Fact or Cap- Are These Books ACTUALLY Retellings? | Reading Experiment 

I’d like to see you continue this concept.

I love this series of videos! Please do more! 🙏😊

One of the worst things I think about tiktok is that there is no way to verify if the things people say about a book are true. Sometimes people called the most ridiculous things retellings or everything gets related back to one particularly popular book and then you read the book and realize that it had absolutely nothing to do with that. It makes trusting book reviews on TikTok particularly incredibly challenging and I just don't bother

I just found out that the Orwell estate allowed Susan Newmen (I believe that’s her name) to write a 1984 feminist retelling. It comes out in October. I’m super interested 1984 is one of my favorite books. Thought you might want to know. It’s called Julia.

For retellings, focusing on Shakespeare or Greek myth retellings could be fun

If you make another one of these videos or make it a series I would absolutely love for you to read Self-made Boys by Anna-Marie McLemore. Its supposed to be a queer poc retelling of The Great Gatsby and the cover is stunning

Please do more of this series and as someone who has loved Poe since she was a tween, What Moves the Dead was my first T. Kingfisher book and I loved it. It definitely is a retelling not only of the story, but of the movie as well with Vincent Price. I will be excited to see how they adapt Poe's story on Netflix this Fall. My mom, although not a big Poe fan, loves Fall of the House of Usher as well as the movie. I lent her my book and she will be reading it next month, so hopefully she likes it. I would love to see Fairy Tale retellings or even Greek mythology retellings or any culture's mythology retellings.

Please continue this series! As someone who is compelled by the subject of retellings in the publishing market and is working on one herself, this is right up my wheelhouse! I really like your Agatha Christie one as well. If you don’t like Shakespeare then forget the suggestion but I would really love a Shakespeare retelling themed installment! There are so few videos on shakespeare retellings and most of them are several years old so I have no idea what is worth it or not. I was also interested in The Death I Gave Him so it was great to hear your thoughts, I’ll probably end up giving it a shot. The fairy tale themed installment also is a good idea. I’ve turned it into a bit of a game to catalogue all the classics retellings I come across, I swear someday I will actually read them as a challenge to myself, but I tend not to focus on Austen since there are so many out there & a lot of them have a bad rep :’). (P.s. I did pick up unequal affections upon your recommendation tho and really enjoyed it. You’re right, it’s probably the best executed in terms of a P&P remix/retelling out there imo)

Ooh yes this was a great project to watch you complete 😊 I also thought What Moves the Dead was a classic and well done retelling. I am not super interested in the Little Women retelling but I want to pick up the new retelling in that series, by Cherie Dimaline that remixes The Secret Garden

would also be interested in seeing a tier-ranking or something like that of books you've read that are marketed as retellings

I really enjoyed What Moves the Dead, but Edgar Allen Poe is a favorite author of mine (right up there with Christie) and I generally have a pretty high bar for retellings of his tales, which unfortunately, generally fall short. But this one was very well done. Yeah, the original might be too fungi 🍄 heavy for you. 😂

I definitely enjoy this video style. I would be interested in fairytale retellings as well as mythological retellings. 😂 Maybe I'm just looking for good versions of Beauty and the Beast and Persephone and Hades retellings. 🤷‍♀️ Can't help it. They're like book crack to me.

This was super fun!! I'd love to see the fairy-tale version of this, or even movie versions!

I read What Moves the Dead and then later listened to the audio. I definitely recommend doing both. Avi Rocque, a transmasculine actor, does the narration, and they are pitch perfect. Mexican Gothic is also an Usher retelling. Different feel, even though following the same general story -- and fewer mushrooms.

I fully agree about the writing being a lil "off" with So Many Beginnings -- I kept notating where dialogue was broken up by like, an entire page of asides -- the flow was off, for sure. I think I just freaking adored the Jo & Laurie dynamic SO MUCH that it overpowered any of that haha -- they were so cuuute to me! God yes that new Dowry of Blood cover is NOT good -- I'm so glad I got the self-pubbed/indie version of the original cover before it got picked up by the new publisher! It had so many lines and moments that hit me HARD, with the emotional abuse things in particular. Spoke to my soulllll

Great timing! I just finished Every Exquisite Thing by Laura Steven. It’s a Dorian Grey retelling. And it was great.

I really liked this concept video! A fairy tale retelling could be cool, but also perhaps evaluating comp titles in book synopses

Love the video! I didn’t like What Moves the Dead, but I’m glad so many people do. I wish it did more with Madeline bc she’s so passive in the original that I wish she had a bigger role. Oh well…

I just read What Moves the Dead, and I read through The Fall of the House of Usher right before (partly in preparation for Mike Flanagan's upcoming adaptation/retelling on Neftflix), and I have to agree on all your points. It's a true retelling, and the "Easter eggs" are there for sure. The fungi and tarn are very important parts of the original description of the house, which very much sets the tone for Poe's short story. There are elements, like the strange uh "hair" (sorry, lol) on the Usher siblings, that are direct tie-backs to important details in the story and clearly inspired T. Kingfisher into fleshing out more information to fill out the novella and world building. I adored the random yet fun reference to Beatrix Potter in the character of her aunt, the mycologist, even if technically Poe and Potter weren't contemporaries. I really liked the alternative historical setting for this, and I would love to get a whole series with Alex Easton. Great video, btw, I really enjoyed it and would love to see more like it!

I'd be interested in you doing this concept with books marketed as "the next Gone Girl." I feel like that comparison is thrown around way too much.

I would be interested to see you do this with satire. It's a word I see used incorrectly all the time and I wonder how often that happens with how books are marketed. Also, I've started thinking of looser retellings (like fairytale retellings) as reimaginings, since they're taking the bare bones original concept and imagining something new. I also think that would fit for some of what some people will call satire of a type of media when a story is loosely referencing that media, but doesn't meet the definition of satire.

This was so fun! I’d love to see a classic movie to book adaptation video. For Example Divine Rivals and You’ve Got Mail, or Kiss Her Once for Me and While You Were Sleeping.

Thank you for bringing these books to my attention. Have a great day. ❤

I really enjoy that Jane Austen Murder Mystery series, and I'm quite picky about Austen retellings. That being said, I had far more issues with Sense and Second Degree Murder than you did namely...why did she change Edward's name from Ferrars to Farrows???? That drove me batty! But I'm glad you had a good time with it. I love this series and hope you continue doing it, because I always enjoy your more analytical approach to projects like this. Especially when it comes to Christie retellings

I'm kind of interested in the Little Women retelling. Apparently it's part of a series of classic retellings including a Treasure Island with Asian girls. I might read Treasure Island for Victober, so maybe I'll read that too.

Thank you Mara for your video! I read The Other Bennet Sister this year, which I thought was a very good Pride & Prejudice retelling - keeping in with the tone and style while making interesting societal comments

Given that it's one of your favourite novels I'd love to see you do this with Jane Eyre retellings. Is this my way of asking for a part two to the brilliant Jane Eyre video essay..... maybe.

I read What Moves the Dead based on your recommendation and I loved it! Fun video :)

I think my favorite retelling to date is Nghi Vo’s The Chosen and The Beautiful (a queer speculative retelling of The Great Gatsby that incorporates race into the various themes The Great Gatsby explored). I’m looking forward to checking out some of the books in this video!

I just finished a really fun retelling of Lord of the Flies, called Lord of the Fly Fest by Goldy Moldavsky. (I re-read LOTF right before, which I highly recommend!)

this is a great concept! having not yet read Dracula, but just read A Dowry of Blood and LOVED it, I accept your assessment of it being more on the fanfiction side of a retelling.

I love your reading projects! This was such a clever idea, and I loved every minute. I think your rating system works really well. Thank you for your channel. There are so many books that I wish I could get through but I’m just such a slow reader, and don’t listen to audiobooks fast enough anymore! Haha.

What Moves the Dead is one of my favorite books of the year. Glad you enjoyed it ❤ and yes more videos like these please

i love this type of video and i love how you talk about retellings!

Love the concept! I re-read Fall of the House of Usher in January and immediately followed it by What Moves the Dead. I absolutely loved it! In terms of retellings and as a standalone story. I just did the same thing on my channel for The Island of Doctor Moreau and The Daughter of Doctor Moreau. Really wish I had seen this video before I filmed mine, you definitely spoke about it more eloquently than I did. 😅 (It'll be live tomorrow 9/24). But by the categories you came up with I would say the Daughter is definitely "inspired by" and not a true retelling. Anyway, I very much enjoyed this and would love to watch a fairy tale version. 😊

"Beth having... a certain trajectory to her story" omg

thank you, this was really fun. Interesting to see a "fake" in both your personal favorites and your least favorites.

I would love to see you do this series again w/ novel retellings. I'd be super interested to see you doing more titles in the remix series specifically What Souls Are Made of by Tasha Suri (Wuthering Heights remix). Absolutely obsessed w/ Dowry of Blood but I agree it's more inspired by Dracula then a retelling.

I really like this concept and would def watch more of this.

Loved this!! I would totally watch another video.

Fun video! Would love additions to this project ❤

Jane Eyre is also my all time favorite book. Maybe I should just read all the books you recommend lol

I just finished Teach the Torches to Burn, which is a gay Romeo and Juliet remix. I enjoyed it a lot, even tho Romeo and Juliet isn't one of my favorite Shakespeare.

fun watch! thanks 🥰

Yes, loved this one! More like this :)

Enjoyed!

I loved this video!!

I'm a weenie, but I love a horror novella. Good to add another to my TBR.

I love love love these projects that you do!! ❤❤❤❤

Would love to see you read some fairytale romances!

If you do fairy tales, I think Thornhedge is an interesting take on Sleeping Beauty.

I really enjoyed this.

Most retellings leave me thinking, "why not just write it as an original?"

The cover of A Dowry of Blood looks too similar to The Maidens

This has always bothered me lol! I feel like they’re either not similar at all and it’s just advertising, or it’s just combining existing stories (like Circe) and it feels like the author didn’t do any original writing. But in both cases it almost always involves sketchiness or “cheating.”

💀🩸

I loved A Dowery Of Blood. I've never read the original source material, so I had no expectations of any retelling connections. I just went along for the ride and had a fantastic time. ❤️🩸