The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye by A. S. Byatt

This is basically a much better-written, better-conceived and cleverer version of the atrocious The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories. A. S. Byatt's experience as a scholar of literature is really apparent in the allusions and humour she employs. She plays with traditional fairy tales and our modern conceptions of stories, twists them, turns them on their heads. Some of the stories are creepy, some are bizarre, some are funny. My favourite was probably 'The Story of the Eldest Princess', that engages with the substance of fairy tales in creative and unusual ways. The title story is by far the longest, and though not my favourite, was really clever. Parts of the book are exceptionally beautiful and utterly enchanting to read. My biggest complaint is that Byatt did turn a lot of it (especially the title story) into the stereotypical 'female experience' story, and though there were parts of that I could relate to, I found it sort of disgusting and annoying. I have to admit that the scene in which Gillian Perholt describes being afraid of her body as a young woman and being detached from it was really powerful, but at the same time really unappealing somehow. And I thought that the explicitness of certain scenes doesn't fit in well with the fairy tale atmosphere. But overall, there was  a great deal that was clever and funny in these stories and much of the book was a delight to read.