The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald

[meganbmoore]

I'm not sure how old I was when I first read The Princess and the Goblin, but I was young enough that I did not yet realize that not all classics looked like classics, as opposed to sometimes being packaged like "normal" books. I remember my surprise when I realized I'd read and reread a book that was just over a hundred years older than me

Comments

[inversecalico]

I just checked this out from the library last week, though I haven't made it far enough down the pile yet to have gotten to it. It's an omnibus of The Princess and the Goblin, The Princess and Curdie (which I'm assuming is a sequel), and At the Back of the North Wind (unrelated?).

I'm amazed that I never managed to find this as a child, despite a voracious consumption of fairy tales, myths, and fantasies. I have only the vaguest memories of the animated film, and I didn't realize it was based on a book or find out the source's age until well over a decade later.

[meganbmoore]

The movie is largely faithful, as such things go. I actually rewatched it recently and thought it held up decently well.

[ladysaotome]

Have you ever read any other George MacDonald? My favorite of his children fairy tales was always Little Daylight. Though I liked a lot of his fiction, too.

[meganbmoore]

This is actually the only macDonald I've read, though I have several ebooks and grabbed a few at a booksale this weekend.

[ladysaotome]

Some of his books are really interesting mysteries. Like "David Elginbrod" (reprinted as "The Tutor's First Love") which had ghosts, haunted mansions, secret passages, hypnotism, magic rings, songs, poems, beautiful ladies and sinister villans. "The Fisherman's Lady" & "The Marquis' Secret" are other ones I remember. The original books can be heavy on the scotch dialect, the reprints are edited by Michael Phillips and much easier to read. My favorite was "Sir Gibbie" aka "The Baronet's Song" - though it's been so long since I read it that I don't remember why I loved it. I do remember a poem from it, though...

My thoughts are like fire-flies, pulsing in moonlight;
My heart like a silver cup, filled with red wine;
My soul a pale gleaming horizon, whence soon light
Will flood the gold earth with a torrent divine.