Around mid January, I was headed on a solo road trip that would take me around 10hrs, there and back again. I could have made my way through my “liked songs” on Spotify or searched for the local radio stations of the towns I passed through but I wanted to take a chance on something with a bit more commitment.

Having recently finished On Writing by Stephen King, I had a hankering for reading something by him. Much to my delight, I had a credit in my Audible account and had just heard from a fellow bookish friend that his creation, Fairy Tale was outstanding. That was the selection I chose to keep me company on my journey.

It was an overcast and rainy Friday afternoon when I hit play on the listening selection. A heavy storm was in the forecast and I would be driving right into it. Instead of being nervous about the commute, I leaned into the serendipity of hearing a captivating story whilst miles of moody and saturated farm/woodland passed by my windows. The drive inspired as much creative magic in my mind palace as the story did and I am pretty sure SK wouldn’t have it any other way.

From the start, I felt at home within Fairy Tale. Not only was I immediately drawn in to the story being weaved, I just love the way Stephen King puts words on a page. I could (and have been) greatly intimidated by reading BIG authors but every word of this creation really made me feel like I could “do it” and even more so, like he wrote it just for me! Listening to this audiobook and simultaneously imagining little stories about the towns I drove through on the way to my destination gave me a touchstone that I will revisit as often as I can…and hopefully fill my “to be written” notebook to the brim 🙂

As far as the story itself goes, I found it phenomenal!

It almost feels like a “DUH” thing to say but this book is every bit of “imagine Stephen King writing a fairy tale”. It’s got all the wonder, intrigue, star eyed fantasy and bread crumb trail paired, over and over again, with deeply emotional moments of fear, anger, frustration, impatience, grief, sacrifice, loss and love. I was captivated throughout and found myself often thinking it was everything a fairy tale should be.

What do I really know about them though?

Fairy tales…

Yes, I’ve seen/heard almost every Disney adaptation there has ever been and few, more YA versions of those tales I’d heard as a kid but what do I really know?

Thankfully, this book reminded me I had a huge resource on a shelf in my office, waiting to be opened and explored…

As you can see, I have had this book a LONG time! There are a few check marks by the tales I have read but 3/4 of them are still waiting.

So, I thought I’d bring it to you all and ask you…

What are your favorite Grimm’s fairy tales?

What are you favorite sources for fairy tales?

My plan is to make my way through Grimm’s over this next year and to continue the conversation if you all would like to!?

First up though and simply because it also starts with F, I just finished the book Finding Dorothy. It’s a fictitious account of the life of Maude Baum (L. Frank Baum’s wife) up to the making and release of the motion picture that I believe we all know, The Wizard of Oz.

Within this story, I found myself a kindred spirit in L. Frank Baum (who penned his famous tales in his 40’s) and have immediately went on to reading his books for the first time.

It’s really exciting to find something older anew and to know that stories really are timeless, as are the worlds/characters brought to life by them!

Happy page turning dear readers 🙂

<3CC