All About Books discussion

Please discuss our group short story collection Angela Carter's Book of Fairy Tales here

My copy of The Old Wives' Fairy Tale Book has come in. This is the American title of The Virago Book of Fairy Tales, which is the first half of the group book.

I have only dipped in so far but I am liking the stories so far. I appreciate the fact that Carter gives the country of origin of the different tales & that she has selected tales from many different countries.

I am now about halfway through this. I like the individual tales but must admit that the overall impression so far is that Carter chose stories with an emphasis on women who manage to trick men (whether or not the men deserved it).

Is anyone else reading this? Or plan to?

Ugh...I LOATHE Angela Carter-- it is the fault of a university class that was mandatory, a horrible professor and a bad time in my life. No fault of Carter herself, or her writing! I just have an aversion to Carter now. *shudders* --Jen from Quebec :0(

Jennifer Lynn wrote: "Ugh...I LOATHE Angela Carter-- it is the fault of a university class that was mandatory, a horrible professor and a bad time in my life. No fault of Carter herself, or her writing! I just have an a..."

Ah well -- there are some authors about whom I feel like that for much the same reasons.

I’ve read the first section so I haven’t got through enough to notice that yet but I’ll look out for I️t.

I’m planning on read some more tonight but I got distracted by library requests that came in and needed reading!

I'm probably going to skip this. I read The Bloody Chamber a year or two ago and wasn't overly impressed. Leslie, I can definitely see that running theme in her stories.

I've read that book years ago and really enjoyed it, especially the title story.

How long do we have time to read it? Cause I might consider a reread.

This will run to the end of March.

I have to admit I’m struggling with this a bit. I’m not enjoying the way the stories are written. Will keep dipping in and out

Yeah, some of the stories are definitely better than others. The good thing is, if you don't like a short story, you can just skip to the next one.

Which ones are you struggling with?

Manuel wrote: "Yeah, some of the stories are definitely better than others. The good thing is, if you don't like a short story, you can just skip to the next one. "

That is one of the joys of reading short stories - even if you don't want to skip one you aren't enjoying, you know it will be over soon!

But if you aren't enjoying most of them, it is time to put the book down. I felt that way about John Cheever when I read his The Stories of John Cheever. I read almost 400 pages (of 1000+ total) before abandoning it because I kept thinking maybe I would like the next story better.

Leslie wrote: "Manuel wrote: "Yeah, some of the stories are definitely better than others. The good thing is, if you don't like a short story, you can just skip to the next one. "

That is one of the joys of read..."

True, I always try to finish every story, even if I don't like it. Also, with short stories, the "twist" often comes at the end, so it's hard to judge a story without having finished it.

Anyway, back to the topic. I mixed this up with Angela Carter's Bloody Chamber collection, and I checked on my Kindle, I've only read about one third of the stories, so I'll just start reading it again from the beginning.

Does anyone else like how the book is structured and that the stories come from all around the world?