Spinning Straw Into Gold

Amazon Used

This week caught me off my guard - I simply couldn't escape some unpleasant surprises. So here I am, my jaw sore from a surprise dentist visit, feasting on ice cream, mashed potatoes, and Ensure. I would admit to be miserable, but this is just the sort of thing I actually like because it means I get to catch up on my reading while I should be working. I personally believe that life has a way of throwing you off your daily rhythms when you're in need of a break that you might be just too stubborn to pause for. Such was the case this time!
I happened to find this book - lost or discorded, whichever the case, but momentarily forgotten - with only a few pages left unread.
I picked this book up as research for a personal project, which I've already reviewed a few other books for. This one was, after having read the others, more of a review on things I already knew by now. However, even though it mostly agreed with everything I've already studied about fairy tales, it also managed to have something fresh and original to say as well. If you're moderately interested in learning about reading between the lines of fairy tales, this is one of the books I would send you to (as well as Women Who Run With Wolves - though both of these might be considered "feminist" and might not be of a particular interest to male readers per say.) Like in the other books I've read, Joan Gould uses fairy tales to map out the particular crossroads women spanning all ages might meet in their lives, and explains what they might mean to you. Once again, it's interesting to me how fairy tales can be older than the hills but still be totally relevant to modern women. More so if you look a little closer than at face value.
The gimmick of the book is that it asks you "what is your favorite fairy tale?" and then it goes on to explain why it - and other, similar stories that aren't necessarily fairy tales (Jane Eyre, Pretty Woman, etc...) - might be significant to you. Once again, this is primarily focused on female readers.
It was very interesting, and I would love to share it with almost all of my lady friends, but I doubt they would have as much an interest in it as I had - they might have some arguments to make about it. But to me, it seems wholly sound.

The Feminine in Fairy Tales

Amazon Used

This isn't going to seem like a very interesting book, but I have to talk about it once I've finished it. As I've read this book in it's entirety as research for a personal project, it's not going to be much of a "review."

I would consider this book as more of an expansion of the materials you read about in Women Who Run With Wolves. I'm becoming quite the expert on particular stories and motifs (I joke that someone should just hand over my PhD any time they're ready - but we can talk about that when I scare up some grad school money maybe/eventually/never).
It does relay a lot of the same information that Women Who Run With Wolves covered, but examines it in closer and more academically, under a Jungian lens. Where Women Who Run With Wolves played more at women readers' sentiments, The Feminine in Fairy Tales asked you to examine yourself and others. Or rather, taught you how to. This wasn't a self-help book at all: it was philosophical and exploratory, but it focused more on the meanings behind the actions of common and uncommon fairy tales - not the reader. Still, it had gave me a lot to think about, personally, which is just a side effect.
It was fascinating, but not for the masses. For that, go to Women Who Run With Wolves. If, perhaps, you have a school paper to write - this makes excellent research. It can be bought on Amazon, but a quick Google search might scare up a PDF version, if you're a poor college student looking for some help.