Alternative-point-of-view recommendations?

[Goblinmonger]

I am trying to gather a list of some good books that offer an alternative point of view of a classic story. I have read Grendel, I am going to start Wicked in a couple of days, and I have heard of a story that tells Cain's point of view of killing Abel. Any others people can offer?

[ThomCat]

1. The same guy who wrote Wicked

Also wrote Tale of an Ugly Stepsister.

That was also a good book.

[Goblinmonger]

2. I did see that

come up when I ordered Wicked from Amazon. I'll check it out.

[ThomCat]

3. Diana L. Paxson

Has some retellings of classic myth.

Her Arthurian myth,"The Hollowed Isle" is excellent.

"The Wolf and the Raven" is Sigfrid and Brunahild. Also Excellent.

She also wrote "The Lord of Horses" but for the life of me I'm blanking about which Mythic story that was about. I have it in my permanent library so it must have been good.

She fleshes out the people in these mythes very well and presents a sense of culture and society, context. Definitely worth checking out.

[yellowdogintexas]

4. The Red Tent offers an alternative POV to the Biblical story

of Jacob, RAchel, Leah and ultimately Joseph

[AllegroRondo]

5. Rosencranz and Guildenstern are Dead

the story of Hamlet from the point of view of two castle lackeys, who have no idea what is going on around them.

[northzax]

6. Biff-

the Gospel according to Biff, Jesus' childhood best friend. funny as shit.

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

7. I've not read it, but that reminds me of Norman Mailer's

The Gospel According To The Son.

"The Gospel According to Biff" sounds really good - I've just put it on my Amazon wish list. Spike Milligan's "Bible" is pretty funny, although it runs out of material after a while.

[Democrats_win]

8. An Arrows Flight by Mark Merlis.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312242883/sr=8-7/qid=1141523886/ref=sr_1_7/102-9994854-4495301?%5Fencoding=UTF8

--snip
An Arrow's Flight recounts the story of Achilles's son Pyrrhus, prophesied to be the soldier who conquered Troy. But Merlis's tale departs from the standard versions of the story: here, Pyrrhus is a go-go boy and hustler who lives in the demiworld of the gay ghetto and bears a closer resemblance to characters from John Rechy's City of Night than anybody in Edith Hamilton's Mythology. In its opening pages, An Arrow's Flight seems to be little more than a clever postmodern gag, but Merlis knows exactly what he is doing, and the novel quickly becomes a unique, emotionally overwhelming masterpiece.
---

This is a wonderful novel. Pyrrhus struggles to decide if he should meet his destiny or pursue another life.

[GaYellowDawg]

9. "The Wicked Day" by Mary Stewart

Mordred from Mordred's point of view. Good book.