Grimm Tales For Young and Old by Philip Pullman

Pullman's skill as a master storyteller is brought here to bear on Grimm's fairy tales, both familiar and less so.

I own several books of fairy tales including the definitive The Annotated Brothers Grimm so why should I want this? Because Pullman doesn't just regurgitate Grimms' tales, he selects and retells them so beautifully. Because the book itself is beautiful, a large weighty hardback with a ribbon to mark the pages. And because after a hiatus I am now reading to my 9 year old again and together we are discovering / rediscovering the stories that are the underpinning of our culture. Many are disturbing and gruesome, all are annotated with good brief notes on the other versions of these tales in existence.