Joan Gould
In Spinning Straw into Gold, Joan Gould deconstructs some popular fairy tales, dividing them under the categories of Maiden, Matron, and Crone. Gould’s study is interesting and her insights perceptive. However, woven in and out of her analyses are Gould’s continuous interjections of personal anecdotes and digressions. These interrupt the flow of her discussion and border on being irritating. In spite of that, however, the book is worth reading because Gould’s actual analysis and discussion of fairy tales is entertaining, lucid, and penetrates beneath the superficial level of the fairy tale narrative. Her analyses contain nuggets of wisdom, many of which continue to bear relevance for women today.