Today’s Top Ten Tuesday topic is Fairytale Retellings I’ve Read/Want To Read (or you could do fairytales I want to be retold or fairytales I love). I love a good retelling – it was really hard to narrow it down to 10!
- Beauty by Robin McKinley. Beauty and the Beast, Disney style. Although it predates the Disney version by 13 years, there are a lot of similarities.
- Beauty by Sheri S. Tepper. Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Cinderella, mixed with a chilling dystopian future via time travel!
- The Rook by Daniel O’Malley. Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass for grown ups. The titular Rook loses her memory and finds herself in the wonderland of the Checquy (a secret government organization employing X-Men style mutants). She is constantly giving herself “very good advice” via letters she wrote before she lost her memory. Not a direct retelling, but there are a lot of nods to Carroll. Just read it, you’ll see.
- The Once and Future King by T. H. White. Arthurian legends with a quirky sense of humor.
- The Door in the Hedge by Robin McKinley. The Dancing Princesses and The Frog Prince, plus some original fairytales.
- The Ugly Pumpkin by Dave Horowitz. The Ugly Duckling was never this fun! One of my favorite Autumn reads with my kids.
- Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet and Allan Ahlberg. I spy Tom Thumb! Little ones have a blast finding all the hidden fairytale, folktale, nursery rhyme, and legendary characters.
- Deerskin by Robin McKinley. Donkeyskin is one of Charles Perrault’s most disturbing fairytales. This is a beautiful and sensitive retelling.
- Stitching Snow by R. C. Lewis. Snow White and sci-fi are a surprisingly good combination. Essie is a blend of Katniss Everdeen and Kaylee Frye and I love her!
- A Knot in The Grain and Other Stories by Robin McKinley. Rapunzel is twisted around in the poignant Touk’s House. Yes, it’s McKinley again – I honestly could’ve made the whole list with just her!
I’m linking up: 
A BIBLIOPHILE'S STYLE 
Dude. I didn’t know much about The Rook before, but I MUST READ IT. That sounds awesome! My TTT
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes! The Rook is all kinds of awesome! I listened to the audio version earlier this year and I already want to re-read. 😀 I’ve preordered the sequel, Stiletto, which is due out in January.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Beauty made my list too. I haven’t yet read it, but it comes highly recommended–and one day I might actually get to it! I know it’s somewhere on my shelves.
Stitching Snow is not one I have heard of before, but from the way you describe it, it sounds like something I’d like. I will have to look for that one.
Great list!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I ❤ Beauty so much! I first read it 20 years ago and it remains a favorite.
Stitching Snow was one I discovered while compiling this list. I listened to the audio version and just loved it!
LikeLike
I have not heard of some of these! Will check them out 🙂 My TTT list
LikeLike
I tried to include some lesser known / older books because I love to introduce people to “hidden gems”. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Each Peach! We love that book at my house. I’m going to have to look for the Ugly Pumpkin as well. Excellent list – you just grew my TBR by a few.
LikeLike
The Ugly Pumpkin is so much fun! My son and I discovered it when he was tiny. We were looking for Halloween themed books, but this one surprised us!
LikeLike
I’ve read Beauty by Robin McKinley many, many moons ago, but the rest of these non-McKinley’s I haven’t heard of. And they all sound fantastic! Especially Beauty and The Rook. Wow! I am adding these to my TBR list right now.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It has been ages since I read Sheri S. Tepper’s Beauty, but I read it multiple times in high school and I still remember a lot of details. Definitely time for a re-read!
The Rook is amazing!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks so much for the recommendations! Oh let’s face it, I get great recommendations from you every single top ten Tuesday. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
😆 That’s awesome!
LikeLiked by 1 person
FINALLY, someone else who has read The Rook! You’re the first blogger I’ve come across who has read it, and I have no idea why because it’s such a fantastic novel! I can’t wait for the sequel to be released- I think it’s coming out soon!
Thanks for stopping by my blog! 🙂
LikeLike
I heard about it from Stephanie @ Don’t Be Afraid of the Dork. Stiletto comes out 1/26/16 – I’ve got it pre-ordered! 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s interesting that a lot of our lists look the same. But The Rook is completely new to me! I will have to add that to my must read soon TBR!
Great Tuesday!
My TTT: Top Ten Tuesday
LikeLike
I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to be spreading The Rook love!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Robin McKinley’s books are fantastic. And I’ve seen Stitching Snow on quite a few people’s lists today; it sounds really cool!
LikeLike
McKinley is perfect for this week. 🙂 Stitching Snow is very cool – highly recommended!
LikeLike
Fantastic list! I am really enjoying the theme this week 🙂 I really want to check out the Rook!!!
LikeLike
Thank you. 🙂 It’s one of my favorite themes we’ve done! The Rook is so good!
LikeLike
Aw, Each Peach Pear Plum! That picture just brought back my childhood – Tom plum in the cellar, I spy Cinderella!!
LikeLike
Yes, I remember it from my childhood, and more recently I’ve enjoyed it with my kids. My youngest nephew is coming for a visit soon – it might be time to pull it back out. 🙂
LikeLike
*Tom thumb, rather
LikeLike
Robin McKinley is a truly talented fairy tale re-teller – I wanted to include some of hers on my list but its been so long since I’ve read any of the I didn’t think I could say anything about them besides “they’re real good”:).
You know, I never picked up on the Alice parallels in The Rook! That’s awesome and quite obvious now that you point it out.
The two on your list I haven’t read that intrigue the most are Beauty (by Tepper) and Stitching Snow – The Lunar Chronicles definitely illustrated to me how well fairy tales and Sci fi go together!
LikeLike
My husband gave me a ton of McKinley’s books for Christmas 2013, so I’ve been slowly re-reading them. They’re just ridiculously good. 🙂
The white rabbit on the cover of The Rook made me think of Alice and I started seeing the parallels. The chess motif is the most obvious. And her middle name is Alice. 🙂
I’ve actually been meaning to recommend Stitching Snow to you on Goodreads. I think you’d love it! Beauty (Tepper) was the first dark retelling I ever read and it fascinated me.
LikeLike
I’d forgotten about The Rook. I remember picking it up when you told em about it but not feeling the genre at the time. I think I’m ready for it now and need to add it to my TBR for the upcoming school year. My anime binge watching days are numbered… ;p
LikeLiked by 1 person
Read it before the sequel comes out in January. 🙂
LikeLike
Beauty sounds really interesting! Have you read it or do you want to read it? If you’ve read it, thoughts??
LikeLike
I’ve read all of these. Which Beauty do you mean? I re-read the McKinley version recently. It’s almost like reading a novel of the Disney movie. The Tepper version I haven’t read since high school, but I remember it was really dark.
LikeLike