Customer Reviews:
 Sweet Dreams Are Made of This September 18, 2008
Reading a short story by Angela Carter is the equivalent of visiting a friend who has travelled the world and now lives by herself in an apartment filled with cats, trinkets and incense. Some days, as you sit in this friend's living room, waiting for her to brew some exotic tea, the scent of burning incense lulls you into a reverie, the way in which the sunlight hits the smoke gives her living room a mysterious feel. At other times, your friend makes the mistake of lighting too many incense sticks, keeping the windows closed, the curtains shut; the items hanging on her wall suddenly look dull, the clothes hanging off her body tawdry, the bright red lipstick on her face wrong for the occasion.
When Carter is good, her stories transcend their fairy tale roots like dreams with hidden meanings. When Carter is bad, your mind drifts away from every sentence and all you can think of is skipping to the next tale
 Comprehensive collection of Carter's short stories July 7, 2005
14 out of 16 found this review helpful
Contains useful intro by Salmon Rushdie.
Early Work, 1962-6
- The Man Who loved a Double Bass
A Very, Very Great Lady and Her Son at Home
A Victorian Fable (with Glossary)Fireworks: Nine Profane Pieces
- 9 short stories The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories, 1979
- All 10 short stories Black Venus, 1985
- All 8 stories American Ghosts and Old World Wonders
- All 9 stories Uncollected Stories, 1970-81 Appendix: Afterward to Fireworks - only place this is published! First publications
 Fairy Tales for a modern world January 26, 2002
7 out of 10 found this review helpful
Angela Carter once likened fairytales to one king going over to a another king's house to borrow a cup of sugar. This is her wholly individual take on many traditional short stories. A collection of many of her works available for the first time in one collection - burning your boats is, in essence the very best of Angela Carter.
Tales requiring an I.D. April 6, 1997
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Women who turn INTO wolves among other nightmarish images.Adult tales to be savored slowly, preferably aloud, in front of a fire on a dark and stromy night. These stories are word-dense; keep a dictionary close by. Things are not what they may seem on first reading, or even the second. Not to be missed!
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