed bag. But out of the 40 or so stories, I only skipped a couple. And the rest ranged from so-so to great. So I‘ll give this a 👍🏻.

Beyond the individual stories I liked, I always appreciate sampling new authors this way. Also, I learned about some fairy tales I‘d never read. It may be a time to read a straight-up Brothers Grimm collection 🤔

34 likes1 stack add
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Sweettartlaura
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Not that any of us NEED more books... 😏
But have I sung the praises of #MyTBR here?
It‘s a book recommendation service, that gives you 3 suggested titles every 3 months. You answer some questions; point your bibliotherapist to your Goodreads/blog/etc.; & read the books and give feedback. This is my 4th round, & I ♥️ it 🥰. I get so excited waiting for my next recommendation letter.
Can‘t wait to see what these books have to offer ♥️
Mytbr.co

Ashley_Nicoletto They always choose the best stuff and a lot of the time it‘s things I‘ve never heard of. 5y
Sweettartlaura @Ashley_Nicoletto exactly!!! The variety, the authors new to me, the classics I missed... they fill all kinds of gaps in my reading ♥️ 5y
27 likes2 comments
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Autumnscribe
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Mehso-so

Let me start by saying, I really wanted to like this book, I love fairy tales in all of their incarnations (traditional, reimagined, foreign, modern, parody), all of them. So giving a collection of them just a so-so rating pains me. Within the collection there are a few really excellent, well told, thought provoking stories. However, I found the great majority of them to be pretentious and so desperate to be avant-garde that they missed their mark

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Autumnscribe
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At about the 20% mark this book is a real bag of mixed nuts. Some of the stories are breathtakingly amazing...others just make you want to roll your eyes and question not only the author but the editor for including them. And I will bet dollars to doughnuts that not everyone will agree on which are which.

11 likes1 stack add
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Autumnscribe
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Loving this so far!

BeansPage This has been on my TBR list for forever lol. Maybe next year I can finally get to it 🤪 5y
Autumnscribe @TheReadingMermaid mine too! So far, it is amazing. 5y
15 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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Liberty
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Day 3 of the @bookriot #Riotgrams challenge: fairy tales! Since Sabrina Orah Mark‘s amazing collection came out this week, it seemed like a good time to remind people that she is also a contributor to this amazing collection. 🖤🍽☠️

Linsy I‘ve had my eye on this one! Stacked! 📚 6y
BibliOphelia This reminded me I have this on my TBR stack...er, bookshelf... great reading for this time of year! 6y
Mamashep Love this book! 6y
123 likes22 stack adds3 comments
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Naz786
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Panpan

In all honesty, I skipped quite a few pages just to get this book over and done with.

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daniwithtea
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Bailedbailed

This was a bummer. I don‘t expect to Love every story in a collection, but of the first ten or so stories, I only enjoyed one. Bailing.

JPeterson It took me about 2 years to finish all of the fairytales. Some were fine, most were just mediocre, but none really pulled me in. 6y
daniwithtea @JPeterson wow, two years? That‘s dedication! :D 6y
GirlChandler Oh no! I‘m really enjoying it (but also going slowly). 6y
daniwithtea @Starbeast22 I‘m glad you‘re enjoying it! 6y
16 likes4 comments
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GirlChandler
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Anything that isn‘t Heart of Darkness is good for me.

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GirlChandler
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This book freaked me out at first because my own novel is based on The Juniper Tree (which is where the title comes from). Husband assured me that that story is nothing like my novel. Nothing quite like fairytales retold! 😍

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ephemeralwaltz
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Want! 😱 #TBRTemptation

ju.ca.no Ah I‘ve seen that before and thought the same😍😍 6y
49 likes3 stack adds1 comment
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Yeah_I_Read
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@Eyelit thank you so much! I love everything 😊😊😊 #theretellingbookswap

silentrequiem I love that Eugie Foster collection! Fantastic pick! 7y
Eyelit Yay, it came! Sorry it was a day late. I really hope you like the stories! 😃 7y
95 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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HippieChickHomeschool
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#bookhaul Visited my favorite anarchist bookstore! And I get 25% off next visit!!!

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pocketmermaid
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I'm back on track with reading one story in the morning and one at night! I've used pages flags to plan out the rest of the book and I should be finished on Thursday! I'm going to do all short story collections like this from now on. 👍

sedeara I love planning how I am going to accomplish my reading almost as much as I love the reading itself. ☺ 7y
Bradleygirl @sedeara I have a very embarrassing spreadsheet for this and I love it. 7y
pocketmermaid @Bradleygirl No need to be embarrassed! Organization is awesome! 7y
sedeara @Bradleygirl, I agree that sounds awesome! I love hearing about other people's book tracking systems! 7y
40 likes4 comments
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pocketmermaid
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Fell behind in my goal to read two stories a day from this collection. Going to catch up now. With the cutest can of ginger ale ever. I just read two back-to-back "Little Mermaid" retellings and they were superb. ?

Eyelit I really liked that collection- enjoy! 7y
AmandaL I liked this one too. 7y
41 likes1 stack add2 comments
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pocketmermaid
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Finally -- a story from this collection that I really enjoyed. After plodding through the first five stories that didn't click with me, I was getting worried that this collection wasn't for me. Short story collections are always a mixed bag, but this one took a little longer for me to connect with.

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pocketmermaid
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Going to try to knock out one short story from this collection while I drink my morning coffee before work today. Yup. Work. Today. Blergh. (I work on Easter too. Boo.)

Bookladylinda Awwww boooooo!!!!! ☹️☹️☹️☹️☹️☹️☹️ 7y
pocketmermaid @Bookladylinda Right?! My life is the pits! 7y
39 likes3 comments
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pocketmermaid
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I've been wanting to read this for ages. And since I'm feeling crappy tonight, I figured it was a good time to start. I'm tired of putting off books I'm excited to read! And I am in need of a short story collection to break up my longer reads. Let's see if I can get through the first one without zonking out. #stuffonmycat

LectricSheep Awesome hashtag. 👍🏻 7y
pocketmermaid @LectricSheep It's a website! http://stuffonmycat.com There's a book, too. 😸 7y
LectricSheep !!!!! 7y
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pocketmermaid @LectricSheep Ha! You'll never know boredom again. 7y
diovival Our cats look so much alike! 7y
pocketmermaid @diovival Yay, cow kitty twins for the win! 🐮 7y
36 likes3 stack adds6 comments
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hgrimes
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I just read a fairytale in which John James Audubon was made evil. Brilliant. #weird

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SuperPunkNinja
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#fairytaleretelling #photoadaynov16

This collection of short stories took me a while to get into but there are some great stories in it, including my favorite Neil Gaiman short story "Orange."

Sapphire I wish I enjoyed short stories more. I keep trying every couple years. But even ones I think are good, feel like just an appetizer to me. 7y
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KarenUK
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#day27 #photoadaynov16 #fairytaleretellings ... love Boy Snow Bird, and the Diane Setterfield short story is adorable..... other 2 are on TBR... love this title!

Soubhiville I loved the Princess and the Pea! 7y
Moray_Reads Boy Snow Bird was the first one I thought of but if already used it this week 😉 7y
rubyslippersreads I didn't know about The Princess and the Pea. Just picked it up as a Kindle freebie. 😀👑 7y
TheLondonBookworm I went to an author talk by the writer of Angela Carter's new autobiography which sounds utterly fascinating if your into that kind of thing :) 7y
KarenUK @TheLondonBookworm sounds amazing! 💕 7y
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Litsy
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Pickpick

"To me, fairy tales are the original horror stories: full of magic, death, and dire warnings. Updated versions of these stories tend to gloss over darker aspects of their source material but this collection embraces horror with open arms. Getting so many creepy-crawly tales from so many amazing authors together in one book is a Halloween heaven!" - @thesaurusrex #FunFridayPhoto

hgrimes I've had this book on my shelf for years and still haven't read it!! You've reminded me that I really 'ought to soon. 7y
read_diverse_books Omg, that is the best book title ever. 😂 7y
JPeterson I love this collection! I'm about halfway through it, slowly savoring all the stories! 7y
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SuperPunkNinja There are some great stories in this collection, including my favorite Neil Gaiman short story. 7y
szainabwilliams I need this. 7y
azulaco Is the Neil Gaiman story in this collection "Snow, Glass, Apples"? I have not been able to forget that story since I read it a few months ago. Super creepy and so good. 7y
214 likes99 stack adds8 comments
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Amandajoy
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I don't do too many #shortstory collections, I have a problem trying to read them like a novel. But I did find this one on my shelf. I remember it being weird & interesting. #somethingforsept

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snowdrop
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I Am Anjuhimeko by Hiromi Itou (no drawn out o so -ou will have to do)-- beautiful!
"That's right, they dig me up and here I am, I'm not dead, I haven't dried up, I just warmed myself in the sand, a growing, laughing, living body, mother stuck a stalk in the hole in my ear to mark me, morning and night I would suck the dew through the tiny, tiny, tiny hole, and here I am, a growing, laughing, living body, that is what I am, that is who I am!"

MrBook Nice passage! And welcome to @Litsy ! We hope you enjoy your stay, I think you'll like it here 😎👍🏻. 8y
snowdrop Thank you! 😊😄 I am loving it so far! 8y
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JPeterson
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Starting off with a short story while coffee brews! Though I did get in some time last night at midnight as well (but the app wouldn't load?). #24in48

emilyesears Good luck!! 8y
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Poindextrix
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Fun Photo Friday (part 1): I love reading about folktales and fairytales. Annotated editions, retellings, scholarly writing... I want it all!

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JPeterson
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When you had a rough week last week, and come home to this surprise. ❤️

19 likes4 stack adds1 comment