Note: I received this — and here comes some important information, so pay attention — NEWLY REISSUED EDITION OF DEEP SECRET from the publisher for review consideration. I led with the most important information, but I’ll mention it again, just in case: The speculative fiction publisher Tor has put Deep Secret back in print for the first time in years! And for the first time in even longer, we have an American edition of this book that doesn’t take out all the swear words! Huzzah! If you are one of the (gloriously many!) people who has asked me what Diana…
I was trying to figure out, earlier today, what year it would have been that I started reading to my little sister. I have read her scads of books over the years, but I’m pretty sure the first one was Half Magic, and I’m pretty sure that after finishing it, we went straight on to Magic by the Lake, which means I must have had them both at the time. I have definite proof that I got Magic by the Lake for Christmas of 1995. Let’s say I started reading to Social Sister early in 1996. That was fourteen years…
Can I confess something? When I see people like Elizabeth tearing through their Mount TBRs like it’s going out of style, I become very embarrassed about my own terrible TBR habits. The trouble is that I own the books I own! The books I check out from the library will be due back in a few weeks! How can I prioritize the books with no deadline over the books with a deadline? I can’t! That would be nuts! Of course, when I do make time for the books that I own but haven’t read, I rarely regret it. I bought…
Note: I received a copy of The Secrets of Wishtide from the publisher for review consideration. I do not read many mysteries. I think the reason is that so many mysteries come in serieses, and as a completist I find this very daunting. (Yes yes I am in love with the Amelia Peabody books, of which there are infinity, but I started reading them when I was like fourteen so it barely counts.) Also, a lot of mysteries feature divorced dude private eyes wandering around thinking bitter thoughts about their exes. Or really gruesome autopsy details. And I don’t like those…
Yeah, I remember the rule. I remember the exception to the rule. It turns out Animal Farm is exactly what you get when you make rules that you know you want to break. I started jonesing so hard for The Secret History, and when I saw it at a book sale last week, I was all, Blah blah rationalization, this copy here is a trade paperback and my copy is only mass market, this and that, it’d be better to have this copy than my copy. Once I got it home, I tried to kid myself that I wasn’t going…
Somehow it is October, and though many months of the year have passed, we are ever more convinced that linear time is a collective hallucination. We hope that you are experiencing Autumn, and we welcome in the settingsiest time of year by chatting about our thoughts on book settings. (I am opposed to them, and Whiskey Jenny is in favor.) In this podcast, we welcome the marvelous Ashley Wells, whom we do love but whom I invited to the podcast to punish her for forcing me to read this goddamn Irish book. She made us a game!!! We haven’t had…
Once again, the wonderful Kristen of We Be Reading is hosting Diana Wynne Jones March! She’s put together a fantastic schedule of events for the month. If you’re a Diana Wynne Jones fan or interested in becoming one, make sure to stop by her blog every day this month to see what she’s got going on over there. To kick off the month, she’s asking people to post pictures of their collection of DWJ books. Fortunately, since I haven’t yet organized my books onto bookshelves in my new apartment, all of my Diana Wynne Jones books were pre-strewn about the…
First of all: The winners of the giveaway! Karenlibrarian of Books and Chocolate! and! Proper Jenny of Shelf Love! Congratulations! I’ve sent you both an email, so let me know if you don’t receive it. And now, on to the links. Just Book Reading expected Witch Week to be sort of like Harry Potter though in fact it turned out to be quite different. Thomas of shepline thinks about his favorites of Diana Wynne Jones’s books. Spoiler: He likes Fire and Hemlock best because it is best. 🙂 Here he writes about how Fire and Hemlock influenced his own writing;…
The story of my Diana Wynne Jones reading life is this: Stage One: Begin book. Find world it is set in confusing. Find characters depressing and unpleasant. Give up reading it, or finish it with grim sense of duty to beloved author. Lament dissimilarity to books previously read by Diana Wynne Jones. Attain acceptance by telling self that no author can write good books every single time. Reread Fire and Hemlock consolingly. Stage Two (discovery of DWJ – 2003ish): Receive assurances from sister that book in question is good. Doubt her taste because of Juliet Marillier and similar. Point out…
In case you were not aware, Diana Wynne Jones is very ill right now. If you enjoy her books and wish her well, now would be a good time to drop her a line and tell her so. Her semi-official fan site offers an email address; or if you prefer, her lovely publisher Greenwillow will forward snail mail to her: Diana Wynne Jones c/o Greenwillow Books, 10 E. 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022. It is at times like these that I wish I could change the universe by wanting it to be different. I know Diana Wynne Jones is…
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