Diana Wynne Jones, 1934-2011

[jinian]

I have all these posts lined up in my mind about lab and spring and pottery photos, but instead I have to tell you about Diana Wynne Jones' death. She'd been seriously ill since last year, but it's still so sad. Her must-read book is The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, and loads of her others are brilliant too, but my favorite is Year of the Griffin -- it's a silly school story like many others, but the kids are so great with each other, and their differences bring them together, and Elda is a griffin. One of the profs is trying to travel to the moon, and there are ninjas, and somehow it all comes together to make me really happy whenever I read it. All that was sarcastic and grouchy in Dark Lord of Derkholm gets sea-changed into hope and fun.

(Giggling through tears that the only articles on this I can find are in Spanish and French. Here, have a Fantasy Mundo link.)

If you haven't read these, do it:
Dogsbody
The Homeward Bounders
Howl's Moving Castle
Archer's Goon
Charmed Life
Witch Week
and those mentioned above.

Comments

[gwyneira.livejournal.com]

Am so sad! I got out Fire and Hemlock and The Ogre Downstairs to reread. Maybe I'll read Liam the bit about the toffee bars undulating downstairs, because who wouldn't love that?