Books to read while missing OUAT

[rayvah]

So… this book came out today. I took a look at the synopsis and I think it’s right up this crowd’s alley!

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/between-the-lines-jodi-picoult/1107085049

“What happens when happily ever after…isn’t?

Delilah is a bit of a loner who prefers spending her time in the school library with her head in a book—one book in particular. Between the Lines may be a fairy tale, but it feels real. Prince Oliver is brave, adventurous, and loving. He really speaks to Delilah.

And then one day Oliver actually speaks to her. Turns out, Oliver is more than a one-dimensional storybook prince. He’s a restless teen who feels trapped by his literary existence and hates that his entire life is predetermined. He’s sure there’s more for him out there in the real world, and Delilah might just be his key to freedom.

Delilah and Oliver work together to attempt to get Oliver out of his book, a challenging task that forces them to examine their perceptions of fate, the world, and their places in it. And as their attraction to each other grows along the way, a romance blossoms that is anything but a fairy tale.”

I’m only a few chapters in so far but am enjoying it. And Jodi Picoult is a pretty seasoned author, so it can’t suck too bad. The book itself is actually Beautiful on the inside. It has colored full page illustrations, random illustrations thrown into pages while reading that have something to do with what it taking place on that page. Also, the text color of each chapter changes depending on which who is narrating. All around pretty nifty, I thought – and because it’s a teen book you get all that for less than the average hardcover price.

FYI, if you place a ship to home order at your local brick and mortar store (At least it works this way at B&N, I’m not sure about others…) You can get the online price, and your local store gets credit for the sale. Just sayin’.

[LisaFromOH]

That looks like an interesting book. I’ll see if I can check it out of the library. One book I would definitely recommend to OUaT fans is the Princess Bride by William Goldman. Yes, it is a book and not just a movie, and there was a lot that they left out of the movie. I haven’t read it in a while, but just thinking about it makes me want to go find my copy. I remember it having the same modernized fairy tale feel as OUaT (and as the movie of the Princess Bride). I’m so excited I remembered it!

[rayvah]

So – update. I finished the book. I really wasn’t all that impressed. I guess her daughter wrote more of the book than her giant name would lead you to believe. Ouch. That isn’t fair. I haven’t read Jodi Picoult before. Maybe her characters really are one dimentional and immature all the time. But to be fair… this IS a teen book, and to be truthful the writing and characterization are pretty on par with a lot of teen books I’ve read. So if you read a lot of that I’d still recommend this. Especially for younger teens, I think. Of course I’m pretty hard on books when it comes to writing style. I wasn’t even impressed with The Hunger Games and everyone loves that so take my review with a grain of salt.

[LisaFromOH]

Then maybe I won’t check it out of the library 🙂 But I do still want to find my copy of The Princess Bride.

[rayvah]

Ok, so I don’t want to let this thread die on that note. Here are some others.

Curse Dark As Gold (by Elizabeth Bunce) – I liked this book. It’s a retelling of the Rumpelstiltskin tale from the POV of the miller’s daughter. It’s the author’s own spin on the characters of the story, though. The miller dies and leaves the running of the mill to his two daughters. They have a hard time of it and it’s rumored that the mill is cursed. The eldest daughter is set on keeping the family mill running, however. The Rumpelstiltskin character in this story bears some striking similarities to human Rumple from OUAT. I don’t want to give anything away, but it’s easy to pretend it’s the same person

Once Upon A Time series by Cameron Dokey, Suzanne Weyn, and others. – I read a few in this series and liked it. “The Crimson Thread”, the Rumplestiltskin tale in this series was really enjoyable. These books are small and in the kid/teen section so don’t expect extreme epicness, but they are well written. (oh and I can’t vouch for every book, but Crimson Thread at least bore almost no resemblance to the original story, it was like AU or something, which was refreshing)

Beauty – by Robin Mckinley – A retelling of Beauty and the Beast. It was nice, but I’d already read the “Once Upon A Time” version (above) of the story and they were so similar I felt like I was reading it again. Regardless – it is good, but the “Beast” character is really underdeveloped and has that “faceless prince” vibe going on that fairy tales are want to do.

Mercedes Lackey – She has a series called “The 500 Kingdoms” which pull a lot from fairy tales. I haven’t read any of them but she’s a wonderful author (I’ve only read her Valdemar books…). A coworker told me her “Elemental Masters” series was better and was also fairy tale focused. She also has a duet called “Fairy Tale”, so there is that…

Dennis L McKiernan – He’s got several fairy tale themed books. I haven’t read any of them, but he’s popular.

Great book website: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk This website looks like it was made in the 90s, but it’s the most well kept up to date fiction indexing website I’ve come across. I use it all the time to find out about new books or (mostly) what order books come in. It also lists other books recommended by the author. Only for fiction, obviously. It’s also won’t turn up anything if you spell the author or title wrong.

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