Funny Fairy Tales: All 16 Fairy Tales by Reut Barak, 209 pages

 Once upon a time, Cinderella was allergic to dust, Red Riding Hood experimented a little too much, and Snow White discovered that dwarfs aren’t always what they seem.

Unexpected twists, awkward romances, and magical mishaps unfold in these short stories, where familiar fairy tales take a sharp left turn.

A little absurd, a little charming, and full of surprises for readers who like their classics reimagined.

The stories:

Thumbelina

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Rapunzel

Red Riding Hood

Aladdin

Frog Prince

Cinderella

Hansel & Gretel

Alice in Wonderland

Beauty and the Beast

Sleeping Beauty

Rumpelstiltskin

Goldilocks

Jack and the Beanstalk

The Princess and the Pea

The Little Mermaid

Ramona's World by Beverly Cleary, 209 pages

 Ramona Quimby can't wait to start fourth grade. With a new baby sister to brag about, new calluses to show off, and a new best friend to get to know, everything's going to be great!

Or is it? When Ramona's spelling is atrocious, her teacher, Mrs. Meacham, is firm about her needing to improve. Then a scary incident at a friend's house leaves Ramona feeling at fault. Who knew growing up could be filled with such complicated situations?

Newbery Medal winning author Beverly Cleary's final book in the Ramona series has all of the warmth, realism, and humor of its predecessors.

To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, 209 pages

 The serene and maternal Mrs. Ramsay, the tragic yet absurd Mr. Ramsay, and their children and assorted guests are on holiday on the Isle of Skye. From the seemingly trivial postponement of a visit to a nearby lighthouse, Woolf constructs a remarkable, moving examination of the complex tensions and allegiances of family life and the conflict between men and women.

As time winds its way through their lives, the Ramsays face, alone and simultaneously, the greatest of human challenges and its greatest triumph—the human capacity for change.

The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis, 209 pages

This was for a book club I'm in. A sci-fi read written in 1963, set in the late 1980s, and was an interesting take on what our world would look like, especially as seen through the eyes of an alien.

Five Little Peppers and Their Friends by Margaret Sidney, 209 pages

Another Five Little Peppers book.

Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne, 209 pages

After reading a book covering Nellie Bly's attempt to travel around the world in only 75 days, I felt a longing to reread this classic. It's still as full of humor and adventure as I remember, and it's one of those books that is a classic for a reason. If you haven't picked this book up before, I wholeheartedly recommend it.