I am a runner. And when you run a long race, oftentimes you find yourself basically counting down the miles . . .10 to go, 9 to go, etc. I felt similarly while reading this book. 40 fairy tales to go. 39 fairy tales to go. 1 fairy tale to go. Goal!!
That's how much I enjoy reading fairy tales. Not.
Basically, fairy tales encompass every reading element I don't care for. No character development. Lots of fantastical and supernatural elements. Anti feminist (the women, in the form of princesses, are basically the reward for every good deed and every decent male). Worse yet, a lot of the elements are basically repeated in different tales.
This book was basically a retelling of favorites with Pullman's commentary at the end. Pullman's commentary was more like blog entries than a polished analysis. Sometimes he really made me chuckle. Sometimes he brought up some interesting tidbits. And sometimes, I'm like "can't believe they published this drivel". What his commentary was not was academic or erudite. That's fine, but I couldn't really trick myself into feeling like I was learning something by reading these fairy tales.
A few of the tales did bring about some nostalgia (Little Red Riding Hood). I also liked a few - - by far my favorite was the one about the insatiable wife who is never satisfied and harangues her husband endlessly. Another one I found enjoyable was about a very lazy man who marries a very lazy wife. But others were just bad or meandering or pointless.
At any rate, I'm still giving the book three stars because in the context of the tag, I think the book was a fine effort. I didn't have trouble getting through it. I found some of it mildly entertaining. So on the low end of the three star range, but definitely in there. ( )

I found this collection pretty unedifying really. I think it might be nice for a more casual reader rather than someone who has studied the tales, but lacking either novelty or exegesis its just another collection of fairy tales neither noticably better nor especially worse than any other. ( )

Wonderful book - best overall condensation of Grimm I've encountered. Pullman is not only a wonderful writer, but a very competent scholar as well. ( )

Very well told - will buy own copy. Loved these in childhood in an older version

I've read a few fairy tales books (from a Disney series) when I was a kid. Cinderella, for example, was one of them. But later on, when I really got into reading, I never really checked back on those kinds of stories, be them by Grimm or other authors.

It was by chance that I saw this book, Grimm Tales, in a bookshop. Reading the back cover, I thought it would be interesting to read such fairy tales, if only to have some variation in my collection.

Grimm Tales, one of the many books out there collecting tales from the brothers Grimm, who got their stories from other people, is a collection of 53 tales. Philip Pullman reworked them a little for this edition. He also added with each tale its history, a reference to similar tales (by different authors), and his findings on the presented tales.

Also interesting is the introduction, in which mr. Pullman tells about the brothers Grimm and how their tales collection came to be. Plus, he explains what's typical for a fairy tale, what a good tale should contain, what not, etc. So it's not just a compilation of tales, but it has added info, which makes the books more interesting and valuable.

The tales themselves are of course not all equally good/entertaining/..., but the majority is. Most of them involve rich vs poor, typical characters like princes/queens/kings/witches/... and talking animals.

All in all, I found Grimm Tales a very entertaining and informative read. Depending how old you are, it may bring back memories from your childhood. ;-) But as the subtitle says, it's for "Young and Old", i.e. everyone. ( )