So there’s sort of a story that goes with this book, and I thought I’d share it because who doesn’t love a story about a book? I don’t actually know where I found out about this book. I think I read a review of it somewhere. It wasn’t very popular or anything, but I was intrigued. I asked for it as a Christmas gift from my fiancé’s aunt. She bought the book online, and it didn’t get to her house in time for her Christmas party. When the book arrived, it was over a year before she was able to give it to me, and then it took me a couple years to actually read it. Maybe that’s not much of a story. The point is, this book and I have been in and out of each other’s lives for a long time, and I took the chance to read it first this year in the “symbol” category of the A-Z challenge, which you may believe is a made up category and it is, but it’s my challenge so I can make things up in order to read more books.

(S)mythology is a fairy tale for adults, though I think people who enjoy YA would like it too. It’s written in a very tongue in cheek style and features these really great illustrations. We follow Sophie on her quest for love and meaning in her life complete with ancient gods and grudges, blindness, merpeople, and crazy scientists.

This book is a great way to spend an afternoon (it’s a quick read) and it has some wonderful things to say about love. I recommend it for anyone who:

• is a hopeless romantic
• loves fairy tales/fairy tale adaptations
• likes fun and dark illustrations like Gorey’s