The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

This book's narrator, upon returning home for a family funeral, inexplicably finds himself drawn back to his old home--and even more so--to the farm down the lane from that home. When he arrives, he realizes that he has suppressed part of his childhood. As he starts to remember what happened at the ocean at the end of the lane, we're drawn into a world of mystery and myth--one where dark powers threaten perhaps all of human happiness. As always, Gaiman demonstrates his marvelous powers of storytelling and his strong grasp of what story means.

Raven Girl by Audrey Niffenegger

This book is an odd story. Niffenegger wrote it at the request of the Royal Ballet to provide a modern fairy tale as backstory for the new ballet they recently created. I am very curious about how this story might be staged as a ballet. It's dark and confusing at times, which is appropriate for a fairy tale, and although some questions linger, I think as a fairy tale, it works. The illustrations are beautiful.

A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett

In this book Tiffany Aching leaves home to train as a witch, but must face the hiven, an enemy which can get inside her head and turn her downright nasty. I liked the second half of this book, which featured Tiffany thinking for herself on how to finally defeat the hiven and what it means to be a witch better than the first, where she was more passive. The second half also has a good appearance by Granny Weatherwax, who is as delightful as always. Like the other young adult Discworld books, I don't think the humor, parody, and satire work as well here as it does in the adult books.

Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm: A New English Version by Philip Pullman

This collection of fairy tales is selected from the Grimm brothers' final 1857 anthology of fairy tales. Pullman has translated (and in some cases adapted) the stories to tell what he considers to be the best fairy tale. There are a lot of familiar tales and a number of unfamiliar ones too--and all of them are classified and given a place in folklore through helpful end notes. These fairy tales have their own standards--their standards are not those of modern literature, for example--and they rely heavily on a system that rewards and punishes characters for their actions. At times the stories are gruesome, at times unrealistic, and at times they do not take the familiar routes to the stories, but this collection is well-worth a read.

The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett

This book introduces Tiffany Aching, a nine-year-old witch in training, who must save her inconvenient, sticky brother Wentworth when he is abducted by a fairy queen. Fortunately she has help--in the form of the Wee Free Men, tiny blue pictsies with amazing strength and little patience to help anyone who isn't a hag. This book was funny and heartwarming. I think I prefer the adult Discworld novels, but this one does have charms and an internal logic that works.

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett

This book is the first young adult entry in the Discworld series, and the first with chapters. It starts at the Unseen University when a group of rats (and through the rats, a cat) eat something discarded by the wizards and find they can think and talk. Maurice develops a scam in which he uses the rats and a dopey-looking boy with a pipe to make money on unsuspecting towns. But when they arrive in a mysterious town in the Überwald, they find that the joke may be on them! The book was well-plotted and engaging throughout. I really enjoyed it.

Under My Hat: Tales from the Cauldron edited by Jonathan Strahan

I really enjoyed this collection of short stories about witches. It's worth noting that Neil Gaiman's contribution is a short poem rather than a story. I picked up the collection for the Bigfoot story by Jim Butcher (which didn't disappoint)--but I enjoyed most of the stories in the anthology (usually there's a dud or two). I particularly enjoyed both Jane Yolen's "Andersen's Witch" and Ellen Kushner's "Threefold World" which posit witchcraft as part of the reason for the creations of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales and the Finnish epic, The Kalevala, respectively.

King Rat by China Miéville

I really enjoyed this book--although it's noticeably an early work, you can see some of Miéville's best traits in this story. Saul Garamond returns home to a camping trip to discover that his father's been killed and that he is half rat--and heir to King Rat himself. Now he must help King Rat, Anansi (ruler of the spiders), and Loblob (leader of the birds) defeat the Piper, who's begun to take an unhealthy interest in his friends. There's a lot of creativity here, and some great politicking. A wonderful coming-of-age story.

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valante

I really loved this story, which satisfied my appetites for adventure, magic, travel, escape, and witty commentary all at once. I'm not sure if I've seen a narrator I liked so much since I read Tristram Shandy or Tom Jones. The theoretical basis of fairyland and how you get in and out works perfectly and fits in well with folkloric and mythic sources. The twist at the end (which explains the villain's power) is really magnificent: I didn't see it coming and it completely blew me away. This book is a must-read for fantasy lovers of all ages!

Snow White by Donald Barthelme

I was intrigued by the playfulness of the language in
this book. Certain words are regularly twisted (bath to baff, housewife to horsewife). Of course, the fairy tale itself is a strange amalgamation of Snow White (in the Grimm and Disney versions) and Rapunzel. There are hints (at least to my mind) of the story of Cyrano de Bergerac as well. In this muddle of cultural references there's a lot going on with both gender politics and waste. Definitely one of those books you can't attempt to fully understand in whole: the pieces don't fit together nicely into a neat puzzle.

The Legend of the King by Gerald Morris

I must admit, I was worried how Gerald Morris would handle this book: throughout the series, he's played up the noble side of the King Arthur legends (Lancelot and Guinevere repent of their affair, for example), and while he's not afraid to portray the characters who behave idiotically as idiots (Tristram and Isolde), I wondered how the [spoiler alert] everyone dies aspect of most of the traditional legends would play out here. I must say, the book handles the story magnificently. It doesn't give a sappy, everyone-meets-as-friends-at-the-Kings-Cross-Station-to-see-their-kids-off-to-Hogwarts-20-years-later kind of ending, but it did present the facts of the ending reasonably close to a familiar version of the story while maintaining the nuances he's introduced to the various characters throughout the series (if you can believe some people don't recognize forged notes, which is fine with me). I found this book, and the series generally, immensely satisfying, and I don't doubt I'll return to this version of the stories again.

Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett

In this book Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat travel to Genua, where Magrat has been sent by the witch who left Magrat her wand and her position as fairy godmother. With moments that spoof The Lord of the Rings, The Wizard of Oz, and countless fairy tales (but most of all Cinderella), this story is hilarious. There's also a lot of travel humor. I can't get over how smart these books are in their parody. All of which is to say, this book is another one smashed out of the park for Pratchett.

The Princess and Mr. Whiffle by Patrick Rothfuss

While Patrick Rothfuss claims that this book is not a children's book, I think he's actually quite wrong. The book would be fine for children, I think, along the lines of the original Grimm's Fairy Tales. I mean--I'm not saying I'd let kids read it without guidance, and it is a little dark, but I think when people hear "not for children" they end up disappointed. This is a lovely little book. I'd say worth buying for Rothfuss fans, and worth checking out for the rest of y'all.

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

I found this collection of short stories rather uneven. Some of the stories, like the title story (also the longest story in the collection) are quite creative returns to classic fairy tales. Others seem to lack direction and leave me feeling sort of muddled. The stories are dark and spooky.