 |
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme
hosted by The Broke and the Bookish
|
Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic: Top 10 All Time Favorite Books in X Genre. What does the X stand for? I get to choose the genre! And I choose . . . . . fairy tale retellings! I almost went with Victorian mysteries, but I'll go with this instead.
Entwined by Heather Dixon
A retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses. And probably my most favorite retelling of this tale - well . . . okay, second-favorite. There is one other that is in heavy competition with it in my affections. What can I say about this book? A brilliant world, lots of fun characters, a good balance of humor and drama, and the villain . . . . . The villain may be why I love this book so much. He's just so awesome.
Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George
Another retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses. This is the book that is in competition with Entwined. Why? Because of Galen, our protagonist and hero. I just adore Galen; I would love to have an older brother like him. He takes everything in stride, has a good sense of humor, is extremely caring, and quite clever.
Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge
A retelling of Beauty and the Beast. And my favorite retelling of this tale. It was just brilliant. I loved the world, how flawed - yet wonderful - the characters are, and the whole plot. I enjoyed it immensely. It was dark and dramatic and emotional.
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
A retelling of Cinderella. There's a lot of these retellings, and I have several favorites, but this is my ultimate favorite. It was just so much fun. I love Cinder, I love the world, I love how the Author incorporated so many of the original tale's elements while weaving her own story, and best of all - I love how much this book surprised me.
Snow by Tracy Lynn
A retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. It's been a while since I've read this book, and I need to fix that, because it's one of my favorite fairy tale retellings. It's a darker version and it's awesome.
Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
A retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. One of harder fairy tales to retell, Marissa Meyer once again pulled it off, and it not only is one of my favorite retellings, it's also my favorite in The Lunar Chronicles. And like Cinder, it surprised me - especially with her twist on the Big Bad Wolf. It's predictable, I suppose, but it worked so amazingly well in the world of this series.
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
A retelling of Cinderella. Okay, I liked - this is my favorite retelling of this story. Cinder is my second-favorite. As much as I love Cinder as a character, you just can't beat Ella and Char - you just can't! Or the simple charm of her world.
A Tale of Two Castles
A loose retelling of Puss in Boots. Very loose; you have to know the story to catch all the references. But I still consider it a retelling, and it's awesome. I love the protagonist! And Meenore, the suspiciously Sherlockian-ish dragon! It's just a really, really fun book with lots of awesome characters.
Midnight Pearls by Debbie Viguie
A retelling of The Little Mermaid. This may be my favorite simply because I haven't read any other retelling of this fairy tale. But it's really good - as far as I recall. It's been a while since I've read this one, too.
I know there's a retelling I'm forgetting - a retelling of Rumplestiltskin. But I can't remember it! So I guess this is my top 9 all time favorite books in the fairy tale retelling genre.
I like fairytales as much as the next person, but I've never really tried any before, so it's good to get some really good ideas on where to start! Thanks Mara, and fantastic post! :D
ReplyDeleteI've also nominated you for the Liebster Blog Awards!
There are a lot of retellings to wade through, but these are definitely my favorite and not a bad place for someone to start. Actually, the whole "Once Upon a Time" book series (which has NOTHING to do with the TV show, by the way) is a good place to start.
DeleteThanks! But I've already been nominated! :)
Cinder didn't work for me. I prefer Ella Enchanted for that particular fairy tale retelling.
ReplyDeleteMy favourite fairy tale retelling is probably Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones. It's based on the old Scottish ballads of "Tam Lin" and "Thomas the Rhymer".
I haven't read FIRE AND HEMLOCK yet, though it's on my list. :) Oh! I know what fairy tale retelling I forgot! STRANDS OF BRONZE AND GOLD by Jane Nickerson! A retelling of BLUEBEARD!
DeleteHave you not read CRESS yet? It's AMAZING! Great topic!
ReplyDeleteRachel @ Beauty and the Bookshelf
I have read CRESS, and I liked it, but it's not one of my all time favorite retellings. Maybe because RAPUNZEL never was a favorite fairy tale.
DeleteI have been loving fairy tale retellings lately so I'm so excited to find this list! Even better is that I haven't read any of these so I've got 9 more books to read!
ReplyDeleteAdd STRANDS OF BRONZE AND GOLD by Jane Nickerson to your list as well, Katherine. I forgot to put it on my Top 10 list, but it's definitely one of my favorites. It's a retelling of BLUEBEARD.
DeleteI love this list! I agree with all the books you listed that I know - Ella Enchanted is amazing and I am currently obsessed with the Lunar Chronicles. And then there are a whole bunch I haven't read which is pretty exciting! Have you read any of Robin McKinley's fairy tale re-tellings? I also would have loved to see your Victorian mysteries list! I did historical mysteries for my TTT.
ReplyDeleteI have read some of Robin McKinley's retellings, though it's been a while, so I can't remember much about them (other than that I liked them). I'm sure once I re-read, this list will be revised. :) I almost did a Victorian mysteries list for this Top 10. The ENOLA HOLMES MYSTERIES series by Nancy Springer is really, really good; also THE DARK UNWINDING by Sharon Cameron.
DeleteWell, you already know how much I love fairytale retellings. ;) Nice list, though it definitely needed some Robin McKinley. I'm sorry to say I just finished Cruel Beauty and it would not make my Top 10 for this category. *sigh*
ReplyDeleteLike i said, I'm sure once I re-read Robin McKinley's books, this list would look different, but I don't remember enough about any of them to include them this time around. Yeah, I didn't think you would probably enjoy CRUEL BEAUTY as much as I did. It's one of those books that people either love it or don't care for it.
DeleteGreat list. The only one I have read is Cruel Beauty and I struggled with that - I didn't get the romance at all and it took me forever to try and explain it in my review. I am hoping to get to the Lunar Chronicles soon as I have heard so many amazing things. My TTT :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's like I told Kel - people either seem to really like CRUEL BEAUTY or don't really care for it. I hope you enjoy THE LUNAR CHRONICLES! :)
Delete