Marina Warner: Once Upon A Time & Phillip Pullman: Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm

A natural pairing I think. Warner’s little book gives an excellent concise overview of the subject sprinkled with her characteristic perceptive observations which give it some personality. The different chapters are really well inter-related and integrated with each other so that by the end we feel we have both a wider and deeper knowledge of the fascinating subject - an impressive achievement given the length of the book.

the Pullman is another book that is, as ever with him, exceptionally well written. the biggest benefit of this is that he has gone back to the originals in all their dark power and with his mastery of English prose which combines clarity and linguistic precision, he makes them come truly alive in all their grim power - even when we think we know the stories - which, in at least one important sense we do not. Disney has much to answer for…