Disclaimer: Arc via Netgalley

Janisch and Kastelic’s children’s book about the life Hans Christian Andersen is well done and beautifully illustrated.

Janisch structures the story as one that Andersen himself is telling to a young girl as they ride to Copenhagen together in a carriage. The biography is very like Andersen’s “Fairy Tale of My life”. While the biography might be on the simplistic side, it is good and far from general. Andersen’s father’s PTSD is shown. The story of Andersen’s arrival in Copenhagen is showcased with its brave strangeness. Andersen’s complex relationship with the Collins’ family, in particular Edvard, is not dealt with, but this is a children’s book so not that surprising; how could it be in such a format.

Kastelic’s illustrations are beautiful. Not only do they showcase Odense and Copenhagen, but there are little details drawn from the tales. The style itself also reminds one of Andersen’s own tales.

Highly recommended.

My mom told or read me a good night fairy tale or fable almost every night when I was little -- mostly from the Brothers Grimm's collection, but also those by Hans-Christian Andersen and Wilhelm Hauff.  I generally preferred the Grimm tales over Andersen's, chiefly because they could be relied upon to have a happy ending (which is also why witches and evil giants didn't scare me one bit there -- I knew their ultimate purpose in the narrative was to be vanquished by the hero(ine); whereas in Andersen's tales that wasn't a given, and if the ending was sad, it was very sad indeed).  The stories I liked best, though, were those by Wilhelm Hauff: many of them were set in oriental or otherwise exotic settings in the undifferentiated "past" and were mischievously funny -- and those that had sad or serious aspects reached me much more forcefully than Andersen's.

As I said in another post, fairy tales and fables also made for the first audiobooks I owned, in the form of vinyl records that I learned to play way before I had reached elementary school and "reading" age.

(Task (Zuñi & Hopi / Native American): While systems of written symbols and communication already existed with the Pre-Columbian Native American cultures, to many tribes even today (including the Zuñi and Hopi) the oral tradition is still important.  Have you ever had stories told to you (e.g., as children’s bedtime stories, or at night during a camping vacation)?  Or if you haven’t, try to imagine a “storytelling” situation you’d like to experience?

Anne Perry: A Christmas Guest

The third book in Anne Perry's series of Christmas novellas, each one of which has as their protagonist one of the supporting characters from Perry's main series (William Monk, and Charlotte & Thomas Pitt).  This installment's starring role goes to Charlotte Pitt's vinegar-tongued grandmother, who -- like another remote relative, recently returned to England after having spent most of her adult life living in the Middle East -- finds herself shunted onto Charlotte and her husband Thomas at short notice, because the family with whom she had been planning to spend the holidays have made other plans.  While Grandma pretends to despise her widely-traveled fellow guest, secretly she develops a considerable amount of respect for her, so when the lady is unexpetedly found dead, grandma takes it upon herself to seek out the people who had unloaded her on the Pitt household; convinced that something untoward is afoot.

As Perry's Christmas novellas go, this is one of my favorite installments to date, and i loved seeing it told, for once, not from the point of view of an easily likeable character, but from that of Grandma, who is a major pain in the neck to others (even though you'd have to be blind not to recognize from the word "go" that her acerbic tongue and pretensions are merely part of her personal armour).  I also wondered whether the murder victim's character might have been inspired by pioneering women travelers like Gertrude Bell, even if the story is set a few decades earlier than Bell's actual life.  I had issues with a couple of minor aspects of the plot (and characters / behaviour), but they didn't intrude enough to seriously impinge on my enjoyment of the story.  And since Grandma, for all her overblown pretenses, is certainly a strong woman character -- which she shows, not least, by eventually admitting to her own fallibilities -- I am counting this book towards the Human Rights Day square of 24 Festive Tasks.

 
Various Authors: Skandinavische Weihnachten

A charming anthology of Christmas short stories and poems from Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and Finland; chiefly geared towards children, but more than enjoyable by readers and listeners of all ages and generations.  I knew some of the entries (no Scandinavian Christmas anthology without Andersen's Little Match Girl, I suppose), but many of the stories were new to me, and they made for delightful listening on this 4th weekend of Advent. -- Set in Scandinavia, and thus I'm using it as my book for the St. Lucia's Day square.

Oscar Wilde: A Woman of No Importance

Wilde's second play; an acerbic take on the narrowness of fin de siècle English morality; or more particularly, supremely hypocritical perceptions of women's role in society.  Unlike in Wilde's later plays, the beginning comes across as a bit of an over-indulgence in the author's own clever wit, with a veritable fireworks of sparkling onelines and repartees following in quick succession without greatly advancing the plot (which is what earns the piece the subtractions in my star ratings -- it's the perfect example of too much of a good thing); but once the plot and the dialogue centers on the opposing protagonists, it quickly finds its feet. -- As Festivus books go, it's rather on the dark side, but it's a satire nevertheless, so I'm counting it for that square ... and though (unusually for Wilde) the last line is telegraphed a mile and a half in advance, I nevertheless enjoyed saying it along with the play's heroine from all my heart.

Oscar Wilde: Model Millionaire

My encore enjoyment to follow up A Woman of No Importance; a story that couldn't be any more different in tone and intent -- the tale of a gentleman who believes he has done a kindness to a raggedy beggar modelling for his artist friend ... only to find that he could not possibly have been any more mistaken, and that in fact it is he who is ultimately at the receiving end of an unexpected kindness.

The Snow Queen, it continues to be a story that has a special spot in my heart. I love the concept of a friendship so deep, and so pure, that nothing can keep them apart. I've also always loved the fact that this is the type of story where a girl rescues a boy, rather than the other way around! So, it's no surprise that I was so eager to read this graphic novel take on this beloved story.

Sadly, I didn't love it as much as I wanted to. While the bones of the story are intact, and the characters are still all true to themselves, I felt like this version zipped along too quickly to really bring out the aspects of the story that I love. The lack of time makes it so that the story is a more watered down version, and you really don't get the epic feel of Gerda's journey. I feel like this was additionally hampered by the simplicity of the illustrations in this book. The Snow Queen leaves so much space for gorgeous panels, filled with icy backdrops and epic journeys. It all just felt too flat to me, and left a bit disappointed.

For staying true to the story I love, I'm willing to give three stars. I just wanted more.