What is the most magical, enchanting story you have read? Could be a fairy tale, myth, legend, classic, novel…
What is the most magical, enchanting story you have read? Could be a fairy tale, myth, legend, classic, novel…
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My absolutely favourite fairy tale is The 12 Dancing Princesses. I love everything about it, especially the walk through the 3 underground forests!! There is usually so much amazing artwork in the illustrated versions
@Amie Mine too! I thought I was the only one. I have a gorgeously illustrated picture book that I got when I was a child and I still have it today (I’m 36!). I’ve always have trouble finding re-tellings of it. Doesn’t seem to be very popular.
Can I have 3 please? ?
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The Toy Makers by Robert Dinsdale
Caraval by Stephanie Garber
Oh, I’ve trying to decide between Caraval and the Night Circus – both on my TBR pile but I’m re-reading my fairy tale collection at the moment ?
@Zoe both great reads!
@Zoe I loved the Night Circus! I picked up Caraval because it looked Night-Circus-y; and it was OK, but in the end, I was just disappointed that it wasn’t The Night Circus. I’d be curious to see if reading them in the other order would produce opposite results.
@Ginger I’ll try Caraval first and let you know ?
@Zoe I’ll look forward to your results! ?
The Golden Compass series
I read a YA book called North Child. It was super uplifting.
Harry Potter ?
I do love Harry Potter ? I re-read them all at least once a year!
Harry Potter and Chronicles of Narnia
The Alchemist ?
@Eric love his books. My favorite is The Valkarie.
@Brandy I haven’t read that one yet, i read The Alchemist, Hippie, and I’m on The Scroll of Accra now. I love his style of writing, it’s so inspiring and profound!
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
The Princess And The Goblin by George MacDonald
The Bear and the Nightingale
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
@Anne Definitely the most magical I’ve read as an adult!
The Golden Compass or The Magicians series
@Amanda, I immediately thought of The Golden Compass series also. One of my favorite witches from a book …Serafina!
I’ve read so many of these that you’ve all mentioned. I loved The Toymakers, Caraval and The Night Circus. Going to add Sisters of the Winter Wood into the mix.
Or The Keys to the Kingdom!
You read right up my alley! Can’t wait to check these out ?
I love stories that are full of wonder and enchantment, I’m a fairy tale collector but also love general fantasy and magical worlds. Just finished Strange the Dreamer and the sequel Muse of Nightmares. I’d recommend them both ?
The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings series.
James and the Giant Peach by Ronald Dahl. I haven’t revisited it as an adult, but I loved it as a kid.
I love his work so much. I quite often dip into one of his for an afternoon, my favourite has to be Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, so dark and twisted but wonderful at the same time.
@Zoe Yes, I loved that one too!
Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner. It’s a grown up story about humans and elves. The ending was sad.
The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes by Dubose Hayward and Marjorie Hack is another childhood favorite. I did buy myself a copy of this a few years ago, and I still love it!
Princess Bride – it has suspence, mystery, sword fights and magic. what more could you want in one story?
The buried giant, kazuo ishiguro
Of bees and mist, erick setiawan
The lace reader, brunonia barry
@Emma 2 of these are on my tbr list, think I’ll add the third!
@Liza good to know! I just went through my goodreads list of books not already mentioned. I highly rate all of them and they’re all slightly different! I’m inyerested which were already on your list?
@Emma I was thinking The Buried Giant too, but you beat me to it! ?
Harry Potter is the obvious answer for me, but other then that probably the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini. Also The Broken Empire series by Mark Lawrence (that one is a wonderfully grimdark and gritty story)
The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.
Both in my TBR pile ?
The Night Circus for sure
The Night Circus
Barbara Kelly what is that about? It seems like a bunch of people on here love it.
This is the synopsis from Goodreads: “The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.
But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.
True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.
Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.”
—
It’s so magical. It’s a story that I’ve read multiple times and still think about even though years may pass since I’ve read it. It is transcendent yet real, and the characters are mystefying and relateable. It’s just such a wonderful experience.
Sounds amazing! Thank you!
@Barbara I might have to read this.
Great Expectations ?
Recently? The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden. Also East by Edith Pattou. Also Uprooted by Naomi Novik. In my youth? Beauty by Robin McKinley, or Chalice by the same.
@Kat Beauty was my favorite!
Fablehaven
Yes it’s a popular opinion but either the Hobbit or the Harry Potter series. They’re some of the only books I’ll gladly reread over and over.
The Harry Potter novels by J. K. Rowling will always be my personal favourites. Other favourites of mine are “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” by Poe and “Crime and Punishment” by Dostoyevsky.
The winternight trilogy. The Night Circus. The Bridge to Terabithia
Harry Potter and The Night Circus are so far above the rest for me in giving that feeling of wonder and magic!
Pillars of the Earth
The Chronicles of Narnia
I loved The Night Circus and The Monsters of Templeton plus anything by Alice Hoffman or Sarah Addison Allen
Harry Potter
The Bear and the Nightingale
Completely agree, Karla!!
The Cemetery of Forgotten books series by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. I’ve only read the second book (didn’t realize it had a predecessor ??♀️), but I enjoyed it, so I figure the first one’s probably good too! ?
@Ginger there are actually 3! I loved them all ♡
@Anne LOL-Oh, man, I can’t get it together with this set! ?
Definitely Harry Potter
The Night Circus!
The Six Servants
Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter sequel when I was younger.
As a young mother the only reading I did was related to parenting.
I started reading my favorite genres these last two years & thoroughly enjoyed Spinning Silver by Naomi Novic from the Fantasy genre.
His Dark Materials trilogy
Harry Potter series
The Faerie Path Series By Frewin Jones
Mary Poppins 🙂
Never Ending Story
So different to the film – love the book!
The Swing in the Summerhouse! I read it in the 6th grade and I can still remember it to this day, I’m 56!?
I have a 9 yr old and 5 yr old nieces….the ones they come up with are the best. ? (I tell them no spooky ones…I get spooky ones ??)
The Hobbit
Hmm… I still have a fond spot for the Seventh Princess. It’s a children’s book but it was the first ‘girl gets transported to another world’ story I had ever read and it resonated with me. The second would be the Barbed Coil for similar reasons. ^-^
Shirley Barber books when I was little.. the illustrations are so beautiful and magical – even as an adult I’m still in love with them ????♀️??♀️
Harry Potter
Narnia
The Hounds of the Morrigan
Enchanted by Orson Scott Card
The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe ??
The Gemma Doyle trilogy ?
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey.
Shadows of the wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
@Khola I love that book so much!
Wuthering Heights
Doctor Zhivago
Twas the night before by Jerry B. Jenkins. It’s probably not the most magical but it’s the first one that comes to mind because I read it recently. But definitely a fairytale for adults.
Tigers curse
Any of the original Oz books.
I have a penchant for witches, vampires, and werewolves!
I’m more fantasy lands, but don’t mind the odd wizard or dwarf ?
Just finished this and the sequel, loved both of them!!