'...the threadbare self-confidence of the small hours'
5 likes
The Bloody Chamber And Other Stories | 
'...the threadbare self-confidence of the small hours'
'...grown magnificently eccentric in hardship...'
Honestly been struggling to get stuck into any book since finals, but hopefully this will be the one. Has anyone read it before? What was your favourite tale?
pickDark fairy tales? Yes please!
pickSuch an incredibly written, wonderfully creepy and sensuous retelling of fairytales.
This book might or might not have been part of the inspiration for me and my guy‘s costumes this year...he was red riding hood, I‘m the wolf 🐺
The books in my #screamathon package from @fandom_hellspawn99 🍂🎃💀☠️👻 — Doctor Sleep (The Shining Part 2) by Stephen King, the first edition of The Amityville Horror, and this gorgeous copy of Angela Carter‘s The Bloody Chamber. 🐺Thank you so much, darling, for everything! And thank you, @4thhouseontheleft for organizing it! #horror #october
Day 6. #7days7covers #covercrush
Post a cover you love every day for 7 days, no explanation required. Try to tag a litten too!
@Ash.on.the.line if you're interested 😊
pickAnother book from the ships library. I don‘t recall ever reading Angela Carter. I loved her writing. Short stories perfect for reading on a cruise. They are sort of retellings of fairy tale like stories perfect for where we are right now — Copenhagen. Young Viking in Aalborg Denmark. @MrsMalaprop
so-soI really wanted to love this book as much the previous reviewers and while I enjoyed some of the stories overall the book left me a little cold.
“And we drove towards the widening dawn, that now streaked half the sky with a wintry bouquet of pink roses, orange of tiger-lillies, as if my husband had ordered me a sky from the florist”. (8)
pickReally enjoyed this collection. It‘s an interesting mix of fairy tales and supernatural tales. 4/5 #shortstories #februaryreads #fairytales #specfic
pickMy book based on a fairy tale were short stories based on several fables but with a feminine twist, lots of wolves vampires and nasty beasties threatening yng women.writing was incredible, so descriptive -all my senses were exhausted at the end, i cd smell blood and wet fur, see huge moon reflected eyes and ruby lips, hear howls, feel the cold of snow, +taste that basket of goodies.
#booked2019@Cinfhen @BarbaraTheBibliophage @4thhouseontheleft
#booked2019 this morning my car was in for its mot so got the tram to work, a gr8 excuse to rd for an hr. I thought I'd start my 'fairy tale retelling ' book with a gentle short story +quickly started to worry about if anyone was rdng over my shoulder! Gosh that 1st story was stunning, beautiful prose which felt like i was gorging on a huge box of chocolates and very sensual. Not sure ideal reading for public transport. But do love her writing.
Thank you Megan part 2!!! Two books I am beyond excited about, a print I swooned over, snacks and tea- a letter from Beast to his Beauty, a bookmark... your generosity....😘🥰😍i loved hosting a swap- and never anticipated anything like this!!!
Started reading for the February meeting of my local specfic book club. #Februaryreads #shortstories
so-soI honestly don‘t quite know what I think about this book overall. It definitely could be classified as horror but also as fantasy. It was more like strange retellings of old fairytales. To be perfectly honest, I thought I would enjoy it more than I did. There were, however, sections that were so beautifully written it was hard to put down. I definitely rounded up to give this a 3-star rating.
My “book octopus” 🐙 is keeping my place. Isn‘t she adorable?
I love my #ReadingLife. All three of these look so interesting. Can‘t wait to dig my teeth into them.
pickA pick, yes, but I would not rate all the stories equally. The spin on puss-in-boots is unique and entertaining, the descriptions in The Erl-King elegant and poetic. Other stories I found less compelling, like Blue Beard and Mr Lyon (a retelling of Beauty and the Beast), partly because they did not stray far enough from the originals (still had some notable variations though). The Erl-King was my favourite.
Delivery day!
Diving into my #fairytaleretelling for #Booked2019. Struggled to pick one but in the end went for a classic that i have shamefully not read yet... It's a genre that I'm getting more and more into!
@Cinfhen @BarbaraTheBibliophage @4thhouseontheleft
pickThis gets a 🤘but it in not a 🤟
These retellings of fairy tales and such are luxuriantly written but were more sexually explicit (but probably not very, compared to many other books out there!) than what I enjoy reading.
I enjoyed her way of weaving turns of phrase organically in her own ornate voice.
👏 for relative complexity of the female characters.
Every story explores themes of being trapped and predation.
#sfftbrchallenge #Booked2019
My favorite emails by far are from Electric Lit. Last night, I read K.C. Mead-Brewer's Daddy Thing and was up until 4 reading everything else I could find by them. It's a dark fairy tale about vampire bats and abusive relationships. Like Carmen Maria Machado meets Angela Carter.
https://electricliterature.com/the-girl-is-always-eaten-at-the-end-254baabdef8e
Have you seen this edition @monalyisha ? It's still in print. I have this edition & I love it!
This is the edition of “The Bloody Chamber” that I most covet. 🖤
#happilyeverafterswap
A #ringofkeys is essential to the plot of Bluebeard and Angela Carter's Bloody Chamber is a sensual, fierce, feminist fairy tale. #musicalnewyear @Cinfhen @vivastory
I bullied a coworker into forming a classics book club with me, as my latent lit major missed reading books and arguing about them. I got to pick first since my birthday‘s this month. So one of my first books of 2019 will be Angela Carter‘s masterpiece of shivery retellings. 🍎❄️🐺🕯🗝
pickI had a hell of a year in books!! I would be hard-pressed to pick a single favorite out of all those, but the tagged book was certainly top ten!! I plan to keep working on those diversity numbers, and especially the number of books in translation.
so-soOut of the 10 stories in this book, 5 stories were great, with "The Bloody Chamber" being the best. 3 stories were okay. The rest fell flat.
Although I expect good and bad stories in a collection, I expected more good stories than the amount that was mediocre or flat. Still, this is worth a read, I just wish Carter would have maintained the intensity she presented with the first story.
Also just read "Wolf Alice" which bares similarities to "Alice in Wonderland." This last story focuses on a feral girl, who nuns try to civilize. After all attempts fail, they leave her to a vampiric Duke, who she grows compassionate towards.
This tale was okay, it was an interesting look at the human condition.
Just read "The Company of Wolves." Having grown up with the movie, I had a good idea of what to expect. Still, there are differences between book and film.
This short story is a closer look at "Little Red Riding Hood" and how it is a coming of age piece. Other tales woven into this short regard a woman who turned a wedding into a pack of wolves, and the tale of a woman who is newly wed to a werewolf.
Loved this installment.
Just read "The Werewolf" and I almost enjoyed it as much as the first tale. Influenced by "Little Red Riding Hood" this variation shows Little Red defending herself against a werewolf where she cuts off its paw. To one's surprise, Little Red recognizes the hand belonging to someone she knows.
By the twist this entry provides, one questions if Little Red concocted a lie to her benefit. Loved it.
Just read "The Lady of the House of Love" and it started off promising but faded as it progressed. The plot regards a vampire who lures travelers to her chamber where she kills them. Yet, when she accidentally cuts herself and her wound is kissed by a traveling soldier, she dies. This could be because this soldier is referred to as pure and innocent.
Read "The Snow Child" & that was fairly disturbing.
The concept is a count & his countess are riding horses on a snowy day. During their ride, he wishes for a girl who is as white as snow, as red as blood, & as black as a raven's feather. No sooner does he speak his wish, a naked girl appears before them. Whereas one might suspect the couple to be loving towards her, the countess hates her. Also, there is a scene of pedophilia & necrophilia.
Finished "The Erl-King," and unlike the last 2 stories that flopped, I loved this tale.
Written with softcore eroticism, the narrator is walking through the woods. Amid her walk, she encounters an entity who seems to be an embodiment of all things in nature, similar to The Green Man. As he seduces her, she realizes she is in danger as he has turned his previous lovers into caged birds. To save herself, she must kill him. A great feminist tale.
Although the plot of "Puss and Boots" was fun, it lacked the gripping intensity that was relayed in the opening tale.
Read "Puss & Boots" & I wasn't too invested. Honestly, I daydreamed in & out, which could be why I didn't enjoy it.
In this variation, the cat, Figero, strikes up a friendship with the cat belonging to his owner's love interest. Though his owner's love interest is already wed to a man who treats her like a slave. From here, Figero & his new companion plot to kill the husband of the young woman, so their owners & themselves can live in happiness.
pickThe language in these short stories was beautiful. Many were fairy tale retellings, but so unique that I often struggled to figure out which one. The title story was very familiar, so I suspect I‘d read it elsewhere before. There did not seem to be a dud in the bunch.
I thought this was beautiful, it was in the Story called The Erl-King, which is a picture of obsessive love, with a twisted bend. All the stories in this collection have a twisted bend though.
Just read "The Courtship of Mr. Lyon" and "The Tiger's Bride." Both are inspired by "Beauty and the Beast." Between the two, I like "The Courtship of Mr. Lyon" better. Somehow, "The Tiger's Bride" fell flat, although it does show the diversity of how an author can use one classic source to create multiple scenarios. Overall, neither were as intense as the first story.
I read the first tale, "The Bloody Chamber" and couldn't put it down. Inspired by the tale "Bluebeard" this was an ideal way to open a collection that I'm assuming is more grim than wholesome.
I can't recall the last time I read a story this heart pounding and suspenseful. Even if the remainder of this book doesn't live up to the intensity of the first installment, I'm happy to at least experience the introductory installment.
There are lots of #wildcreatures in Angela Carter's Bloody Chamber and only some of them are animals... #NoFemmeBer @Cinfhen @Billypar
October wrap-up.
Books I actually read on the left, books I meant to read on the right.
So, five out of twelve on that list, but still about ten in print (returned one to the library.)
Not bad, not bad. Will have to finish the others soon.
so-soI still have two hours left of The Bloody Chamber, but I think it‘s safe to say this collection just is not for me. #moremehthanyeah
Longer review on my blog, if you‘re interested. https://wp.me/pKWKW-4F
pickAngela Carter is fierce! ♥️
The writing in here is so beautiful, you find yourself holding your breath. My favorites were the title story, of course, and her three renditions of Red Riding Hood. Perfect for October!
#bookreview #freebie #riotgrams #screamathon
