all your Reads in Here

I didn't know what I was actually picking up when I checked out Neil Gaiman's fairy tale, The Sleeper and the Spindle . Earlier this week, I mentioned his quote, "I like stories where women save themselves", and he was talking about fairy tales. The Sleeper and the Spindle , illustrated by Chris Riddell, has a couple unexpected twists, which I will not cover in this review. Three dwarfs, who had once lived with a queen, set out on a journey to buy silk for the young woman who was about to marry. But, the day before her wedding, the dwarfs returned to tell her that that world was falling asleep. It all seemed to stem from an old enchantment. Now, people throughout the neighboring kingdoms were falling under that enchantment, or plague, or whatever you wanted to call it. Only the spiders seem unaffected. They continued to spin webs, which now covered the people. The young queen, who was worried she would no longer have choices once she married, made a couple decisions. ...

"I like stories where women save themselves." That's a quote from Neil Gaiman, a quote about fairy tales. I do, too. That's why Belle in Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" is my favorite Disney character. She saves her father and saves the Beast. After I read that quote, yesterday I picked up an older title by Gaiman,  The Sleeper and the Spindle .It's the story of a young queen who is afraid she's going to lose all choices when she marries. When three dwarfs tell her about a spell that put a princess to sleep, the queen postpones her wedding, dons her mail shirt, and sets out to rescue the princess. And, you don't know the rest of Gaiman's story, illustrated by Chris Riddell. So, I'm reading fairy tales this week. I didn't have much time to check in with you last week while I was on vacation. I'm looking forward to catching up with your reading this week. What are you reading or listening to?