The Bloody Chamber
1979 · 176 pages
Carter opened the old fairy tales and took out what was always inside: appetite, blood, and women who want things. Her Bluebeard is a French Marquis, and her Beauty walks toward the tiger.
★ 5.8
The Books canon
Sourced and shelved.
Every book chosen by hand and annotated for why it matters.
Browse all 1,178 books or filter by subject, era, place, and author.
Browse all 1,178 books or filter by subject, era, place, and author.
Fairy Tales
1837 · 200 pages
Andersen wrote his tales instead of collecting them, and put grief where the folk versions put magic. The mermaid pays for legs with her voice and every step feels like walking on knives.
★ 6.7
The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm
The Complete First Edition
1812 · 568 pages
These are the tales before the Grimms softened them: mothers rather than stepmothers abandon their children, the violence goes unexplained, and the folk imagination of a whole culture stands intact.
★ 7.0