The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror Paperback – March 13, 2018

This book is all of the above and then some, which makes it more enjoyable. I particularly loved and loathed the last 2 stories. They were particularly hard hitting. I'm only left wanting more!

Short story collections can be tough. You may not like all the stories and as a result the collection seems uneven. This is true here, though I liked the majority. There were a couple that I did not understand, partly because I was not familiar with the source material. And partly because I just did not understand it.The author retells fairy tales, Bible stories, Shakespeare, and folktales. Sometimes she incorporates elements of several sources into one story. Her retelling of the Velveteen Rabbit will scare anyone who worries that their toys may come alive in the night. The story called Fear Not: An Incident Log is a very humorous and modern retelling of the Book of Genesis. Her retelling of The Wind in the Willows is full of witty dialogue. Many of the stories have been modernized, such as the title story, which is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast.I have been trying to broaden my reading with more short story collections. I am also really enjoying retellings of fairy tales and folk tales. The writing here is sharp, funny, and skilled. One thing I did not like was the author’s mixing of pronouns and genders. I understand the point (I think) but I just found that to be a confusing device rather than something that enhanced my understanding of the story. I read another short story collection that is a retelling of fairy tales, which I liked much better. So, if you enjoy The Merry Spinster, you may want to check out Magic for Unlucky Girls by A. A. Balaskovits. It is as chilling as it is imaginative.

Ortberg puts a unique spin on classic fairy tales, with characters who have fluid genders and (FINALLY) mythical creatures with non-human motives. Although these stories are very well-written, I wasn’t blown away by any of them. They seemed even more bleak and horrifying than the originals (which, frankly, were never meant for children anyway).I have to say I LOVED the re-imagined ending of The Six Swans, an old favorite of mine. I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley.

I've been a fan of Mallory Ortberg since the days when I would peruse The Toast on my phone during my daily commute. After she broke my heart by ending the website, I've had to get my fix by buying anything that she publishes. The stories in this book have all the wit and charm that kept me coming back to The Toast, and then some. I was pleasantly surprised by the different takes on the classic tales, no easy task given that someone usually tries to re-imagine them several times a year! I think my favorite had to be the first story of the book because it ended exactly how I felt the original should.

Oof. I know original fairy tales are gruesome. I’ve always loved the original The Little Mermaid far more than the Disney version,but these revamped tales are even darker than the originals. I enjoyed most of the stories with one exception. I’m truly horrified by what Ortberg did to The Velveteen Rabbit. I wish I could erase that from my memory. The others are great for October, but that one was traumatizing.

Uneven mix - re-telling of fairytales (everyday horror?) - that works to be so clever - that really it seems to just trip over itself in most efforts. So many parenthetical asides. Tales re-worked to no great purpose. The only stand-out for me was "The Rabbit" re-working of "The Velveteen Rabbit" - spinning into a truly vampirical dream of feeding off someone's love to achieve realness. Certainly, there were other moments that I enjoyed - but they were moments that lit up briefly in several of the other re-workings. Not enough to sustain the collection for recommendation. Looking for good fairytale retellings? - Seek out Mercedes Lackey, Robin McKinley and Sheri S. Tepper.

I was confused by this book. It twisted stories l loved into tales I did not care for. There was also some strange use of pronouns and gender.

This book is brilliant.I read it on a quiet rainy afternoon when my entire life was more in flux than usual, which is often, and its plain and brilliant turns of language remind me of the King James Bible. A book that has horrible and wonderful things in it that you are somewhat complex to read and somewhat horrified and fascinated by.A liminal book. Glad I didn't feel compelled to write it. Dark and not for kids, though it is for the kind of child I was and the adult I became.

Old fairytales made new with new angles, beautifully told in ways I've never read before.

A series of short retellings of stories from your childhood – everything from the Disney canon to Bible stories to the Velveteen Rabbit. Each has a twist on them that I think is specific to Daniel Ortberg’s imagination.“Since you have the goodness to think of me,” Beauty said, “be so kind as to bring me a rose.” This was in fact a greater inconvenience disguised as a simple request; in trying not to think of herself, as she so often did, she burdened everybody.

I was looking forward to this book, but the stories were hit and miss for me. I won’t be recommending this book.

So-so collection, some interesting ideas but very unevenly executed.

Some of the stories were wonderful but others were terribly confusing.