June 2012
26 posts
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Blogging for a Good Book: The Pinhoe Egg →
A worthy recommendation by an admiring librarian.
“My enduring ambition is to live in Chrestomanci Castle (they do have a librarian; it says so in the book!).”
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DWJ on The Merlin Conspiracy →
A brief clip of Diana talking about her then new novel, and why you should read it.
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“Children also hate being talked down to but, alas, they are very used to being...”
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DWJ's hints about writing a story →
Some enormously sensible writing tips — originally for children, but really for everyone.
“Some people get stiff and unhappy writing because they think they can’t manage to write how it *feels* to have an adventure, or to be in the middle of very fast, exciting action. This is nonsense. Everyone knows.”
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Quiz: Who's running your town? →
An Archer’s Goon based quiz by DWJ fan Ven. It’s as funny as the book.
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A Tasmanian view →
A reader from Australia shares her DWJ experience.
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“…reading a book [is] an enchantment above any spell.”
– from Diana Wynne Jones’ novel The Magicians of Caprona (1980)
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DWJ interviewed: Year of the Griffin →
An interview done in conjunction with Greenwillow’s publication of Year of the Griffin. (The last line will be familiar to you.)
“I don’t write for anyone particularly. I find if I have a specific person in mind, it makes me too self-conscious to write — and the same goes for a larger audience.”
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James Bow on Hexwood →
Hexwood is one of DWJ’s twistiest and most interesting narratives, and here one reader pays tribute.
“A remarkable book, from an author who has already shown a remarkable range. It is a complicated, violent and disturbing epic describing a centuries-long power struggle, and it is masquerading as a young-adult fantasy.”
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Reflections on REFLECTIONS →
Yes, the cover above is Power of Three — but that’s because it was the gateway DWJ book for this blogger, who has just begun to read Reflections.
“Even minor Jones is compelling, and it was enough to ensure that from that point I read everything I could get my hands on.”
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Eve Tushnet on DWJ →
A blog post about DWJ’s fictional families, with a nice nod in the direction of The Tough Guide to Fantasyland.
“Her books have a sense of perseverance, and a sense that the most unpleasant relative might turn out to be someone you need.”
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Tribute: The Moving Castle →
A look at how Diana’s work can change lives, and allow windows into other writers’ work.
“One of the things I love best about her books is the way she so deftly creates characters who feel real, recognizable, fully-developed. She doesn’t need pages and pages of exposition, or obnoxious conversations that exist in the text only to reveal the emotional state of a...
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John Scalzi on DWJ →
This was John Scalzi’s response to Diana’s death — note his reading selection.
“It’s a genuinely wonderful book, with strong characters, a good plot, and a fine melding of both science fictional and fantasy elements … What I can say is that from an early age I was grateful to have read her, for all sorts of reasons.”
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