Thursday’s Tale: Little Snow White by the Brothers Grimm

by Carol6 Comments
Image source: Sur La Lune Fairy Tales "Little Snow White" is the Snow White story I know, complete with the seven dwarfs and the talking mirror. It's actually closer to the Disney version I remember than I expected. The Grimm version I read is from Household Tales, translated by Margaret Hunt, published in 1884. At the beginning of the story, a queen sits at a window, sewing. She pricks her finger with her needle and when she sees the drop of blood on the snow outside, she wishes for a child "as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as the wood of the window-frame." A lot of fairy tales start with someone wishing for a baby, don't they? Snow White is born, but the queen dies. After a year the King remarries; enter the evil step-mother. The new Queen is obsessed with being the most beautiful woman in the land, and she has a mirror that when asked always...
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Review: The Honey Month by Amal El-Mohtar

by Carol13 Comments
The Honey Month is a book to be savored, a book whose words, filled with longing and love, drip slowly from the page. It's such a unique book that I've been having trouble writing a review. I loved it, devoured it on the beach one afternoon, but it's difficult to describe. In the introduction, Danielle Sucher tells of giving thirty-some vials of honey to Amal and Amal used these little tastes as inspiration, writing the 28 pieces in this collection, one for each day of February. Each day begins with a description of the honey, its colour, smell, taste. She sample such a wide variety of honeys I was amazed at how different some of them seemed, how lyrical her writing is even in this part. For example, thistle honey- Taste: Intriguing—definitely an apple taste, definitely green apple, and again, this is one of the refreshing ones; there's a crispness and a mellowness at once, and I feel it's playful, a child among honeys,...
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Review: Steam & Sorcery by Cindy Spencer Pape

by Carol5 Comments
Steam and Sorcery was a perfect summer read, a fun romance with bits of steampunk, fantasy and mystery. For me, in a romance, the two main characters are the most important pieces, and I have to say that I enjoyed this couple. Sir Merrick Hadrian is a Knight of the order of the Round Table, dedicated to protecting Victorian London from monsters, both human and supernatural. He's a skillful fighter and magick user, physically strong and sexy, but a good guy, not chauvinistic or cruel in any way. Miss Caroline Bristol is a governess, hired to manage Merrick's five gifted ward, formerly street children. She's bright, beautiful, and adores the children. The sparks of course fly between the two, and I liked how their relationship progressed. You've got the usual but "he's out of my league" from Caroline, but Merrick is not one to bow to social conventions. They're perfect together, a good team. The mystery involves vampires, nasty ones. They are...
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