Good Reading- What are your thoughts?

A little context: The Brothers Grimm were the first to make a significant scholarly attempt to collect the “original” versions of traditional folk tales, as told by ordinary people. They didn’t always adhere perfectly to that dictum — some of the stories they collected from print sources and educated, middle-class tale-tellers, not just the “common folk” — but they were in many ways the first scholarly folklorists. They were also German nationalists, and their collections were intended to help foster a sense of German national identity and “German virtues.”

Because the Grimms did edit their stories somewhat, and because many of these are traditional stories that exist in many versions in many nations, there are often versions that are “earlier” and more primal than the ones here. If you find yourself wanting more, I’d recommend you look up works by Charles Perrault or Andrew Lang; Perrault’s tales pre-date the Grimms’ and are often more violent (i.e., Red Riding Hood gets eaten); Andrew Lang’s post-date the Grimms and are intended for children, but both should be out of copyright and available in free online editions.

Have good books that you want to suggest to the readers of this blog-site let me know?