What do you think of books that are retellings of or inspired by classics?

Great movie, you must watch it.

I told you guys recently that I came up with a new story idea that has me giddy with excitement. What is the idea? I can’t say yet, I don’t want to jinx it. But, as you can tell from the title of this post, it is inspired by another story that has already been told.

As of the moment I’m writing this post, I have just started reading For Darkness Shows The Stars by Diana Peterfreund, which was inspired by Jane Austen’s Persuasion (one of my favorites as far as the story goes, and the movie, see picture above). Other than this one, I don’t think I’ve read many books that retell classic tales. The only other one that comes to mind is Jekel Loves Hyde by Beth Fantaskey. Of course, there’s also several movies I’ve seen that are supposed to be just like a classic story (fairy tale or even Shakespearean). Other than that, I’m in the dark as far as a retelling goes.

I’ve been doing some brainstorming on the idea. Thinking about the different directions I could take the story, like whether I want to make it modern or futuristic. If I make it futuristic, will it be just somewhat science fiction or an all out dystopian universe?

Also, trying to work out the details of the story itself. Like, how close should it or can it be to the original? And by how close, I mean, how many scenes/ secondary characters can I replicate in some way? Is there a certain point you’re allowed to go to without making it a complete duplication of the original? Because there are a lot of aspects to the story I want to retell that I absolutely adore, but I’m in a quandary as to which ones should be left on the cutting room floor.

I probably won’t be able to get this one going for at least a year. There’s a lot to work out as far as the plot itself goes, not to mention the setting. I would like to take more time looking into the original too. And it will give me plenty of time to read a few inspired by/retellings in the meantime to see how it is done.
 

But… I still want some opinions from my followers…

What do you think of retellings?
Have you read any?
Have you written any?
How close is it to the original?
Is it just slightly inspired or heavily inspired?

Thank you in advance for the thoughts and suggestions!