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Oct 19, 2010

Aubrey rated it:

I recently chose this book for my book cub. I love HCA fairy tales. They are so compelling and read as though you are sitting at the man's feet and he is telling them straight to you and guestering with his overly large hands. What was so great about reading them this time is this particular edition that is translated by Tiina Nunnally. It is incredible with it's bio of him in the front- a MUST read and the notes about each story in the back to conect it to a time and place in the authors li More...

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

May 23, 2011

Abigail rated it:

A collection of twelve fairy-tales, translated and compiled by Neil Philip, and illustrated by Isabelle Brent, this volume is an ideal choice for the young child first approaching Hans Christian Andersen's work as an independent reader. With an engaging, colloquial text, and beautiful gold-toned illustrations and page-borders, it has both visual and narrative appeal, and its limited scope will not intimidate the beginning reader in the same way a "complete tales" edition might.

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3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 13, 2008

Doug rated it:

I have not read this entire book. However, I highly recommend it.

First of all, Hans Christian Anderson did not write any children's stories, and apparently he would bristle at the comment that his stories are for children. He wrote these stories for adults, and he would often be invited to visit the King of Denmark and tell a few stories. This book mentiones which two were the King's favorites.

Occasionally I read a story or two from the book, and then I make notes on w More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Nov 16, 2011

Margot rated it:

Andersen is probably best known today for “The Little Mermaid,” usually in the sense that children who have seen the Disney film often hear, from their friends, something to the effect of, “Did you know that she actually dies in the end.” Andersen stories, more than any other traditional fairy tales, are filled with pathos and sadness, and end badly for their protagonists.

But to dismiss Andersen’s tales as “dark” fairy tales or, as seems to often be the case, a way to totally scar chil More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 14, 2011

Noelle rated it:

Beautifully selected works set in a fantastic translation, Hans Christian Anderson’s The Complete Fairy Tales and Stories is a wonderful introduction to the author’s work. His famous works are included and the translations are just as engaging as Anderson’s original tales. What is pertinent about Anderson’s work is his descriptions and gift for imagery. For example, in ‘The Little Mermaid’ Anderson opens his story by describing the colors and textures of the undersea kingdom that is both lyrical More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 19, 2010

James rated it:

This is a rather charming volume that takes a little effort to wade through if tales of the lives of trees, thimbles, candles, and obscure (to Westerners) European and Scandinavian history aren't your usual fare. Ask anyone on the street what their favourite Andersen story is, and they will likely reply, "Disney's 'Little Mermaid' was fun and had sweet music." Some may mention the Emperor's New Clothes, or The Ugly Duckling. After reading his complete works, my conclusion is that And More...

4 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 09, 2012

Prashant rated it:

author : Hans Anderson. How have I never heard this name before. How is it even possible. This man has created the most poignant of my childhood stories and I have come to know about him so late in my life. Well, at least it was not unlike the other learning of my life : always late but you will get there, trust me!

The tales are familiar because they have been adopted in all possible media since decades. Thumbelina, The Princess and the Pea, The king's new Clothes, The Mermaid were More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 20, 2010

Teresa rated it:

I don't know enough about the different editions of HC Andersen's stories to say if this is the definitive edition, but it sure feels like it to me. Here are all the stories I remember reading as a child (thankfully, growing up, I never read any versions that had been made less depressing for children) and a few that I don't think I'd encountered before. The introduction, and the opening note and endnotes that accompany each story are all interesting and never superfluous.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 03, 2011

Bobby rated it:

A collection of Hans Christian Andersen's tales. Some hold up better than others while some are a bit of a head-scratcher. The translation is okay although some of it reads like a last-minute Danish assignment completed by Alta Vista (ahhhh, high school). But this might not be the translation's fault and has more to do with Andersen's style of writing.

What's great about this edition is the brief but thorough biography at the beginning. According to this, Andersen was vain, frustrat More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 12, 2011

Aurelie rated it:

I first read Andersen's Fairy Tales when I was 8, and since then I frequently re-read them, as I love them so much.
Hans Christian Andersen was categorical: his stories were not intended for children, they were aimed at grown-ups. When you read them, you obviously understand why. These stories are totally different from the Disney's adaptations that nearly everyone know (but I'm a huge fan of them too, don't get me wrong)!
The edition I own contains : The Little Mermaid, The Flying Trunk More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 13, 2010

Allen rated it:

I read Hans Christian Andersen on my iPad, Macsimus Tango. That means that the book listed here isn't the exact book that I read since I read Gutenberg's version, which is a collection of only a few dozen of the fairy tales. I put this book on my virtual bookshelf because this is the book that I put on my actual bookshelf since I ordered a version of the complete fairy tales from Amazon. My opinion is that if you read an important author then you should own all of the important works and you More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Mar 16, 2011

Andrea rated it:

I read this mostly as a must read. Was amazed at how much of literature is based in these and other tales. Also, how through the years the stories have changed. The "Little Mermaid" for example ends quite differently from the Disney version. This version brings to mind messages paying the ultimate price for disobeying a father, for wanting to explare and go outdside of known community-- Not in the beauty and empowerment of following ones own path or the strength of true love.
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0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 16, 2011

Grace rated it:

I was somewhat amazed by the large number of fairy tales that Hans Christian Andersen wrote. Apparently he wrote more than 200 in all, of which over sixty are included in this volume. In this book these tales are grouped into different sections according to the type of tales that they are. For example there are some which are grouped under the title 'Original Fairy Tales' which include The Little Mermaid and Thumbelina which are two of my favorites. Others are grouped under the title 'Evange More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 10, 2012

Emma rated it:

This is bittersweet for me. Being from Denmark, I've grown up listening to H.C. Andersen's stories. He's like our number one cultural treasure. When it comes to certain stories, I been forced to read them so many times I've grown sick of them. Danish teachers would time and time again make us go through the same stories, and there were a few years, when even the mention of his name would make me want to scream. It was simply too much of a good thing.
But he's written so many stories, and a More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 26, 2009

Amber rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 24, 2010

Joy rated it:

After reading this collection of classic fairy tales, I learned/realized some new things. First, it is not for children. Second, it doesn't always have a happy ending.

Most of them were entertaining, some were boring, but there are morals in the stories. Hans Christian Andersen uses symbols to represent good and evil, we can't always have what we want, but somewhere along the way we get something better that's essential for us.

My favorite Disney story is "The Little M More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 19, 2009

Lyndsay rated it:

I recieved a very old copy of this book for my 8th birthday from my mother. It has a dark green cover that is textured. It is full of old color pictures some of which were very scary to me at the time, scary black widow spiders with human faces & such. I'm not sure of the edition or day it was made, the only page gone from the whole book,is that one! But it had been through many people before me. I guess what I liked about these fairy tales others may not, the tales are often sad in their ending More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 28, 2011

Valerie added it

Actually, I'm pretty sure I've never seen this particular edition. I would remember illustrations by Arthur Rackham, surely?

In fact, I'm not even sure I've seen an edition of Andersen's complete works. Most of the stories I've read piecemeal, from various sources.

But I'd LIKE to have a comprehensive edtion, preferably in a good translation. Many of these stories I read in my early teens, and have read over again since. A complete edition would fit well in my library. More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 05, 2011

Astrid rated it:

I am currently working my way through this monstrously large collection of tales (there are 156 in over a thousand pages). They are a nice antidote to other books I am reading. There are well-known favorites like The Little Mermaid and The Ugly Duckling as well as many you will have never heard of, like The Magic Galoshes and Auntie Toothache. Hans Christian Andersen's writing style is unique and well-suited to reading aloud. The descriptions of landscape and setting are articulate, vivid and im More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 17, 2011

Kathryn rated it:

Hans Christian Anderson (known as H. C. Anderson in Denmark and the rest of Scandinavia) (1805 – 1875) was a Danish author of short fiction, travelogues, and novels, but he is best known as the author of fairy tales, the first edition of which he published in 1835, with additional material added in the next two years. As fairy tales are generally short, I found this book to be great bedtime reading, and I finished it last night before going to sleep.

This collection contains such well More...

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Oct 28, 2010

Erika rated it:

I am not sure if this is the one i have, but mine was similar to this. It had many of the stories in it, around 35 i think. Most of the stories i really liked, they had a great moral. I like the way that he writes, its very witty and fun. Some of the stories where a little gory-er then i would like, but they still where great stories. Some of the stories would basically state the moral in the story, for example, "The ugly duckling". But the others You have to think about it for awhile, More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 17, 2011

Rebecca is currently reading it

This book has well-known and virtually unknown fairy tales. I thought Hans Christian Andersen just transcribed oral tradition, but many of these he wrote himself. The book also prints images of paper cut-outs that Hans Christian Andersen made. He often found himself, as a celebrity author, among people whose language he could not speak, so the paper cut-outs were a way of communicating, as well as a way of bridging the gap of his social awkwardness.
The Ice Maiden has had the biggest impac More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 12, 2011

Dilyana rated it:

Вълшебен. И него четох в първи курс в университета, губи ми се представата и съпоставката как го възприемат децата (като изключим най-известните приказки). Но отвъд онези истории, които всички знаем наизуст и не помним кой ги е писал, Андерсен има и много други. С много дълбока метафоричност, на моменти доближаващ се до уайлдовските приказки дори. More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 15, 2009

Rachel rated it:

So far I've only read these tales:
The Emperor's New Clothes, The Happy Family, The Little Mermaid, The Nightingale, The Princess and the Pea, The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep, The Snow Queen (awefull!), The Steadfast Tin Soldier, Thumbelina, The Ugly Duckling , The Goblin at the Grocer’s, The Shadow (good), It's perfectly true, grief, the snowman,the sandman, the jumpers, the tinderbox, the rose tree regiment, the naughty boy (funny), the swineherd, the little match girl, the wild swa More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 14, 2011

Sarafiliz rated it:

Another children's book that is worth reading as an adult. But, get this version, or another accurate translation from the Danish. There are too many eviscerated kiddie adaptations out there that are an insult to the taste and discernment of the kiddies, let alone their elders. You want his sharp humor, vivid imagery, and unforgiving sense of loss as close to the original as possible.

For example, the Ugly Duckling is not a cute story, most of us have been through it, and if you read t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 12, 2010

Mykee rated it:

Whenever I get exhausted from listening to lectures, writing papers, making reports or solving problems at the university, I always find that at the end of the day, all I need to calm down my traffic jam of a six-day school week is a pleasant story from Andersen's collection of stories.

There is something so compelling about Andersen's tales. They are the simplest, shortest stories I have ever had the pleasure of reading and yet, their morals leave me thinking far past the stories th More...

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Aug 03, 2011

Catherine rated it:

Great book when you're not in the mood to read through a whole novel instead just a whole lot of enthralling little numbers to keep you well entertained. I can't believe how oblivious well ignorant I have been to the true endings of most of my favourite fairy tales, was totally unaware that the little mermaid dies SHOCK HORROR when I found that out, just goes to show you how disney'd up everything is hay. As a teacher-in-the-making, am seriously wandering whether to read my kids the real versi More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 21, 2011

Brennan rated it:

I only read the snowman out of all of these stories as an assignment. This story tells of a newly built snowman trying to make sense of the world around him. The dog, living next to him in his kennel, tells him shortly of few things including the stove inside of the house. The snowman develops an unusual attraction to the stove, and longs to be next to the stove. The story ends with the winter passing and the people soon forgetting about the snowman. I wasn't left very satisfied at the end of th More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 18, 2011

Puneri rated it:

Hans Christian Anderson is one man who always makes me child again. His stories take me to a world full of magic and fairies and princesses and princes! I have read these stories as a child. I still have the same affection for those stories. Thumbelina is my all time favorite. I had an opportunity to visit the small Danish town in CA in Winter of 2009. They have a small library devoted to Hans Anderson. It was wonderful to sit in the presence on the man whom I will always love and cherish as the More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 23, 2011

Kathleen rated it:

My copy of this book was handed down to me by my Father. It is an ancient book with brown pages and a missing dust jacket. It looks like it was printed in the 40’s but I can’t be sure because the book does not contain a verso.

The first tale is that of the stork and in keeping with the theme of the book is undeniably sweet, but also twisted. There are definitely morals behind each and every tale, but not all the morals are ones I necessarily share. Possibly because of their heavily Chri More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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