Grimm Tales for Young and Old

I got this a my trial book as it appeared to be the best of a bad bunch. Well I think I chose wisely as this is so gripping. I have listened to it for the past week to and from work and it each time my interpretation is different- I think the prologue really helps you to see Grimm's fairy tales in a different light. I am thinking of getting the hard back for my kids for Christmas. A great purchase

Pullman pulls it out of the bag again. These stories are classic (though most not so well known) and resonate with our human condition.



I particularly enjoyed listening to the introduction read by Philip Pullman, which was really informative.



It's nice to have such a range of stories that go from being 8mins to 30mins long, so if you don't have hours to spare to sit down in one go you can still get loads out of it. A great book, get it!

I have not read these since I was a child, and Pullman's introduction is very informative and makes you see the tales in a totally different way than just jumping in and hearing them.



But for me the best bit about these tales is the narration by Samuel West it's just fantastic, he breathes life into the characters in the tales and makes them so much more enjoyable and sometimes very funny.



certainly worth purchasing no matter what age you are.

I listen to audio books while I walk and so finding a compelling book means I get more exercise, this is a good thing to me. This book is wonderful for this. The stories are all short which means that I can listen to 'just one more' before I head home. One more tends to lead to just the one more again and so on. I highly recommend this title, not all of the stories were very familiar to me but they did all seem like old friends in very short order.

These are the original Grimm tales not the Disney-fied version. Some are dark, some have interesting morals.. all describe the human condition, as relevant today as they were when they were written.



Many of the stories are well known, but there were many I had heard for the first time, which were really enjoyable.



The books is really enhanced by Samuel West's brilliant reading - he has the perfect intonation for such a collection of tales. Thoroughly recommend.

I enjoyed part 1 of Grimm's tales but found I could have done without part 2. All the stories fell into one of 4 or so templates and you could pretty much guess exactly what was going to happen, in fact some of the stories were identical but for some minor changes in the setting. I actually groaned and felt deflated at some endings because I'd heard the exact same ending earlier in the book. This ruined part 2 for me and I found myself looking back at the chapters page to see how long there was to go and willing it to finish. I enjoyed listening to some old stories from my childhood and there were some alternative versions to the ones I thought I was familiar with. Each tale was very short which was good as if you don't like one at least it'll be over in 10 mins and you'll be on to the next. At the beginning there is a nice prologue about the Grimm brothers and about how tales used to be told, although interesting it does go on a bit and get a bit self indulgent.

This is an excellent collection and very well read too. I have listened to it slowly, in between other books, as after a while I got 'fairy-taled out'. Still, I'm enjoying going back and listening 2 or 3 at a time. I think this audio book will be useful when I have kids. Definitely a good buy.

I really enjoyed Philip Pullman's revisiting of the classic Grimm tales. What updating there is is quite subtle and entirely in keeping with the original stories. The stories are beautifully read by Sam West and the voices he gives to the characters bring many of the tales to life. There are many familiar tales and far more that were quite new to me. I think if you were buying this for or to read to a child you would need to exercise some care as the fates of many of the villains (and a few of the heroes) are thoroughly unpleasant!

This is an excellent audiobook to dip into. I've been listening to 2 or 3 stories in a session. Samuel West is a great choice to narrate the selection - easily able to adapt his voice to play different characters. The introduction by Pullman is included and sets the tone.

I got this audio book with high hopes. Thinking that a great author like Philip Pullman would add something to Grimm's original tales, I started listening right away.



Let it be said at this point that Samuel West does a marvellous job at narrating the stories. His voice is lovely to listen to and he breathes life into the story.



It was also very interesting to listen to stories that you thought you knew, only to figure out that you were completely mistaken. Take the Princess and The Frog for example. The original tale doesn't have a romantic kiss that transforms the frog into a prince, no, the girl smashes him against the wall and that cures him.



That being said, I found it a little disappointing that these really are simply re-tellings of the originals. I would have hoped for something slightly more original. That is my only criticism however, and if you want to listen to fairy tales and maybe be surprised by some of their oddness, then this is a lovely recording.