100 books like Faery Tale

By Signe Pike,

Here are 100 books that Faery Tale fans have personally recommended if you like Faery Tale. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of A Discovery of Witches

Paula Cappa Author Of Draakensky: A Supernatural Tale of Magick and Romance

From my list on Horror for the supernatural mystery magick lover.

Why am I passionate about this?

An avid reader, I began a project in 2012 to read one short story a week in supernatural mysteries, ghost stories, and quiet horror genres. I began with the classic authors: Poe, MR James, Lovecraft, Shelley, Stoker, du Maurier, etc. I began a blog, Reading Fiction Blog, and posted these free stories with my reviews (I’m still posting today). Over the years, it turned into a compendium of fiction. Today, I have nearly 400 short stories by over 150 classic and now contemporary authors in the blog Index. I did this because I wanted to learn more about writing dark fiction and who better to learn from than the masters?

Paula's book list on Horror for the supernatural mystery magick lover

Paula Cappa Why did Paula love this book?

Discovering Diana, the reluctant witch who must rediscover herself and her supernatural talents, makes this novel a page-turner of magick and mystery. And I loved how the weave of those two powers pulled in the romance between Diana and Matthew. An added spicy balance that mixes like a brew into the witch and vampire families that are here and from the Otherworld.

I am not a vampire fan, but the magick here is irresistible. It became rather addictive because the witchcraft spells were so illusory that I felt “invited in.” The vampire scenes were a bit nerve-wracking, creating real tension for me. Diana’s journey was perfect, as it kept growing with obsessive and fantastical suspense. I was in their witch-vampire world, which was as frightening as it was compelling. 

By Deborah Harkness,

Why should I read it?

23 authors picked A Discovery of Witches as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In this tale of passion and obsession, Diana Bishop, a young scholar and a descendant of witches, discovers a long-lost and enchanted alchemical manuscript, Ashmole 782, deep in Oxford's Bodleian Library. Its reappearance summons a fantastical underworld, which she navigates with her leading man, vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont.


Book cover of Inkheart

Jacey K. Dew Author Of Three Souls

From my list on fantasy to bring magic to familiar worlds.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a kid, I was consistently described as one who had her head in the clouds. I was far away imagining all sorts of fantastical things; dragons soaring in the sky, a witch blasting a fireball in the grocery store, a werewolf coming to eat the gym teacher, the coffee barista is actually a vampire, etc. There is something alluring about supernatural beings existing in our often mundane world; whether they are being subjected to the same life we are or are wreaking havoc for any reason.

Jacey's book list on fantasy to bring magic to familiar worlds

Jacey K. Dew Why did Jacey love this book?

A book about books.

Who hasn’t imagined the books they read coming to life in their living room or being able to dive into the fictional world? A father and daughter have a magical ability to do just that.

Unfortunately, the villain of one story was released and this sets them off on an adventure typically only available in books.

Meggie and Mo are an endearing father/daughter team while they navigate the consequences and reaches of their magic.

By Cornelia Funke, Anthea Bell (translator),

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked Inkheart as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 9, 10, 11, and 12.

What is this book about?

The first book in Cornelia Funke's internationally celebrated
trilogy - magical, thrilling and mesmerising.

'I
don't think I've ever read anything that conveys so well the
joys, terrors and pitfalls of reading' Diana Wynne Jones

Meggie
loves books. So does her father, Mo, a bookbinder,
although he has never read aloud to her since her mother mysteriously
disappeared. They live quietly until the night a stranger
knocks at their door. He has come with a warning that forces
Mo to reveal an extraordinary secret - a storytelling secret that
will change their lives for ever.

Also a major film starring…


Book cover of A Great and Terrible Beauty

D.C. Contor Author Of A Change of Tide: The Legend of the Salt of the Earth

From my list on if you’re daydreaming about being a magical teenager…again.

Why am I passionate about this?

I spent all my teenage years daydreaming about being magical (cue a handful of sparkling glitter). Even as an adult, those daydreams haven’t stopped. Magic promises the ability to change the story. I revisit those teen years when I can because ultimately, what each of these stories of magic offer is a coming-of-age story. The struggle of being pulled between two different worlds has always felt familiar to me, whether those worlds are literally different worlds (magical vs non-magical) or figurative (childhood vs adulthood). I’ve felt some version of that struggle my whole life, and I think I always will, which is why these stories will always feel like home. 

D.C.'s book list on if you’re daydreaming about being a magical teenager…again

D.C. Contor Why did D.C. love this book?

My best friend hates me for recommending this book, but I won’t stop. It’s 1895, and Gemma Doyle is British but has grown up in India. After seeing her mother killed in a vision (which she didn’t even know she had) and then finding she’s been killed in real life, Gemma is sent to boarding school to learn to become a proper lady. That’s when the real magic begins.

I love the friendships in this story, the real struggles, the grief, the dirt and grime of real life mixed with the mystery and glitter of magic. The story sucks me in every single time, no matter how many times I read it. 

By Libba Bray,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked A Great and Terrible Beauty as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 14, 15, 16, and 17.

What is this book about?

It's 1895, and after the death of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma's reception there is a chilly one. To make things worse, she's being followed by a mysterious young Indian man, a man sent to watch her. But why? What is her destiny? And what will her entanglement with Spence's most powerful girls - and their foray into the spiritual world - lead to?


Book cover of Earth, Air, Fire & Water: More Techniques of Natural Magic

K.T. Anglehart Author Of The Wise One

From my list on making magic feel just within reach.

Why am I passionate about this?

Since reading the Harry Potter series (I know, how original! But bear with me), I’d been searching for books that awoke the same feelings of awe, curiosity, and inspiration in me. It’s been my mission—to be on the dramatic side—to find books that make magic feel just within reach of our world, which is why I set out to write my own urban fantasy story, The Wise One. My creation process involved years of extensive research on esoteric topics and Celtic folklore, including visiting most of my story’s locations during my travels across Ireland and Scotland. What I can boldly say after immersing myself in the landscape and culture is this: magic totally does exist. 

K.T.'s book list on making magic feel just within reach

K.T. Anglehart Why did K.T. love this book?

I'm always reluctant to recommend occult books (there's definitely a weirdness factor that will turn some off), but this isn't like any other. Don't worry: you don't have to purchase a wand, crystals, salts, oils, or herbs. Scott Cunningham was a widely respected practitioner that always advocated for age-old tools of natural magiclike water from a spring. For those interested in exploring the Craft, this is the perfect starting point because it reminds us of the fundamentals: nature is magic. It doesn't get more complicated than that.

By Scott Cunningham,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Earth, Air, Fire & Water as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"A treasure trove of practical magic for both novices and more experienced practitioners...beautifully crafted spells that invoke the alchemy of possibility."—PanGaia

A leaf from an oak tree...a wildflower...water from a sparkling stream...dirt from a cool dark cave—these are the age-old tools of natural magic. Born of the earth, possessing inherent power, they await only our touch and intention to bring their magical qualities to life.

The four elements are powerful magical tools. Using their energies, we can transform ourselves, our lives, and our world. This much-loved, classic guide offers more than seventy-five spells, rites, and simple rituals you can perform…


Book cover of The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot

Helen Jukes Author Of A Honeybee Heart Has Five Openings

From my list on reconnecting with nature.

Why am I passionate about this?

Nature has been a source of play, exploration, community, and solace for me since I was very young – as an adult, I find myself fascinated and alarmed by our species’ relations with the living world. Nature writing gives me a way of bringing my attention to this relationship and exploring it in a very close way. I often think of that well-worn phrase: We cannot protect what we do not love; we cannot love what we do not know. Literature, it seems to me, offers one route to better knowing and loving the world.

Helen's book list on reconnecting with nature

Helen Jukes Why did Helen love this book?

This book charts a series of journeys along ancient tracks, holloways, and drove-roads. I found it a hugely immersive, surprisingly exhilarating read – I loved how Macfarlane brought a very detailed, lucid, and embodied mode of narration to travels that were often unexpected and strange.

As he walks, we hear stories of ghosts, pilgrims, songs, and their singers – it’s a book about people as much as places, and as I read, I gained a powerful sense of how, as humans, we’re shaped, made, and remade, by the landscapes we move through.

By Robert Macfarlane,

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked The Old Ways as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The acclaimed author of The Wild Places and Underland examines the subtle ways we are shaped by the landscapes through which we move

Chosen by Slate as one of the 50 best nonfiction books of the past 25 years

In this exquisitely written book, which folds together natural history, cartography, geology, and literature, Robert Macfarlane sets off to follow the ancient routes that crisscross both the landscape of the British Isles and its waters and territories beyond. The result is an immersive, enthralling exploration of the voices that haunt old paths and the stories our tracks tell. Macfarlane's journeys take…


Book cover of The Scottish World: A Journey Into the Scottish Diaspora

Claire R. McDougall Author Of Veil of Time

From my list on to lose yourself in the dream that is Scotland.

Why am I passionate about this?

There is a saying that you can take the girl out of Scotland but not Scotland out of the girl. I am that girl. Born and raised in Scotland, I earned an MA from Edinburgh University and a M.Litt from Oxford. I met my husband during the summer at  Dartmouth College and the rest, as they say, is history. Or, at least it would be, except for the hankering back to Scotland that never leaves. My novel set in Scotland was published by Simon & Schuster.

Claire's book list on to lose yourself in the dream that is Scotland

Claire R. McDougall Why did Claire love this book?

I value this book because, since joining the United Kingdom in 1707, much of Scottish history has been disregarded. Even though I studied history in my Scottish school to a high level, the details of our past were replaced with English history. Well-known radio personality, Billy Kay, brings together a wealth of information about Scotland’s outside influence through the ages. Scotland was one of the first countries to see the benefit of an educated working class, and in the countries to which they emigrated, their learning stood them in good stead. Scottish culture, over hundreds of years before it was incorporated into the United Kingdom, had well-established cultural centers throughout Europe and even as far as Russia.

By Billy Kay,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Scottish World as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Thaim wi a guid Scots tongue in their heid are fit tae gang ower the warld'

In The Scottish World, renowned broadcaster Billy Kay takes us on a global journey of discovery, highlighting the extraordinary influence the Scots have had on communities and cultures on almost every continent.

While others have questioned the self-confidence of the Scots, Kay has travelled the world from Bangkok to Brazil, Warsaw to Waikiki and found ringing endorsements for the integrity and intellect, the poetry and passion of the Scottish people in every country he has visited.

He expands people's view of Scotland by relating…


Book cover of Wheels within Wheels: The Makings of a Traveller

Sara Wheeler Author Of Glowing Still: A Woman's Life on the Road

From my list on travel by women to inspire a journey of your own.

Why am I passionate about this?

Over the course of my so-called career as a travel writer, the ‘I’ve-Got-A Big-One’ school favoured by the male of the species has ceded ground. Women, less interested in ‘conquering,’ have pioneered a kind of creative non-fiction that suits the travel genre. I prefer it to the blokeish business of seeing how dead you can get. It notices more. As the decades unfurled – Pole to Pole, via Poland – I realised, more and more, the debt I owe to the other women who not only set sail but also unsparingly observed the world that turns within each self. 

Sara's book list on travel by women to inspire a journey of your own

Sara Wheeler Why did Sara love this book?

Dervla Murphy (1931-2022) was queen of the road when I started out. I learnt a lot from her.

Visiting Rwanda is probably my top pick among her many travelogues but her best book by far, in my opinion, is the autobiographical Wheels within Wheels. "I had been brought up to understand," Murphy writes, "that material possessions and physical comfort should never be confused with success, achievement and security."

I had been brought up to understand the opposite, and this book showed me, as I tackled a travel memoir of my own, that like Murphy I must take those crucial lessons as a starting point. 

By Dervla Murphy,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Wheels within Wheels as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.


Book cover of Round Ireland with a Fridge

David Baboulene Author Of Ocean Boulevard

From my list on humorous travel that also deliver great stories.

Why am I passionate about this?

Growing up, I only read humour, and it was my passion to write humour. When I was lucky enough to find myself travelling the world and working on cargo ships, the source material presented itself, and I took my chance. Publishers were wary of the crudity inherent to a sailor’s life, so I present myself as if P.G. Wodehouse himself had gone to sea. I am the butt of all the pranks, and horrified by what I see around me. So I was able to write a book that addresses the truth of a shipboard life… but leaves the suggested extremes to your imagination!

David's book list on humorous travel that also deliver great stories

David Baboulene Why did David love this book?

I chose this book because, well, it’s really funny!

Tony Hawks carries a fridge around Ireland for charity and becomes infamous for it on the way round. His style and humour are hugely engaging, and Ireland is so full of character, that by the end of it, I felt as if I had taken every step with him.

I feel as if I have a memory of walking around Ireland with a fridge as if I did it. That is a sign of very good writing! 

By Tony Hawks,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Round Ireland with a Fridge as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Whilst in Ireland for an International Song Competition, Tony Hawks was amazed to see a hitch-hiker, trying to thumb a lift, but with a fridge. This seemed amazingly optimistic - his Irish friends, however thought nothing of it at all. 'I had clearly arrived in a country', writes Tony, 'where the qualifications for 'eccentric' involved a great deal more than that to which I had become used'. Two years pass but the fridge incident haunts our author. Until one night, heavy with drink, he finds himself arguing about Ireland with a friend. It is, he insists, a 'magical place', so…


Book cover of The Bird Man and the Lap Dancer: Close Encounters with Strangers

Mike Nixon Author Of Life Travel And The People In Between

From my list on travel lovers.

Why am I passionate about this?

Ultimately, I’m someone who enjoys a good adventure. Prior to the age of twenty, I had never gone on a vacation or been camping, and the only place I saw Mickey Mouse was on television. Determined to experience a more fulfilling life, I set my sights on becoming a world traveler. I’ve done almost everything to transform the dream into a reality. I’ve studied abroad, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer, worked for an international NGO, served in the U.S. Navy, and done some off-the-grid exploring. After spending nine years abroad and visiting thirty countries, I’m finally a published author. Life Travel And The People In Between is my debut memoir.

Mike's book list on travel lovers

Mike Nixon Why did Mike love this book?

For me, it’s the stories that make The Bird Man and the Lap Dancer one of the best travel books that I’ve had the pleasure of reading. Some are powerful and heartful while others are strange and hilarious. The stories take place in different parts of the world, and somehow Eric Hansen finds himself in the middle of all of them. From cooking lessons with an elderly Russian lady who lives in a dangerous Manhattan project to bird-watching field trips with strippers, Eric’s stories are adventurous, inspiring, and deeply human. This is a must-read for all those who love travel reads!

By Eric Hansen,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Bird Man and the Lap Dancer as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Eric Hansen survives a cyclone on a boat off the Australian coast, cradles a dying man in Calcutta, and drinks mind-altering kava in Vanuatu. He helps a widower search for his wife's wedding ring amid plane-crash wreckage in Borneo and accompanies topless dancers on a bird-watching expedition in California. From the Maldives to Sacramento, from Cannes to Washington Heights, Eric Hansen has a way of getting himself into the most sacred ceremonies and the most candid conversations.


Book cover of Three Men in a Float: Across England at 15 mph

Jacqueline Lambert Author Of Year 1 - Fur Babies in France

From my list on funny road trip memoirs.

Why am I passionate about this?

I'm Jackie, and I quit work in 2016 to hit the road permanently with my husband and four dogs, so road tripping is close to my heart. Initially, we were Adventure Caravanners, who aimed To Boldly Go Where No Van Has Gone Before. Now, we’re at large in a self-converted six-wheel army lorry, with Mongolia in our sights. I have published four books Fur Babies in France, Dog on the Rhine, Dogs ‘n’ Dracula, and Pups on Piste, all within one of my favourite genres; light-hearted travel memoirs. My forthcoming books will chronicle a tour of Poland in a pandemic and our new life as Trucking Idiots.

Jacqueline's book list on funny road trip memoirs

Jacqueline Lambert Why did Jacqueline love this book?

Entry into the Mongol Rally from Europe to Ulan Ude in Russia requires a car with a maximum engine size of 1.0 litre. The premise is that such a farcically inappropriate vehicle will invite adventure and interaction with locals. 

Obviously, a 600-mile odyssey across southern Britain in an elderly electric milk float, with unreliable batteries and a top speed of 15 mph invites all kinds of mishaps.

Comedy writers Dan and Ian tackle alternate chapters. Since Dan authored the bestselling trilogy Crap Towns: a guide to the worst towns in Britain, there is plenty of off-the-wall detail about the places they passed through. Reliant on the kindness of strangers and third man Pras, an electrician with magical powers, this is a gently comic, informative, and quirky alternative to Jerome K. Jerome’s classic.

By Dan Kieran, Ian Vince,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Three Men in a Float as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

After planning the entire trip on the back of a beer mat, buying a 1958 decommissioned milk float on eBay and charging its tired batteries, the team set off from Lowestoft to Land's End. On the way, they discovered that their float needed to charge for eight hours for every two hours it spent on the road. Relying on the milk of human kindness, they were at the mercy of strangers every night, sometimes even using other people's cookers just to keep the show on the road. En route, they were treated to tea and rock cakes by the Vice…


Book cover of A Discovery of Witches
Book cover of Inkheart
Book cover of A Great and Terrible Beauty

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Interested in fairies, Scotland, and Manhattan?

Fairies 150 books
Scotland 339 books
Manhattan 136 books