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Interspersed with the non-fiction in the above post, I read some books from T. Kingfisher, aka Ursula Vernon. As Ursula Vernon the author is known for writing fun stories for young children. As T. Kingfisher she writes for an older audience, like those below.

Bryony and Roses is a re-imagining of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale, in which the main protagonist is an avid gardener with strong opinions about roses. This is fun and well written, and carries some wonderful insights. 4/5.

Summer in Orcus was wonderful. A children's story of sorts, but with more meat on it. While some characters are obviously based on certain stereotypes they are also completely original and very well drawn. The story manages to be surprising while also following a reasonably predictable fairy tale path. I also adore the cover. A strong 4/5.

The Halcyon Fairy Book. This is effectively two books in one. The first half is a collection fairy tales from various sources, the text of which is interspersed with cynical and/or humorous and/or insightful annotations from T. Kingfisher. The second half are original short stories by T. Kingfisher (previously published in a collection called Toad Words and Other Stories) - some of these are retellings of classic fairy tales. Most of the content has been published before, either in various journals or on the author's blog. Two of the author's short stories really stood out from the crowd here, and on that basis: 4/5.

Jackalope Wives & Other Stories is another collection of short stories from this author. The stories were good, again two in particular, but I found it less enjoyable overall, so: 3/5.