"The Princess and the Goblin" by George MacDonald

What a whimsical, meandering, endearing story!  I read this because I had learned that it was a big influence on both J.R.R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, so I wanted to see what it was like.  I can definitely see some ways it influenced The Hobbit, especially the sort of "adult telling children a little story because they are cute" tone.  Which is not a tone I am fond of, so it took me quite a while to get into this book.  But I did eventually enjoy it, especially when it surprised me in one specific way.  I was convinced one character was going to turn out to be evil, but she wasn't at all, and I liked that a lot.

The story revolves around Princess Irene, who discovers a magical old woman living in the attic of her fortress.  And it revolves around Curdie, a little boy miner who is very good at noticing details.  They take turns rescuing each other, which I appreciated, and both had to learn the importance of believing and trusting people.  There are a lot of goblins in the story too, but the princess rarely encounters them, so the title is a bit misleading, really.

Particularly Good Bits:

...that is the way fear serves us: it always sides with the thing we are afraid of (p. 104).

     "We are all very anxious to be understood, and it is very hard not to be.  But there is one thing much more necessary."

     "What is that, grandmother?"

     "To understand other people" (p. 173)

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for some instances of children in danger, goblins threatening to eat a child, and other somewhat scary images.

This is my 14th book read and reviewed for my fourth Classics Club list, the 22nd read off my TBR shelves for #TheUnreadShelfProject2023, and my third for the Classic Children's Literature Party.