Bookish Thoughts

I'll admit, I bought this $30, 800+ page tome in order to read one single short story. Because that short story was written by Patrick Rothfuss about Bast, and I am desperate for new material in that world. Of course, this collection also contains plenty of other stories by plenty of other authors I love, so it felt worth that price tag. Let's go through it story by story, shall we? The Lightning Tree  by Patrick Rothfuss - This story basically chronicles a day in the life of Bast an indeterminate amount of time before the first book starts, but after Kvothe has established himself as Kote, owner of the Waystone Inn. Bast trades secrets and favors with children, gets into some mischief, does some highly questionable and uncomfortable things, but also does some tough and honorable things. He's a tough guy to pin down, because his moral code is skewed by his Fae heritage. This story left me more confused about him than before, but it was a nice little slice of life, none...

This book is a collection of forty modern retellings of fairy tales.  The inspirations are pulled from all over the world.  Some of the tales are more faithful to the source material than others.  But all of them remain true to the form. I love fairy tales.  This dates back to my early days watching Disney films.  I grew up in the golden age of Disney, when The Little Mermaid , Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King were first released.  The Little Mermaid was the first movie I ever saw in the theater and I was downright terrified of Ursula.  Cinderella was the first movie I ever owned, and I remember being excited when my dad told me we didn't have to take it back to the store. I graduated from Disney to the real fairy tales.  The Little Mermaid experiences excruciating pain every time she takes a step with her new legs.  In the end she turns to sea foam and floats away when her prince chooses a different girl (one t...