I feel like Helen Oyeyemi‘s work is often described as playful, and Mr. Fox is certainly a collection of games tied in with fairy tales. Suggested related activities:

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To Do

Following Mary Foxe, make a list of experiences that are memorable to you or that you still want to experience.

She wanted to experience things; she had a list. She planned to attend a big band concert, and she planned to walk through a field of yellow rapeseed, and she planned to get an injection, and anything else I might recommend.

Browse upscale dining restaurant menus. Maybe when the pandemic is over I will actually go to one of these restaurants for dinner, but until then… I do like a good menu.

Upscale dining near me: Polo Lounge in the Beverly Hills Hotel, Spago by Wolfgang Puck, Il Cielo, and Caulfield’s Bar and Dining Room

I wondered if we could go out to dinner together. Someplace fancy. And if I could wear a nice hat.

Make a paper cutting. I always associate these crafts with fairy tales; they feel whimsical and romantic in a similar way to me.

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To Read

For more foxes: “Reynard the Fox“, the epic poem written by Goethe, and the short story Fox 8: a story by George Saunders

For more fairy tales: Sur La Lune collection of fairy/folk tales – what I particularly like about this collection is that it includes stories from non-European origins.

For “hasty women” (the list given in the book): La Dame aux Camelias by Alexandre Dumas, Therese Raquin by Emilie Zola, Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, Tess of the d’Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy, Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy