re: Tell us about a book!!!
Mirror Mirror by Gregory Maguire.
If you liked Wicked, don't expect this book to be of THAT calibre. Mirror mirror is okay. Its somewhat sick, since incest is a big theme. I think GM could have done a lot better. Its a retelling of the tale with the Italian family Borgia's as the villains. So if you know some European history, it might be helpful. I dunno, I think tying in the history was a little too forced. The way they keep bringing up Machiavelli - ok, whatever, that was so unnecessary.
The dwarves are depicted as small creatures that come to life from stone. One of them is a dog-like creature. I didn't see the parallel to the usual Grumpy, Sleepy, etc that we're used to. The characterization focuses heavily on the evil "witch" (Lucrezia Borgia), leaving marginal room for Snow White's character (Bianca). The way the apple is dealt with in the story is also a real dumb exaggeration. 3/4 of the book deals with Bianca's father who runs around across Europe looking for these Holy Apples, as if he's looking for the Holy Grail.
I see what the author was attempting to do, but the way he mixed real history with a fantastical tale...he fell on his face as an author while trying to accomplish that effect.