Please Don't Read This Book

Author You Should be Reading: DIANA WYNNE JONES

Diana Wynne Jones

Now this edition of Author You Should Be Reading is as much for myself as it is for you, dear reader. This is because, though I’ve read and re-read and re-read HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE (read our review here), THE GAME, and FIRE AND HEMLOCK, I have yet to delve into her other books! Of which there are 40! So may this edition of AYSBR serve as a reminder to all of us to get our butts in gear!

First, a bit on Diana Wynne Jones, plucked from her website: Diana Wynne Jones was born in London, where she had a chaotic and unsettled childhood against the background of World War II. As children, Diana and her two sisters were deprived of a good, steady supply of books by her father, ‘who could beat Scrooge in a meanness contest’. So, armed with a vivid imagination and an insatiable quest for good books to read, she decided that she would have to write them herself.

Over the course of her life she wrote over 40 works of art (including picture books, short stories and novels) and won both the Mythopoeic Award (1999) and the Karl Edward Wagner award (1999).

So we have much to catch up on, yes? Yes.

Diana’s work is singular. Her prose is simple yet rich in texture and tone. Within a sentence or two you are there (there being wherever she chooses to take you!). There is a Diana Wynne Jones book for any reader, really. Do you like adventure? There’s a book for you. Fantasy? There’s a book for you. Witty writing and unforgettable characters? Spoiler alert, there’s a book for you!

 

Though, as confessed, I’ve only read a small smattering of her work, I continue to go back to it over and over again. If that isn’t one of the marks of a great piece of work, then I don’t know what is. I can pick up HOWL’S or FIRE AND HEMLOCK and both remember why I loved it and discover something new to love.

 Darn! Now I want to re-read them again.

Author You Should be Reading: ROBIN MCKINLEY

Marirosa Mia: Hello, everyone.  For a while I've been tossing around the idea of a new segment called "An Author You Should be Reading."  But thanks to life, the holidays, and NaNoWriMo, my first post got a bit delayed. Here it is, FINALLY. 

My first author you should be reading?  The one and only Robin McKinley.  Let me give a general overview of what I love about her; Julie and I have already reviewed two of her pieces, SUNSHINE and THE HERO AND THE CROWN, in more detail. 

I first discovered McKinley when my lovely friend, Annie, handed me a copy of SUNSHINE, confident that I would fall as deeply in love with McKinley's writing as she had. After reading SUNSHINE, I immediately purchased every McKinley book I could find in my local bookstore:  BEAUTY, SPINDLE'S END and DEERSKIN.  Reading each felt easy, like visiting an old friend. With just a sentence or two McKinley builds a world. She chooses her structure carefully and guides her readers expertly along the way. Of all her novels (I've read even more after that bookstore run), my favorites are DEERSKIN, SUNSHINE, and THE HERO AND THE CROWN. Like most of McKinley's work, those novels feature a strong female character - a survivor - who plows on, regardless of the obstacles she faces. 

I also admire the way McKinley handles love. It isn't flowery or ornate; it simply is.  There are no mistaken identities or accidental kissings of the wrong person--nothing messy or scandalous.  But the love portrayed is still intense, and very real.

McKinley is a writer who will always have a home on my bookshelf. If you get a chance, pick up one of her books, like Newbery Honor winner THE BLUE SWORD or Newbery medalist THE HERO AND THE CROWN. Or maybe SUNSHINE is the book for you--Neil Gaiman called it "perfect." McKinley's many fairy tale retellings, like SPINDLE'S END or DEERSKIN, are also well worth trying.  Reading any of these, you might find yourself a new friend.