Quite simply put Clayton’s novel is a modern day fairytale. As is the nature of chick lit and fairytales throughout time, all work out for the best, and on the way there are trials, tribulations and eccentricities.

Set in the Northumberland in the 1980s “A Girl’s Guide to Kissing Frogs” is very concerned with ideas of class mobility, and of social taboos. And of course, as with all fairytales, love and the righteous concur all.

A pleasant read, which follows the love life of Marigold, a promising ballet dancer who injures her foot and returns to her home to recuperate, in the process obtaining a collection of frogs in her search to find her prince and also, her own identity.

Its themes seem a combination of the ancient and the modern, with similarities to Basile and Strapola’s fairytales and to current modern fiction. Marigold and companions must face these in order to achieve their ‘happily ever after’, and with a fine assortment of nobility, rich eccentrics, artists, performers and tinkers which breach all social boundaries it does provide a setting – if not quite of fairytales – then of the fantastical.

Overall a harmless and enjoyable novel from Clayton which addresses many of the eternal themes of life.

A Knot in the Grain is another short story collection, featuring fairy stories. Robin McKinley has been reccomended to me numerous times and so when I noticed amazon selling several of her books for rather cheap, I decided to invest. I enjoy reading short stories, simply because they are so easy to pick up but its fairly obvious from this collection, it was a bad place to start.

Perhaps it is simply because I read this after Carter's The Bloody Chamber but there is such an overwhelming contrast between the language used there that I felt I was reading something more appropriate for 8 year olds. And true, they are written for young adults and perhaps my comparison is unjust. Carter's writing is a work of art in itself, McKinley in contrast has written these stories as an accompaniment to her novels and thus I reserve my judgement for the present.

McKinley once again writes strong female characters, the first four stories take place in a magical land. The final story, by contrast, and the collection's title piece "A Knot in the Grain" is set in our own world, it doesn't fit well and seems oddly out of place amongst the other stories.

Maybe I shall reasses after reading more McKinley. But that seems debatable.

I thought I’d kick-start the reviewing with Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber, a collection I’ve recently written on, a collection of fairytales best described by Carter herself as, not versions of fairy tales but to “extract the latent from the traditional stories and to use it as the beginnings of new stories”. And this is exactly what she does, Carter’s fairy stories aren’t simply retellings of earlier versions, but they are fairy stories about fairy stories. That is, for Carter’s stories to make sense to you it works to your advantage to already know versions of the stories she writes, it is comparison which makes Carter’s stories so powerful.

The Bloody Chamber is a collection of ten short stories, the collection’s title piece “The Bloody Chamber” being of much the longest length, and a rewriting of Perrault’s “Bluebeard” but with a feminist twist. Not only does the tales heroine grow from a passive masochistic state into one who seeks action, but she is eventually rescued by her mother (not her brothers) from her sadistic, murderous husband. The rest of the collection then divides into threes, next the cat stories including two rewritings of “Beauty and the Beast” and an adaptation of “Puss in Boots”, three tales of magical creatures and the final three tales centre on wolves.

Carter’s collection is dark and enthralling, she uses extremely articulate and beautiful language and with her feminist spin the characters are both more realistic and easier to identify with. Whilst many of the themes addressed, particularly those in “The Snow Child”, border on grotesque Carter’s underlying preoccupation with stereotypes of women’s desire being repressed are obvious.

An altogether sinister read! Definitely recommended for fairy tale fanatics. And some feminists too.

(and if anyone is at all interested, I have a much more detailed essay focusing on the theme of transformation within the collection)

In years gone by I’ve tried to keep a record of the books I’ve read over a year. This is mainly so I don’t forget what I’ve read, and also because personally looking over how my taste in novels has changed is relatively interesting.

In 2006 I simply kept a list, yet following 2007 I attempted to write a review for some of my favourite books I read. It is my intention this year, however, to try and review (however briefly) all the books I’ve read, mostly for the sake of personal reference and on the off chance that some passer by might also read what I have to say, and share their opinion and/ or dispute mine.

This will involve a backlog of about four months, although I intend to start with those I’ve read most recently.

Additionally, one of my past literary ambitions was to read through the BBC’s Top 200 Reads, however there seems a lack of spectrum there, and a rather large amount of Jacqueline Wilson novels which I’m disinclined to read all of. So, whilst I will continue to cross out any of the top 200 I may happen to read, my newest ambition is to try and read through 1001 Books to Read Before You Die.

This may seem ambitious, but having already read a sound 41 of 1001 this leaves me with the target of 960 books to read before I die – meaning I need to read a 16 books a year before I die (cleverly estimated by this excel chart which I am using to record my progress). Further more, I am not intending to read the entire list but rather, those which appeal to me. I shall be using the list more to guide my reading, as opposed to dictating what I read.




1001 Books to Read Before You Die is a collection by Peter Boxall of some of the greatest literature in existence, the list is in chronological order, dividing literature into the century of its origin, with the earliest division being the more broad “Pre 1700s”. One thing to notice about 1001 Books’ is that it is not a collection of all literature, but focuses most precisely on the novel, and books. It contains no plays or poetry (so it does not feature any Homer, or Shakespeare, shock horror) and seems to focus primarily on Western literature.

I'm a livejournal addict; this is not news, or a confession. More simply, this is a fact. I finally found my niche in the world of online journaling towards the end of 2003 with the creation of my livejournal, typo_queen and it’s been a home to me, recording my day to day life for almost five years.

But gradually I found that I was spamming my friends list with various things, initially an overdose of (rather angst driven) poetry and so I created my writing journal, see_my_dream. Now, some time later I find that I am fighting the horrible temptations once again to spam my friends list, this time instead with opinions on books and whilst I’m certain that people wouldn’t have any specific objections to this, the general excited geekery in which I talk about books would have littered and obscured the journaling of my life.

And thus, I have invented another division in my outlet, creating another niche for myself, now to be found at geekilyexcited - a journal created for the pure purpose of recording my adventures in the literary world, detailing my excitement and geekdom of novels, graphic novels, authors and even illustrations.