200 anniversary of Grimm's Fairytales!!!

Oh my gosh! I just found out that today Grimm's fairytales turns 200!!! What an amazing milestone :)
The Google doodles are paying tribute to the Grimm brothers by showcasing Little Red Riding-Hood as a flip book of the story in the doodle along with images of Little Red and the wolf. The national post has an article on the Brothers Grimm and their amazing literary works as well. They cite that Grimm"s fairy tales turns 200- and they're just as creep as they were in 1812.
Absolutely true.
if you're interested in checking it out just click the links below:
http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&tbo=d&site=webhp&source=hp&q=Grimm%27s+Fairy+Tales&btnG=
http://www.nationalpost.com/m/wp/arts/blog.html?b=arts.nationalpost.com/2012/12/20/grimms-fairy-tales-turn-200
Very cool that I'm reading Grimm's right now and today is a celebratory day for these literary giants.
<3






<3

159 pages down... 521 to go

Last night I made it to page 159 of the monster Grimm's collection, and I've encountered a few of the classic fairy tales along with many others i'd never heard of before.  Up to this point I have read the following tales:

The Frog Prince
The Cat who Married a Mouse
Fairy Tell True
The Youth who Could Not Shiver and Shake
The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids
Faithful John
The Good Bargain
The Wonderful Fiddler
The Twelve Brothers
The Rogue's Holiday
The Enchanted Stag
Hansel and Grethel
Rapunzel
The Three Little Men in the Woodsa
The Brave Little Tailor
The Fisherman and his Wife
Cinderella
The Riddle
The Mouse, the Bird, and the Sausage
The Widow's Two Daughters
The Seven Ravens
Little Red Riding-Hood
The Town Musicians
The Singing Bone
The Three Golden Hairs
The Lady-Bird and the Fly
The Maiden Without Hands
The Three Languages
The Clever Elfe
The Tailor's Three Sons

I thought you'd be interested in knowing that Cinderella was not helped by a fairy Godmother in the Grimm's telling... rather it was nature that helped her. For instance, the birds come to her aid when she has to complete the impossible tasks given to her by her evil step-mother- she is promised that if she picks up every last seed from among the ashes she can go to the ball... Furthermore, trees play a large part in this story- she kneels praying before a tree and says a little rhyme to get a dress for the ball- "shake and rustle, little tree, throw gold and silver over me" - and there is no mention of midnight being the cut off time, rather she escapes the prince after each ball (cuz she goes to three) by being clever and hiding in a tree or behind the woodshed and the animals bring her old rag clothing to her and take her fancy dress and slippers away in time and the prince and her step mother each time find her asleep on the hearth. Interesting right?

Little Red Riding-Hood is much the way I knew it as a child, but the artwork included in the book is at times a bit suggestive- even though Little Red was a very small child..

Check out the pictures below of both of these classic tales along with some pics of specific text from both tales.. The first few are from Little Red Riding-Hood, the majority are from Cinderella and the last 2 pictures are the contents of the book, up to where I've read. Enjoy!

<3

All is not lost..

I know I haven't been around lately, I'm afraid that it is far too easy to fall behind on my reading. Especially since it is the Christmas season and besides the usual crazy 9-5 in the office I've got double mass duties. But its all good. I know I absolutely failed on Heart of Darkness... Joseph Conrad has vanquished me. I'm not entirely giving up though, I just decided that in lieu of the circumstances, I'm going to leave it unfinished for the time being and pick it up again in the new year. Hopefully then I'll have the energy to tackle Conrads daunting phrasing.

I know what you're thinking.. she's breaking her own rule! I know I promised I was going to read each book cover to cover and not move on to a new text until I finish the one in standing but I feel that Conrad is best read when one is in the correct and interruption-free moment. Which is not the weeks before Christmas.

Therefore, I am happy to announce that as of 11:30pm last night, I have completed 56 pages of one of the thickest texts on my bookcase...

The complete (unabbridged) Grimm's Fairy Tales

This text is 655 pages in length, involves over 300 fairy tales and is a big leather bound, gold tipped giant! While so far many of the folk stories involve brothers and sisters trying to live happily, or end with the fair maiden being married to a prince or king, they are still very interesting to read. It helps that so far the longest story was only about 3 pages (with a pic 3/4 page picture somewhere in between). The way in which the Brother's Grimm recounted the tales they had collected from around Germany is simply astounding... the classic tales of Hansel and Gretthel or Rapunzel that I know from childhood are often not as innocent as they seem now that I'm actually reading the original texts..

The first few pages of my text involves a note from the editor about the Brothers Grimm and their passion for folk tales and provided some information which I did not know. Apparently, the Brothers wanted their stories to be read by both adults and children- hence at times the horrifyingly PG rated content (violence etc)- but they were met with much criticism because parents felt the tales unfit for innocent children.

While I can understand exactly what those parents would have been thinking (the story of the Twelve Sons comes to mind), I think that these stories provide an excellent depiction of society and humanity at its best and worst. Futhermore, I think parents both then and now should make it imperative that children understand the intended morals behind each story- rather than have them stuck in nightmare land because of lack of emplanation and information. Naturally, selectivity, sensitivity and caution must be remembered- not all children respond the same way to certain topics.

None the less, I feel that it is important and just as relevant today as it was then, to read these classic fairy tales on my own and with my children in the future.

So far I am rather enjoying each and every tale... Cinderella is up next!!!

Check out the book...cool right?? :D
<3
 

Now the witch is back.. and theres books to read!

My month off from reading was so wonderfully unproductive... yep that's right, I failed NANOWRIMO yet another year. Seems November is just a bad month for me. *sigh* oh well, I intend on completing this years novel anyway but have moved the deadline to September 3rd 2013. Which means I will be simultaneously writing and reading :) I think its gonna go very well. *fingers crossed*

So I've been away from reading for a month and I gotta say I really missed it! I was hating the fact that I couldn't touch a book.. or else id betray my own rules!

I have a guilty conscience though.. I'm afraid that while I didn't break a NANO-rule I did in fact break one of my reading challenge ones.. I got three new books! I know I shouldn't have but I just couldn't resist! I'm going to resist putting them on my book shelf though, no matter how much it might hurt me. Lol

Now I did begin reading my next novel today- I figured what better day to start than the 3rd of the month... happy 3rd month blog-a-versary to me by the way! so my next book is...

                       Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.

I'm reading the Dover Thrift Edition, unabridged. The novel was originally published in 1902, my books edition is from 1990. Its only 72 pages long so I'm hoping to finish it quickly but there's a hitch.. this tiny book is just packed with huge wordy phrases and big descriptions. Not to mention hosting very unfamiliar vocabulary. *sigh* leave it to me to pick a tricky book.

Anyway I'm in about 15 pages so far and have yet to discover the name of my narrator but am learning more and more about sea travel *hehe*

Well, wish me luck.. stay tuned for the next book which I hope will come quickly!

<3
C