Celebrate Diana Wynne Jones!
A place where readers and fans can share their favorite DWJ books, quotes, stories, characters, covers, memories, interviews -- you name it! With contributions from her publishers all over the world.
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Photo reblogged from Blue Willow
Chrestomanci series Book 3 : Witch Week by Diana Wynne Jones
Japanese book cover
Illustration by Miho Satake
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Quote reblogged from Agent PeacockNow the geography of Finland is very much affected by the last Ice Age. Simon, what happens in an Ice Age?”
Simon dragged his mind away from dreams of gold and glory. “Everything is very cold,” he said.Diana Wynne Jones: Witch Week
Capturing the very essence of this merciless land since 1982.
(via secondarysecrets)
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Photoset reblogged from Free as Air and Secret
there they are, all at once! my Theresa got a bit less round and Charles and Brian look much too similar, but oh well. I’m quite proud of Nan’s scrawl, however.
I love how the book begins and ends with the same note. :’)
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Photo reblogged from lately I've been thinkin'...
“Chewing gum?” she asked. “No, I think they’re jointed worms. Worms in custard.”
“Shut up!” hissed Nirupam.
“But it’s not custard,” Nan continued. She could hear her voice saying it, but there seemed no way to stop it. “The tongue-test proves that the yellow stuff has a strong taste of sour armpits, combined with - yes - just a touch of old drains. It comes from the bottom of a dustbin.”
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I reread Witch Week again and tried to draw these
awfuldarling children again!Supposed to be Theresa Mullet at the upper left, Nan Pilgrim at the top and bottom, Simon Silverson down the middle, Estelle on either side, Nirupam on the left and Charles Morgan on the right. I’m getting there.
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What makes you a real girl or boy is that no one laughs at you. If you are imitation or unreal, the rules give you a right to exist provided you do what the real ones or brutes say. What makes you into me or Charles Morgan is that the rules allow all the girls to be better than me and all the boys better than Charles Morgan.from Witch Week, by Diana Wynne Jones
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Nan Pilgrim!
I was thinking of doing a commemorative piece with all my favorite Diana Wynne Jones characters all hanging out together, but my motivation for big projects is all burnt out at the moment. So instead I’m just going to see how many sketches of DWJ characters I’ve never drawn before (or at least posted online) I can do tonight! And since there are so many wonderful characters I can’t even remember, I’m taking suggestions - put ‘em in my ask!!!
I really, really love Nan; she is one of my favorite characters in one of my very very favorite books. I love her awkwardness and how she learns to be confident and how she realizes that she would rather write than do magic, and ungh just everything about Witch Week is perfect that’s all.
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Photoset reblogged from related worlds
NOTE: These are the UK editions.
The Chrestomanci series, by Diana Wynne Jones
Chrestomanci is the title of a powerful enchanter with the responsibility of regulating magic usage in a set of parallel universes. The Chrestomancis are unique in that they have nine lives; this is because, while most people in the world of Chrestomanci have spiritual doubles among eight other worlds, a potential Chrestomanci has no doubles. It is a government job, and each Chrestomanci is responsible for locating and training his or her successor.
Merely calling out “Chrestomanci” will cause the current Chrestomanci to appear, whether he wants to or not, anywhere on his own world. It is implied in Witch Week that saying his name three times will summon him on any world. Once called, a Chrestomanci will attempt to solve any urgent magical dilemma, either out of obligation or natural inclination. (wikipedia)
- Charmed Life
Reading order (raccommended by DWJ herself)
- The Lives of Christopher Chant
- Conrad’s Fate
- Witch Week
- The Magicians of Caprona
- The Pinhoe Egg
- Mixed Magics -
You can’t go wrong with the Book Smugglers’ opinionated take on things.
“It always fascinates me how DWJ never underestimates the children she is writing for.”
