So You Want to Read About…Cinderella

I am somewhat an aficionado of retold fairy tales. They have become “my thing” for lack of a better word. There are many retellings out there (most in the romance genre) but I present to you some retellings that are close to my heart. If I have missed any that you think belong here, do not hesitate to let me know.

Cinder – Marissa Meyer

This one is set in New Beijing and works closely with the traditional tale while introducing new perspectives and a larger narrative that grounds the tale into its modern reincarnation. I loved the interplay of the fairytale elements and the modern updated heroine. If you haven’t checked this one out, do so. It’s worth a read.

Shadows on the Moon – Zoe Marriott

This one is more a glimpse of Cinderella than an outright retelling. However, it is similar enough that it can be considered a retelling. I found it a lot more complex and intricate than Cinder both in tone and in narration. The influences here are Japanese and the story is quite brilliantly woven in the culture it is set in.

Princess of Glass – Jessica Day George

George takes Cinderella and her fairy godmother and gives them both motivations that are at odds with their traditional roles and by doing so, she makes them more interesting than they would otherwise be. I actually wrote a paper on this and I believe this work is worth a read if only to see how the incarnation of fairy godmother is so different from every other fairy godmother. Also, the romance in this one is particularly fun and engaging.

Ella Enchanted – Gail Carson Levine

Another retelling that takes creative license in the portrayal of fairy godmothers everywhere. I’m sure almost everyone is acquainted with  Lucinda and if not, you really out to be.

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister – Gregory Maguire

This is more a literary novel than a popular one and more adult than YA. As such the themes are heavier and the writing is denser. It is fascinating to look at Cinderella from a very different perspective and I realized how skewed my opinions were. This is worth a read if only for the rich world Maguire has created for his novel.

So You Want To Read About…Grief

People die. That’s a fact. What is not so cut up and dried is the way other people, the ones left behind, deal with death. The following books, though heavy on the themes being tackled, are some gems that fully (in my opinion) portray grief in all its myriad colours.

Saving June is a beautiful look at the way a girl grieves for her sister whose death is made even more unendurable by the fact that she chose to commit suicide. There are obviously many, many questions and issues being dealt with, most prevalent, perhaps, “could I have saved her?” If you have had anyone you love choose to take their own life, you will know how this question keeps you awake during the night. Could you have done something? Shouldn’t you have seen something? How could you NOT have seen something? I liked how Harrington approaches the questions in stages and so the grief is shown to be multifaceted. The bond between sisters is carefully constructed – despite their relationship not being as strong as it could have been.

Okay, we all know the awesomeness that is Melina Marchetta but I have actually seen people who gave The Piper’s Son less than the five stars it deserves. In fact, some people have gone so far as to give it a two. *swoons* Lest you think me a fangirl, let me tell you that The Piper’s Son portrays in detail and with exquisite sensitivity the effect a person’s death can have on an entire family. While ostensibly this is a Young Adult novel, let me tell you that this novel could easily find itself comfortable on a shelf meant for adult readers. The breadth of the novel is breathtaking, the themes of grief and ties, familial and otherwise, these are just so beautifully rendered that it leads you to pause and wonder, if indeed, somewhere in Australia this family exists and feels as strongly and as intensely as Marchetta writes them to. Death, any death, has weight but the unraveling that follows death is rarely portrayed as realistically as it is in The Piper’s Son. If you want something emotional, funny and yet poignant, read this.

You’ve seen this book before. I know you have. Or at least a book with what seems like the same story. Granted that the premise is not very original but the execution more than makes up for it. Elizabeth is stuck in limbo and her journey towards eventual freedom is heartwarming and dense. The novel approaches grief from a perspective rarely seen, that is, from the perspective of the dead rather than the bereaved. I liked how Elizabeth moves in stages and comes to terms with all she has lost and looks at her life, examines it as it was, with all the frills cut away and the truth bare and exposed to the eye. If you are looking for something that takes the same old thing and presents it in a different, interesting way, I say read this.

Okay, wow. This novel is so painful and yet, at the same time, so utterly beautiful that you will be left a bit speechless. This is not light stuff, even as far as tragic novels go. This one packs a punch both because the main character is so young and because the death has not yet occurred yet. It is grief before it becomes realized. Only slightly realized. The fear is expressed so convincingly and the illustrations are so very gorgeous that I insist, you have to read this if you are looking to read about grief.

This one is painful. Oh my goodness, it is painful. The kind of painful where you clutch your heart and wince in agony – okay fine, it’s not that intense but still. Eddie’s bewilderment over the suicide of her father is so convincingly portrayed – her wild search for some kind of meaning, for some kind of reason – the fact that is it a parent who has broken all sorts of rules for parents and done what parents clearly are not supposed to do – die – and die by suicide – that is all so beautifully rendered in this slim novel that you cannot help but feel as though you are there, feeling the emotion being felt, living the life being lived and mourning the person who isn’t there to share in the life you thought you would lead together. Just. Wow.

So You Want To Read About…Boarding Schools!

Let’s face it, all of us have, at one point or another, daydreamed about going to boarding school. Not because we would like to be away from our parents but because we think there will be a lot more freedom away from their eyes. As the following books prove, we were deluded about the amount of freedom we thought we’d get.

• The Malory Towers series by Enid Blyton
  This is by now means the only series that Blyton wrote with a boarding school setting but I think this is quite similar in tone and content to be representative of all the others. Blyton’s books are aimed at a much younger audience so I am not sure whether you will be able to get the same enjoyment reading it as adults but let me tell you, when I was a kid, the thought of having midnight feasts kept me up late several nights. In fact, my cousins and I planned and executed a midnight feast despite not being at a boarding school.
• The Chalet School series – Elinor M. Brent-Dyer
  This, while being similar to Malory Towers, is decidedly more grown up than any of Blyton’s stuff. Dyer’s stuff also deals with, a bit more seriously, the politics, dynamics of living in a boarding school. It becomes more than a setting and actually plays a part in the narrative. It’s great schoolgirl fun if you like that kind of stuff.
• Gakuen Alice – Tachibana Higuchi (manga)
  The surprising thing about this series is that the main protagonists are grade schoolers but the complexity of the narrative and the events and emotions they deal with are so much more complicated than you would think. I totally scoffed at this one thinking that it would not be as interesting or as complex as I like my manga because as I said, grade schoolers. Tachibana proved me wrong once and again as she weaved a world that would, I assure you, rival that of Rowling’s Harry Potter world were the series more mainstream and wider read. It’s gorgeous and a bit darker than just having one villain. I urge you to give this a go or watch the anime. Good stuff, you guys.

• Gemma Doyle Trilogy – Libba Bray
  This one is quite popular and I really love the atmosphere set in this. Old world, old fashions, traditions, the camaraderie, the sisterhood and the dark side of it. While the boarding school is not as prominent, the novels still show in quite a detailed manner the life style one can usually find in a girl’s boarding school. I found it a fascinating aspect and portrayal apart from the primary narrative.
• The Curse Workers series – Holly Black
  This also has a boarding school as a setting and shows glimpses of life in a co-ed boarding school that are quite intriguing. The series comes strongly recommended.
• New Girl -  Paige Harbison
  A modern retelling of Rebecca that exposes the sordid (fictional) underbelly of a boarding school where teens get too much freedom and the consequences that arise.

So You Want To Read About…Witches!

“So You Want to Read About…” is a new feature here at Bibliophilic Monologues where I will come up with six books dealing with one theme/species/stuff. It should be fun and it leads me to discover new books which is always cool, right? Right. Anyway, so today’s subject/species are witches. Fascinated by covens? Want something in depth and engrossing to take you away from your maudlin (and non-witchy) life. Here are six suggestions, not including Harry Potter, which…you know, is a given. You might have heard of them or not but they are all books I’ve read and enjoyed so…

Series: The Hollows
Currently 11 volumes out
Estimated number of volumes: 13
Author: Kim Harrison
Publisher: HarperTorch
Genre: Urban Fantasy

The main character in this novel is a witch called Rachel Morgan whose escapades are so entertaining that you will be left a bit bemused as you try to work out what is happening, who is happening and why you are craving slightly illegal cookies. Harrison creates a splendid world that was torn apart by the very innocuous (but apparently deadly) tomatoes, artificially engineered tomatoes, that killed off more than half the humanity and let the supernatural creatures come out to play. There are vampires, elves, pixies, werewolves, demons. You name it, the book has it. The romance aspect of this book is meaty as Rachel lives in a church with a female vampire who would like to bite her in more ways than one. The problem isn’t that Rachel doesn’t like vampires or biting but that she prefers the vampire to be of the male variety. There’s Jenks, the world’s most fouth-mouthed pixie and his gajillions of children. There’s Trent, the entirely too delicious Elf and demons galore. Each installment in the series is like riding a rollercoaster. I happen to love rollercoasters.

Series: Wicked Years
Currently: 4 volumes out
Series complete
Author: Gregory Maguire
Publisher: Regan Books
Genre: Literary

What Maguire does is take the rather simple tale of The Wizard of Oz and rework it into a splendid vibrant world where Elphaba, who will eventually be known as The Wicked Witch of the West, shines with her passion for the world and the people she lives in. Maguire’s recreation of Oz is so minutely detailed, his characterization of Elphaba is so exquisite that despite the common tale insisting that Elphaba is the bad guy, you will not be able to help relating and empathizing with who Elphaba is and the troubles she struggles with. There are, and I recently learned the official literary term for this, splendid sections of stichomythia (which is rapidfire exchange of dialogue, repartee, think Gilmore Girls and their fast dialogue exchange) that expresses Elphaba’s character so beautifully. I also loved how Glenda is portrayed and how the minute differences in each character is worked out. If you want a witch story that takes some of the old but makes up a lot of the new and presents it to you on a yellow brick road, then this is the book for you.

Series: Lives of the Mayfair Witches
Currently: 4 volumes out
Series complete
Author: Anne Rice
Publisher: Arrow
Genre: Fantasy

What can I say? You either like Anne Rice or you don’t. My own feelings about her writing range from fascination to abject apathy. Lives of the Mayfair Witches is an epic series that involves a dynasty of witches and some very complex characters with some crossover by the vampires from her other, much loved series. There are weird characters and forgive me, because it has been some time since I read these but there are also some very Anne-Rice-esque sexytimes that involve a ghost and an invisible lover and well, weird is weird. However, despite the potential ick factor, I remember being really engaged by this series. The characters were complex and the stories were intricate and layered often to the point that I only got it once the book was over. If you want something really complex and quite darker, and a bit more of an intense read, I’d recommend this one. If you want something lighter and not as difficult to stomach, then you might like the next few suggestions better.

Series: Herculine
Currently: 3 volumes out
Series complete
Author: James Reese
Publisher: Harper Torch
Genre: Literary

Okay, so I lied. This one is just as disturbing, perhaps maybe even more than, as Anne Rice’s series. The series is about Herculine who is a hermophrodite and also a witch and very involved in character development and obscure history that somehow falls into place later on during the narrative. This is even more complex than Lives of the Mayfair Witches simply because Herculine is not an easy character to characterize or understand. She or He, as suits his/her physical self, is often contradictory. The reason I suggest this is because it’s a historical novel and it really is fascinating, the gradual cohering of the main character. This one is not easy reading at all so only into it if you are ready to read some convoluted but interesting stuff.

Series: Wicca
Currently: 16 volumes out
Series complete
Author: Cate Tiernan
Publisher: Speak
Genre: YA

I was obsessed with this series like you wouldn’t believe. I saved and saved and saved to get all the titles in the series. I begged the school librarian to buy the new installments – it was just a sickness. And the series that may seem like a lot but at about 200 pages/book is not so much, delivered in all the ways that I wanted it to. Except for the last two books in the series but I ignored them and remained happy with what I got. The series, while very typical YA fluff fair, nevertheless retains this sense of gravitas that perhaps has a lot to do with the epigraphs before each chapter that situates the books in a context, in a history that is so much more important than the supernatural romance we’re in for. The epigraphs are particularly important in the telling of the history of the witches and I love the way Tiernan so sneakily “told” without really telling. Also, her love interests are swoonworthy, particularly Hunter. And the main character does not annoy me, yay. If you want something light yet something totally addictive, this is for you.

Series: Witch
Currently: 2 volumes out
Series complete?
Author: Carolyn MacCullough
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Genre: YA

I really, really liked this duology. At least I think there are only two books in this series though I would not at all complain if there were more than two. The characterizations are complex, the plot is intriguing and intricate and the love interest swoonworthy. The main character is very likable and the reveal at the end of book two makes things so much more substantial. The writing is gorgeous too. The prose flows like silk. This may be a more personable Lives of the Mayfair Witches without the weird sexytimes and weird creatures. It’s just really good and if you want something that leaves you with a glow at the end, definitely try this out.