Current Best Selling Fantasy Books
The Tales of Beedle the Bard is the first book written by J.K. Rowling since her Harry Potter series and I am happy to say, she is still a great entertainer. I picked this book up, thinking that my eight year old daughter might enjoy it, and, as I read the stories to her, it was me who ended up thoroughly hooked. It was great to find a set of good, old-fashioned fairy tales, and both I and my daughter loved them.
The book has five short fairy tales – some of which have overt life lessons incorporated into them and some which don’t. The first story was The Wizard and the Hopping Pot. I was immediately hooked when it started out “There was once . . .”. It is the story of a kindly old wizard whose son has a few lessons to learn about life. The next story entitled The Fountain of Fair Fortune was my favorite and it was the story of three witches and the unlucky knight they encounter on their way to bathe in a magic fountain. I really liked the lesson this story had to teach.
The third tale is reminiscent of those Grimm brothers whose fairy tales were not always so nice (remember – Hansel & Gretal were going to be cooked and eaten!). The story is named The Warlock’s Hairy Heart and what a hairy heart it is. The ending was a little sad for my eight year old and I had to do some explaining because she wanted to know why the warlock killed himself and the girl in the end but it was not inappropriate for a young reader – not any more inappropriate that the ending of The Little Mermaid or a Brothers Grimm tale.
The fourth story was a story of a witch who has a few lessons to teach to a greedy man and a foolish king. Babbity Rabbity And Her Cackling Stump is a unique name for a unique story and my daughter especially liked this one. The fifth and last story in the book is the Tale of the Three Brothers. And, just like the title says, three brothers meet Death and he is not too happy that they are alive to do it. Death tries to trick them but, sometimes, even Death can be fooled.
As I said before, I was so happy to find a book of real fairy tales. They were fun to read and more than appropriate for children of all ages. After reading and loving these fairy tales so much, I am wondering if it’s time for me to read some fantasy stories again and perhaps even start the Harry Potter series. Yes, that’s right, I never read the Harry Potter series, but, now I’ve got a real incentive to do so, if The Tales of Beedle the Bard are anything to go by.
Check out The Tales of Beedle the Bard at online retailers like Amazon.
If you followed the True Blood series last season you know that the show achieved an almost cult following. Did you also know that the series is based on this book?
In Dead Until Dark, the first book in the Southern Vampire Mystery series (also lovingly known as the Sookie Stackhouse series) we meet our heroine, Sookie Stackhouse, a waitress in a small town bar who has a special gift: she can hear other people’s thoughts. Sookie sees this gift as more of a cursing than a blessing because she has to work hard to shield herself from the minds of others. Imagine walking into a room of people and hearing all of their thoughts buzzing together in your head. Can you say heavy medication?
In this book, Sookie meets Bill Compton, the new hunky vampire in town. Sookie is fascinated by him because, not only is he the first vampire she’s met, but she’s also unable to read his mind. This adds immensely to his attraction because when she’s with him she hears silence.
Sookie soon learns that having a vampire boyfriend comes with special perks. It also introduces her to a world of supernatural creatures (some of them deadly) that she never knew existed.
Charlaine Harris is a fantastic writer that keeps her storyline fast-paced with humor and great dialogue. If you’re a fan of urban fantasy you’re going to love this book, as well as the other 8 books in the series. Charlaine Harris has written 9 books thus far and they get better as they go along. This a top notch fantasy series and one of the best selling fantasy books of 2008. Enjoy.
Get Dead Until Dark (Southern Vampire Mysteries, No. 1)
If you like the Sookie Stackhouse books, be sure to check out the Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J.R. Ward. The latest book in the series, Lover Avenged, is definitely worth checking out.
