Book Event

I was able to attend a book discussion hosted by Oxford Exchange Bookstore, discussing the book Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher. It was a very insightful conversation!

We first opened the discussion with what kinds of fairy tales we saw in this story. A few that were named were “Sleeping Beauty,” “Cinderella,” “Pinocchio,” and loosely “Wizard of Oz,” “Alice in Wonderland,” and “Rumpelstiltskin.” Everyone thought that this was a story that lived adjacent to fairy tales and in conversation with fairy tales instead of any kind of retelling.

Just about everyone in this group loved this book for a variety of reasons. One was the spaced-out surprising humor. Another was the Blistered Land, which everyone wanted to see more of. Many liked how refreshing it was that the main character was older and in her thirties. They forgave her for being as weepy as she was because of how sheltered she was growing up. And everyone loved the side characters, especially the dust-witch.

It was very interesting to hear that a majority of people believed that it was the land that gave the main character the magick to make the bone dog, which I agree with and was not something I had thought of. Another interesting topic that was discussed in this conversation was feminism and how many couldn’t wrap their minds around this being a feminist book, especially since it still had such misogynistic requirements.

This book brought up many conversations about life, literature, prose, history, and other forms of media. One of the questions that it also brought up that still lingers in my mind is what is more fairytale-like, someone having to partake in a tortuous punishment for the rest of their lives or someone just dropping dead?