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Friday, August 18, 2017

Audiobook Review: Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery

Anne of the Island by L. M. Montgomery
Book 3 of Anne of Green Gables series
Unabridged; 8 hr. 15 min.
Post Hypnotic Press Inc.
Colleen Winton (narrator)
June 4, 2014
★★★★☆

Genre: Classic; Historical Fiction

Source: Received download from publisher for review as part of Audiobookworm Tour

Anne of the Island was published in 1915, seven years after the best-selling Anne of Green Gables, partly because of the continuing clamor for more Anne from her fans - a fan base that continues to grow today!
In this continuation of the story of Anne Shirley, Anne leaves Green Gables and her work as a teacher in Avonlea to pursue her original dream (which she gave up in Anne of Green Gables) of taking further education at Redmond College in Nova Scotia. Gilbert Blythe and Charlie Sloane enroll as well, as does Anne's friend from Queen's Academy, Priscilla Grant. During her first week of school, Anne befriends Philippa Gordon, a beautiful girl whose frivolous ways charm her. Philippa (Phil for short) also happens to be from Anne's birthplace of Bolingbroke, Nova Scotia. Anne, always the good scholar, studies hard, but she also has many life lessons. This book sees Anne leave behind girlhood to blossom into a mature young woman.

I’ve always shied away from outright classifying these books as young adult, despite seeing that in many other locations. While I would say Anne of Green Gables does securely fall into that category, the next two books that I have read so far begin to move out of that classification. While the writing style still remains simpler to understand and comprehend, and there are by far no mature content, the characters are aging, falling in love, going to work and college, getting married, which I would say takes it out of that category in my opinion.

Throughout much of Anne of the Island we see Anne away from the place she grew up and the majority of the people she (and we) know. While we see her spend some time away during Anne of Avonlea, the majority of Island is spent at Redmond College. Here we see Anne grow a little more into her own person as she is in a whole new world with many new people. There is comfort in the familiar faces of Gilbert, Charlie, and Philippa (who I really didn’t remember that well, so she felt new to me) and she does return home for short breaks and we get the treat of hearing from home in letters that various friends send her. I’m really not sure why Anne pushes back so hard against the idea of falling in love with anyone (or her friends falling in love for that matter either); it’s not like she has negative representations of love/marriage in her past, so that would often grate at me.

There is one scene in particular that stood out in my mind in a terrible way and the inclusion of the scene in the book sort of changed the whole tone of the story for me hence forward – this would be the killing of the cat scene. It’s not a major event in the story or any kind of plot spoiler, but it really bothered me. A cat that just won’t leave their house and the girls just have this frank discussion about how you kill the cat and everyone takes part in this endeavor. Mind you, it all turns out ok in the end, but the scene was just very dark and not at all of the same tone as the rest of the book or prior books in the series. If I was editing this book I would have axed the whole scene because it just differs so tremendously from the rest of the series.

Overall the book is a strong outing in the series and doesn’t feel like it loses momentum at all.

★★★★☆

As this is the same narrator and the same series, my thoughts are essentially the same as in book 1 and 2, with a couple additional notes. I continue to love Colleen Winton’s approach to the narration of the cast of characters from Anne’s world. There are a bunch of new characters in this book and each continues to be unique, which must be difficult as there have been so many characters in this series. I forgot to mention this in my review of Anne of Avonlea when the character first appears, but it is also appropriate now, I love her characterization of Davy, one of the twins that she is helping Marilla to raise. He ends every question with, “I want to know!” which just cracks me up the way she presents it. I have now listened to all of the Anne books that Post Hypnotic Press has released and I’m sure I will finish this series someday because it is great fun, but I would be happy to listen to Winton any day.

There was one issue that was noticeable to me in this book particularly that I did not notice in either of the other two and this was that there appeared to be noticeable edits. There would be times where practically in the middle of the sentence the narrators voice would become either softer or louder where it wouldn’t have been otherwise based on the speech pattern or it sounded just a little bit off. These moments are something that becomes quite obvious to me and led to the slightly lower rating of the audio production of this book compared to the others.

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

Buy the Book: Audible | Post Hypnotic Press

You can check out a sample from Anne of the Island below.

Also by L.M. Montgomery:

Anne of Green Gables (Book 1)
[My Review]

Anne of Avonlea (Book 2)
[My Review]

Anne of Windy Poplars (Book 4)

Anne’s House of Dreams (Book 5)

Anne of Ingleside (Book 6)

Rainbow Valley (Book 7)

Rilla of Ingleside (Book 8)

Tour-Wide Giveaway!

As part of the tour, there is a tour-wide giveaway sponsored by the publisher, Post Hypnotic Press, for store credit: $120 (Grand Prize), $90 (Runner-up) & $60 (2nd Runner-up). Entries are made via the Gleam app and can be made on any of the participating tour pages. Please if you have questions, contact the tour coordinator as I have no input in the giveaway. Good luck!!

Anne of Green Gables Giveaway: Three Winners

Tour Schedule

Audiobookworm Promotions

ANNE OF GREEN GABLES, BOOK 1

Jul. 30th:
History From A Woman's Perspective (Review)
The Book Slayer (Review)
Spunky 'N Sassy (Review)

Jul. 31st:
CGB Blog Tours (Spotlight + Audio Excerpt)
A Book and A Latte (Review)
Canadian Book Addict (Review, Giveaway)
Tara's Book Addiction (Spotlight + Audio Excerpt, Giveaway)

Aug. 1st:
The Maiden's Court (Review)
Book Reviews By Jasmine (Spotlight + Audio Excerpt)
Lilly's Book World (Review)

Aug. 2nd:
2 Girls and A Book (Review, Teasers)
Macarons and Paperbacks (Review, Spotlight + Audio Excerpt)
Bound 4 Escape (Review, Giveaway)
WTF Are You Reading? (Review, Spotlight + Audio Excerpt, Giveaway)

Aug. 3rd:
To Read Or Not To Read (Spotlight + Audio Excerpt, Giveaway)
Jorie Loves A Story (Review)
Notes From 'Round the Bend (Teasers, Giveaway)
Haddie's Haven (Review, Teasers, Giveaway)
Hall Ways (Review, Spotlight + Audio Excerpt, Teasers, Giveaway)

Aug. 4th:
Lomeraniel (Review, Spotlight + Audio Excerpt, Teasers, Giveaway)
Joy of Bookworms (Review)
SMADA's Book Smack (Review, Spotlight + Audio Excerpt, Giveaway)

Aug. 5th:
Buried Under Books (Review)
Life As Freya (Review)

ANNE OF AVONLEA, BOOK 2

Aug. 6th:
History From A Woman's Perspective (Review)
Spunky 'N Sassy (Review)

Aug. 7th:
The Book Slayer (Review)
A Book and A Latte (Review)
Tara's Book Addiction (Spotlight + Audio Excerpt, Giveaway)

Aug. 8th:
CGB Blog Tours (Spotlight + Audio Excerpt)
2 Girls and A Book (Review, Teasers)
Lilly's Book World (Review)

Aug. 9th:
The Maiden's Court (Review)
Macarons and Paperbacks (Review, Spotlight + Audio Excerpt)
Canadian Book Addict (Review, Giveaway)

Aug. 10th:
Jorie Loves A Story (Review)
Notes From 'Round the Bend (Teasers, Giveaway)
Dab of Darkness (Review, Giveaway)
Haddie's Haven (Review, Teasers, Giveaway)

Aug. 11th:
To Read Or Not To Read (Spotlight + Audio Excerpt, Giveaway)
Joy of Bookworms (Review)
Hall Ways (Review, Spotlight + Audio Excerpt, Teasers, Giveaway)
Bound 4 Escape (Review, Giveaway)

Aug. 12th:
Lomeraniel (Review, Spotlight + Audio Excerpt, Teasers, Giveaway)
Forever Literary (Spotlight + Audio Excerpt, Teasers, Giveaway)
Life As Freya (Review)
WTF Are You Reading? (Review, Spotlight + Audio Excerpt, Giveaway)

ANNE OF THE ISLAND, BOOK 3

Aug. 13th:
History From A Woman's Perspective (Review)
Spunky 'N Sassy (Review)

Aug. 14th:
A Lovelorn Virgo (Spotlight + Audio Excerpt, Teasers, Giveaway)
2 Girls and A Book (Review, Teasers)
Tara's Book Addiction (Spotlight + Audio Excerpt, Giveaway)

Aug. 15th:
Dab of Darkness (Review, Giveaway)
Joy of Bookworms (Review)
Canadian Book Addict (Review, Giveaway)

Aug. 16th:
CGB Blog Tours (Spotlight + Audio Excerpt)
A Book and A Latte (Review)
Macarons and Paperbacks (Review, Spotlight + Audio Excerpt)
Lilly's Book World (Review)

Aug. 17th:
To Read Or Not To Read (Spotlight + Audio Excerpt, Giveaway)
Jorie Loves A Story (Review)
Reading for the Stars and Moon (Spotlight + Audio Excerpt, Teasers, Giveaway)
Notes From 'Round the Bend (Teasers, Giveaway)
Haddie's Haven (Review, Teasers, Giveaway)

Aug. 18th:
The Maiden's Court (Review)
The Book Slayer (Review)
Jorie Loves A Story (Interview)
Hall Ways (Review, Spotlight + Audio Excerpt, Teasers, Giveaway)

Aug. 19th:
Christian Chick's Thoughts (Review)
Lomeraniel (Review, Spotlight + Audio Excerpt, Teasers, Giveaway)
Life As Freya (Review)
Bound 4 Escape (Review, Giveaway)
WTF Are You Reading? (Review, Spotlight + Audio Excerpt, Giveaway)

Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Audiobook Review: Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery & Giveaway

Anne of Avonlea by L. M. Montgomery
Book 2 of Anne of Green Gables series
Unabridged; 9 hr. 5 min.
Post Hypnotic Press Inc.
Colleen Winton (narrator)
June 9, 2014
★★★★☆

Genre: Classic; Historical Fiction

Source: Received download from publisher for review as part of Audiobookworm Tour

Following Anne of Green Gables (1908), this book covers the second chapter in the life of Anne Shirley. We learn of Anne's doings from the age of 16 to 18, during the two years that she teaches at Avonlea school. It includes many of the characters from Anne of Green Gables, as well as new ones: Mr. Harrison and his foul-mouthed parrot, Miss Lavendar Lewis, Paul Irving, and the twins Dora (sweet and well behaved) and Davy (mischievious and in constant trouble). Anne matures, slightly, but she gets into a number of her familiar pickles, as only Anne can: She accidentally sells her neighbor's cow (having mistaken it for her own), gets stuck in a broken duck house roof while peeping into a pantry window, and more.

Anne of Avonlea picks up roughly where we left off with her in Green Gables, but it has a slightly different feel to it. Anne is a little older and has matured some since we first met her in her origin book. Of course she wouldn’t be Anne if she didn’t still meet with some accident or another from time to time, but the setting in which it occurs and how she comes out of the event are different. She isn’t the child who runs around in a dream world and talks in endless, run-on sentences. She still has flights of fancy, but she is more aware of the world around her and how she moves within it. She has a passion for fighting for what is right and for those less fortunate. She is a teacher! Anne finds a true “kindred spirit” in Miss Lavendar and it is during those scenes that we get more of that old Anne coming through. Without Anne to cause all the drama we have Davy, one of the twins that Anne helps to raise, and honestly he might stir the pot more than even she did as a child! Having lost a male role model whom she loved dearly, Anne makes a connection with the new neighbor Mr. Harrison, who takes to Anne like no one else. I found their scenes almost soothing. Anne of Avonlea is Anne’s transition novel – it is the time between a being a child in a small town and going away to college. You still have some of the old Anne, but you can see changes happening and know that when she goes away more will be yet to come.

One stylistic difference that I noticed in this novel that I didn’t in the first (maybe it was there and I just didn’t pick up on it, but it is a thing I do tend to notice), is that the author breaks the fourth was SEVERAL times. It’s not only that she refers the reader back to events that transpired in the first book, but she will say things to the effect of (and I’m paraphrasing here): “reader, you might recognize that…” or “if you are unfamiliar with these events, do pick up the book where it all started”. It almost feels a tad self-promotional rather than the trick of taking the audience aside to let them in on some special information, and I didn’t really think it was necessary to the story.

★★★★★

As this is the same narrator and the same series, my thoughts are essentially the same as in book 1, with a couple additional notes. Colleen Winton knocked her narration out of the park just as I expected and hoped! Her voices for the characters that appears in this book which were introduced previously are consistent with the prior treatment. There are a small handful of new characters and each is unique and quirky in their own way. As before, the most important is Anne, and while she is still prone to her flights of fancy, Winton brings and more measured and mature style of her manner of speaking. The narration between dialogue has an even pace that brings the listener back from the slow or quick speech patterns of the characters, which is like a cleansing of the palate before moving on. I know that Winton narrates the next book in the series, and I don’t think Post Hypnotic Press has released any more than the first three books, but I would be happy to listen to her any day.

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

Buy the Book: Audible | Post Hypnotic Press

You can check out a sample from Anne of Avonlea below.

Also by L.M. Montgomery:

Anne of Green Gables (Book 1)
[My Review]

Anne of the Island (Book 3)

Anne of Windy Poplars (Book 4)

Anne’s House of Dreams (Book 5)

Anne of Ingleside (Book 6)

Rainbow Valley (Book 7)

Rilla of Ingleside (Book 8)

Tour-Wide Giveaway!

Anne of Green Gables Giveaway: Three Winners

Tour Schedule

Audiobookworm Promotions

ANNE OF GREEN GABLES, BOOK 1

Jul. 30th:
History From A Woman's Perspective (Review)
The Book Slayer (Review)
Spunky 'N Sassy (Review)

Jul. 31st:
CGB Blog Tours (Spotlight + Audio Excerpt)
A Book and A Latte (Review)
Canadian Book Addict (Review, Giveaway)
Tara's Book Addiction (Spotlight + Audio Excerpt, Giveaway)

Aug. 1st:
The Maiden's Court (Review)
Book Reviews By Jasmine (Spotlight + Audio Excerpt)
Lilly's Book World (Review)

Aug. 4th:
Lomeraniel (Review, Spotlight + Audio Excerpt, Teasers, Giveaway)
Joy of Bookworms (Review)
SMADA's Book Smack (Review, Spotlight + Audio Excerpt, Giveaway)

Aug. 5th:
Buried Under Books (Review)
Life As Freya (Review)

ANNE OF AVONLEA, BOOK 2

Aug. 6th:
History From A Woman's Perspective (Review)
Spunky 'N Sassy (Review)

Aug. 7th:
The Book Slayer (Review)
A Book and A Latte (Review)
Tara's Book Addiction (Spotlight + Audio Excerpt, Giveaway)

Aug. 8th:
CGB Blog Tours (Spotlight + Audio Excerpt)
2 Girls and A Book (Review, Teasers)
Lilly's Book World (Review)

Aug. 9th:
The Maiden's Court (Review)
Macarons and Paperbacks (Review, Spotlight + Audio Excerpt)
Canadian Book Addict (Review, Giveaway)

Aug. 10th:
Jorie Loves A Story (Review)
Notes From 'Round the Bend (Teasers, Giveaway)
Dab of Darkness (Review, Giveaway)
Haddie's Haven (Review, Teasers, Giveaway)

ANNE OF THE ISLAND, BOOK 3

Aug. 13th:
History From A Woman's Perspective (Review)
Spunky 'N Sassy (Review)

Aug. 14th:
A Lovelorn Virgo (Spotlight + Audio Excerpt, Teasers, Giveaway)
2 Girls and A Book (Review, Teasers)
Tara's Book Addiction (Spotlight + Audio Excerpt, Giveaway)

Aug. 15th:
Dab of Darkness (Review, Giveaway)
Joy of Bookworms (Review)
Canadian Book Addict (Review, Giveaway)

Aug. 16th:
CGB Blog Tours (Spotlight + Audio Excerpt)
A Book and A Latte (Review)
Macarons and Paperbacks (Review, Spotlight + Audio Excerpt)
Lilly's Book World (Review)

Aug. 18th:
The Maiden's Court (Review)
The Book Slayer (Review)
Jorie Loves A Story (Interview)
Hall Ways (Review, Spotlight + Audio Excerpt, Teasers, Giveaway)

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Audiobook Review: Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery & Giveaway

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
Book 1 of Anne of Green Gables series
Unabridged; 10 hr. 7 min.
Post Hypnotic Press Inc.
Colleen Winton (narrator)
May 30, 2014
★★★★ ½☆

Genre: Classic; Historical Fiction

Source: Received download from publisher for review as part of Audiobookworm Tour

Anne, a young orphan from the fictional community of Bolingbroke, Nova Scotia (based upon the real community of New London), is sent to Prince Edward Island after a childhood spent in strangers' homes and orphanages. Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert, siblings in their 50s and 60s, had decided to adopt a boy from the orphanage to help Matthew run their farm. They live at Green Gables, their Avonlea farmhouse on Prince Edward Island. Through a misunderstanding, the orphanage sends Anne Shirley. Anne is described as bright and quick, eager to please, talkative, and extremely imaginative. She has a pale face with freckles and usually braids her red hair. When asked her name, Anne tells Marilla to call her Cordelia, which Marilla refuses; Anne then insists that if she is to be called Anne, it must be spelled with an e, as that spelling is "so much more distinguished". Marilla at first says the girl must return to the orphanage, but after a few days she decides to let her stay. Marilla feels that she could be a good influence on the girl and had also overheard that another disagreeable woman in town might take Anne in instead.

Unlike many, many readers out there, I never read Anne of Green Gables as a child or young adult; I honestly had never heard of the book until a few years ago. Even at that point, I wasn’t all that interested in reading it as an adult despite many of my friends who have enjoyed it. I’m not even really sure why, because it is along those same lines of the Little House books, which I loved, in terms of tone and audience. However, when I was approached with the opportunity to review the first three books in this series as audiobooks, I took the bait! And I’m very glad that I did! When reviewing classics I tend to keep my reviews short, because what more is there to say that hasn’t already been said about it, and the heart of this review will focus on the audiobook presentation itself.

This installment of the series follows Anne from her arrival at Green Gables after being accidentally adopted by the Cuthbert’s around age 11 up through age 16 when she is ready to go off to school. A lot happens in Anne’s life during this 5 year period and she certainly grows up a lot from a girl always somehow getting into scrapes and living in a dream world to someone who can be counted on to do the right thing. Personally, I think this book covered maybe a little too much of her life, seeing as it is a series it could have maybe saved the later part for the next book because I feel like there is really two different Anne’s here, but it still works well. The story kept me entertained, even though the events are happening to a much younger character, and I always wanted to pick it back up and keep reading.

★★★★★

Colleen Winton knocked her narration out of the park! The most important thing to get right in an audio treatment of this book is the presentation of Anne. She is not only the main character, obviously, but she is quite the spitfire and requires that trait to be brought out through the telling. That is exactly what Winton did. Her presentation of Anne’s manner of speaking, including the way her thoughts just run together, one after the other, and the dreamy quality of many of the things she speaks of, was SPOT ON! It was like she was standing in front of me. The other character that I think was perfect was Matthew Cuthbert. He has a slow, measured, and thoughtful way of speaking, as he is a man of few words, and she NAILED that one too. Some of the best scenes to listen to are when Anne and Matthew are speaking to each other because you can get the perfect measure of each. The narration between dialogue has an even pace that brings the listener back from the slow or quick speech patterns of the characters, which is like a cleansing of the palate before moving on. I know that Winton narrates the next two books in the series, and I don’t think Post Hypnotic Press has released any more than the first three books, but I would be happy to listen to her any day.

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

Buy the Book: Audible | Post Hypnotic Press

You can check out a sample from Anne of Green Gables below.

Also by L. M. Montgomery:

Anne of Avonlea (Book 2)

Anne of the Island (Book 3)

Anne of Windy Poplars (Book 4)

Anne’s House of Dreams (Book 5)

Anne of Ingleside (Book 6)

Rainbow Valley (Book 7)

Rilla of Ingleside (Book 8)

Tour-Wide Giveaway!

Anne of Green Gables Giveaway: Three Winners

Tour Schedule

Audiobookworm Promotions

ANNE OF GREEN GABLES, BOOK 1

Jul. 30th:
History From A Woman's Perspective (Review)
The Book Slayer (Review)
Spunky 'N Sassy (Review)

Jul. 31st:
CGB Blog Tours (Spotlight + Audio Excerpt)
A Book and A Latte (Review)
Canadian Book Addict (Review, Giveaway)
Tara's Book Addiction (Spotlight + Audio Excerpt, Giveaway)

Aug. 1st:
The Maiden's Court (Review)
Book Reviews By Jasmine (Spotlight + Audio Excerpt)
Lilly's Book World (Review)

Aug. 4th:
Lomeraniel (Review, Spotlight + Audio Excerpt, Teasers, Giveaway)
Joy of Bookworms (Review)
SMADA's Book Smack (Review, Spotlight + Audio Excerpt, Giveaway)

Aug. 5th:
Buried Under Books (Review)
Life As Freya (Review)

ANNE OF AVONLEA, BOOK 2

Aug. 6th:
History From A Woman's Perspective (Review)
Spunky 'N Sassy (Review)

Aug. 7th:
The Book Slayer (Review)
A Book and A Latte (Review)
Tara's Book Addiction (Spotlight + Audio Excerpt, Giveaway)

Aug. 8th:
CGB Blog Tours (Spotlight + Audio Excerpt)
2 Girls and A Book (Review, Teasers)
Lilly's Book World (Review)

Aug. 9th:
The Maiden's Court (Review)
Macarons and Paperbacks (Review, Spotlight + Audio Excerpt)
Canadian Book Addict (Review, Giveaway)

Aug. 10th:
Jorie Loves A Story (Review)
Notes From 'Round the Bend (Teasers, Giveaway)
Dab of Darkness (Review, Giveaway)
Haddie's Haven (Review, Teasers, Giveaway)

ANNE OF THE ISLAND, BOOK 3

Aug. 13th:
History From A Woman's Perspective (Review)
Spunky 'N Sassy (Review)

Aug. 14th:
A Lovelorn Virgo (Spotlight + Audio Excerpt, Teasers, Giveaway)
2 Girls and A Book (Review, Teasers)
Tara's Book Addiction (Spotlight + Audio Excerpt, Giveaway)

Aug. 15th:
Dab of Darkness (Review, Giveaway)
Joy of Bookworms (Review)
Canadian Book Addict (Review, Giveaway)

Aug. 16th:
CGB Blog Tours (Spotlight + Audio Excerpt)
A Book and A Latte (Review)
Macarons and Paperbacks (Review, Spotlight + Audio Excerpt)
Lilly's Book World (Review)

Aug. 18th:
The Maiden's Court (Review)
The Book Slayer (Review)
Jorie Loves A Story (Interview)
Hall Ways (Review, Spotlight + Audio Excerpt, Teasers, Giveaway)

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Audiobook Review: The Tempest by William Shakespeare

The Tempest by William Shakespeare

Unabridged, 2 hr. 7 min.

Naxos Audiobooks

Full Cast feat. Sir Ian McKellan (Narrator)

November 2004

★★★½☆☆

Genre: Classic

Source: Downloaded audio from my local library

“Sir Ian McKellen, fresh from his performance as Gandalf in Lord of the Rings is Prospero, and heads a strong cast in Shakespeare’s last great play. The wronged duke raises a tempest to shipwreck his old opponents on his island so that he can ensure justice is done. With Emilia Fox as Miranda, Scott Handy in the pivotal role of the sprite Ariel and Ben Owukwe as Caliban, this new production directed by John Tydeman, balances the magic and the earthiness with music playing a key role.”

First I’m going to point out that I seem to enjoy Shakespeare’s tragedies the best – I don’t know, I feel like they are written better and more engaging to the audience. To follow that up, I didn’t LOVE The Tempest - this is one of his comedies with somewhat of a romance angle. I didn’t really feel like too much happened – a lot of it is Prospero being introspective or speaking with his crony Ariel. I have not seen a stage production of this play and I don’t know that I really want to after reading and listening to this one.

★★★☆☆

This was an okay audio production. Sir Ian McKellan was wonderful – as would be expected from him. His voice was booming and perfect for the role of Prospero. It should be noted that there were sound effects used in this production – a lot of thundering and storming during the tempest. These effects made it very difficult to hear what was being said much of the time. Because of these sound effects, which were very overpowering, I became lost and confused as to what was going on in the story. I had to re-read the play to know precisely what happened. It was also very difficult to tell most of the male characters apart from one another which made it difficult to follow as well. I think I would have preferred this better not on audio book or maybe a different production.

You can check out a sample of the audio production below:

My reviews of other books by this author:

Hamlet

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Famous Victorian Fairy Tales

Victorian fairy tales are a new genre of fairy tales for me. I grew up listening to Grimm’s Fairy Tales and Aesop’s Fables for the most part. I didn't even know that there was such a thing as a Victorian fairy tale until my boyfriend bought me a book of them for Christmas last year. While I haven’t heard of very many Victorian fairy tale titles, I have certainly heard of many of their famous authors. It appears that many of the authors of these little tales were also big name authors of well-known classic literature. While you may have never heard of The Magic Fish Bone or The Selfish Giant, I am sure you have heard of Charles Dickens and Oscar Wilde (respectively). Am I right?

I thought we would take a look at some of these tales here to give you a taste for you to explore more on your own.

The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Robert Browning
This is a tale that you may know – the piper who is brought into town to lure away the rats that are plaguing the town of Hamelin with his wonderful piping skills. Only, the town doesn’t pay and he lures their children away, just as he did the rats. The moral of this story is to pay those that are due … or bad things will happen.

Did you know "pied" refers to the color pattern he wears?

Tying this in historically – there is a theory that this story is in relation to a historical event where Hamelin lost many of their children – from a plague, or possibly a retelling of Nicholas of Cologne who led the Children’s Crusade.

Browning is well known for writing the poem, My Last Duchess which was recently the inspiration for the historical fiction book The Second Duchess by Elizabeth Loupas. You can read a full version of this story thanks to Indiana University.

The Magic Fishbone by Charles Dickens
This is a tale set in a royal household – a king is told by an old woman that he should give the bones of the fish from dinner to his oldest child and that the bones will grant a wish. He does so and gives them to his daughter. Many accidents occur to the family and the king wants his daughter to use the wish, but she doesn’t and fixes these problems herself. In the end she wishes it was payday and all of the problems are solved. The moral of this tale, I think, is that good things come to those who wait.

The above is a very, very simplified version of the tale (if you want to read a hilarious summary with commentary – I suggest you check out Sarah’s Journal!). You can also read the entire illustrated version online, thanks to Project Gutenberg.

Charles Dickens is most well known for stories such as A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, and Oliver Twist. The Magic Fishbone was part of the 4 story collection of holiday romances – A Christmas Carol was also part of the collection. It is also interesting to note that it was originally stated that it was written by Miss Alice Rainbird, age 7. I don’t know what Dickens was doing with this, but anyway.

The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame
This story is set in a small farming town where a shepherd boy discovers and befriends a poetry loving dragon that has no interest in doing any of the terrible things that dragons do. The townsfolk then discover the dragon and want him killed – they bring in St. George. A fake battle ensues (although it looks to the townsfolk that it is real) and the dragon is “killed”. Then St. George reveals that the dragon is reformed and they all accept him. This story is about not judging others and acceptance.

This was originally a chapter in a book by Grahame called Dream Days, but this story became much better known than the actual book! You can read all of Dream Days (or just The Reluctant Dragon chapter) online thanks to The Gutenberg Project.

This is my favorite Victorian fairy tale – and I loved it before I even knew it was a Victorian fairy tale. In 1941, Disney released an animated short film of this story – replacing St. George with Sir Giles, but other than that sticking fairly close to the story. I have seen this over and over again (I also loved the other animated short on the tape – Morris the Midget Moose – both have great messages). I am attaching the video below.

The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde
A giant builds a beautiful garden and then goes away to visit a friend. When he returns there are children playing in his garden and he is furious. He chases them away and builds a wall around it. In the garden now it is always winter. One day he notices it is spring again in the garden and notices that somehow the children have come back to the garden. He goes to destroy the wall, seeing his error, but all the children run away except one boy who is crying. The giant helps him to climb the tree he was trying to climb and befriends the child. He knocks down the wall and the children return, but he doesn’t see that little boy. One day when he is old he sees the boy under a tree with the stigmata. The giant realizes that the child is the Christ child and is told he will go with the child to his Garden. The happy giant then dies later that day. I think the moral of this story is about friendship and seeing the error in one’s ways.

This is the first of the Victorian fairy tales I have come across that has had a religious element to it. This was part of a collection of tales by Wilde called The Happy Prince and Other Tales. As a whole, the tales in this book are about bringing happiness to others in life and death. Wilde is best know for his book The Picture of Dorian Gray and his play The Importance of Being Earnest. You can read this tale online thanks to Read Books Online.

This year, composer Dan Goeller wrote an orchestral piece to accompany this story. There are some teaser clips on Youtube that I have strung together below – but it doesn’t tells the whole story. Regardless, the music is beautiful and very evocative of the tale. There are also some great illustrations to go along with it. Definitely check it out!

I hope that this has been an exciting introduction to Victorian fairy tales to you. I myself can’t wait to finally have some down time to jump into my book of them. Have you read any Victorian tales?

About Me

Heather, 30, USA. Hi everyone! I started my blog, The Maiden's Court, in May 2009 as a creative outlet for my reading and it has completely taken me to new places. I love sharing my reading and the things that I learn.

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