Retold Fairytales

This week I've been reading some books from a genre I call Retold Fairytales. Basically they are a subgenre of fantasy, and true to their name they are expanded versions often with unexpected twists of fairy tales that were originally recorded by people like the Grimm Brothers or Hans Christian Andersen. This genre is certainly not limited to books, many movies are retold fairytales (thank you Disney) and with the explosion in the book market there is even a TV show that is bases on fairytale characters. I own quite a few of the books, and I've read and watched even more, and I've even written a short story that I've already posted here. Some of my favorite authors in this genre are Robin McKinley (Spindle's End), Cameron Dokey (Golden) and Gail Carson Levine (Ella Enchanted). This week as I was reading I was thinking about why I liked them. There are two reasons, one is the fairly superficial reason that they have a little romance (usually clean) and end happily... something to do with that happily ever after bit. The other reason is more interesting, and it has to do with my idea of the Imperfect Canvas. The point behind retold fairytales is that you can recognize which story it is but although you can predict and expect certain things to happen, good authors still make the  characters fully developed and the motives for doing things change, and are unexpected, and it is cool how they manipulate the "restraints" of the original tale and craft into something new, meaningful, and creative. This is a very imperfect canvas, but I find it highly entertaining.

PS. I started listing authors but then didn't want to stop, so here are few more authors and retold fairytales that I've enjoyed. Shannon Hale (The Goose Girl), Susan Fletcher (Shadow Spinner), and Juliet Mariller (Wildwood Dancing).

Black and White Firehydrant

This Firehydrant is a modified version of a photograph I took. I did it for an assignment in my art class last semester. I think it turned out pretty well, it's kind of simple. To be honest though it was a huge pain, and took me far longer than I thought it would.

Venting

Sorry, I don't have a picture again this week.

Most people I think have vented about something in their life, and most people have listened to someone else vent. And when I say vent, I mean complaining a lot about a specific thing/person for an entire conversation. Sometimes people apologize for venting, other times I've heard things like "I just have to get it off my chest." This has made me wonder about whether venting is healthy or not. I've come to the conclusion that it can be both, it just depends on how it's done. 

For example one time when I was on my mission me and my companion ate at someone's house. The father of the house came home and complained about who we were working with and told us he didn't like the program that we were now working through. Needless to say we were miffed. As we drove away we had some plans to go stop by some other peoples homes but we were both so angry we didn't think that would be a good idea, so for a few minutes we vented to each other. I think it was healthy, in a way we were justifying ourselves and our work and discovering again that we were doing what we thought was right. Then we prayed, and I wanted to leave it at that. Be done. But my companion, was apparently not ready to let it go and she kept venting. That is when I think it becomes unhealthy. Instead of letting the frustration out, I think when we keep on venting about the same thing (whether it's to the same person or not) then it is just building up negative feelings instead of releasing them. 

Thus I think venting is good to a certain point. It can relieve frustration, but if it continues for too long it just builds up the frustration all over again. 

Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians

This is going to be one of those few reviews I write and there aren't any spoilers. For Christmas I was given Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson. I have read several of Sanderson's books, but this is a difference genre. And it is bizarre! I don't even know how to express how annoying, frustrating, intelligent, captivating, original, and clever it was. I still don't know how I feel about it.
It is a preteen adventure book, Harry Potter started out as the same genre. I would also include the Percy Jackson series as well as the Septimus Heap books. They are all about 12 year old boys (who all act older) who find out something amazing about themselves aka they have some magical ability and then they go out and save the world.
The thing about Alcatraz though is that Sanderson breaks all the rules. It's in first person and it's filled with foreshadowing and fake foreshadowing like "Little did I know that I was going to get attacked by sharks next." and then he goes and doesn't get attacked by sharks. But he does get attacked. And at the beginning or sometimes the middle of each chapter he embarks on random tangents about the correct way of reading books (from the beginning), and how thought provoking books are all about boys and their dead dogs. Which are genuinely intelligent and funny. Those asides definitely remind me of older authors like Dickens or Louisa May Alcott except their asides were usually moralistic.
But I think what might have been most frustrating is that throughout the whole book Alcatraz is trying to convince us that he's not a nice person. But he's not. And it gets annoying.
But the characters are interesting and well developed. The magic is original and complex. The plot is clever, and the voice is brilliant. I'm not surprised Sanderson wrote it. But I don't think I've ever read a book that was so purposefully irritating.
And I apologize, if you haven't read the book, this will probably not really make sense.