Let's Not Forget - Diana Wynne Jones

The summer before I turned nine I didn't get to the library nearly enough. I read the books my parents had saved from their childhood since we were not really book buying people. (Hint: we couldn't go very many places since child #6 was an infant. It's hard to travel with five rangy kids and an infant. Also, buy books? That's why we have libraries. 'Nuff said.) And I read ONE book* 22 times.

I still re-read books but more than three times? Ha! There are too many books in the world for that!  EXCEPT.... for The Lives of Christopher Chant by Diana Wynne Jones. 19 times and counting.  Every so often, I remember that scene in World (I forget which world it was.  Is it time to re-read the book?) when Christopher must stand firm and haughty in order to save Tacroy's life. And I ask myself, "What did he say? How did that scene go?" Because, that scene is truly wonderful. Every detail means something.

Proud and haughty!

Fantasy lovers everywhere; raise your water bottles high in praise and remembrance of Diana Wynne Jones.  Her plots are so complex that re-reading is never a waste of time. She was the almost first fantasy author I ever read that moved fantasy into the modern world. (I keep forgetting Edward Eager's books and E. Nesbit's Sand Fairy.) OK, so Dianna Wynne Jones was the first fantasy author that I NOTICED had moved fantasy into the modern world.  Witch Week!  The Homeward Bounders! Howl's Moving Castle!  The exclamation marks are mine, not part of the titles.  I could read them ALL again. 

Four (or more) books follow the career of Christopher Chant, Chrestomanci.  One, my favorite, (see above) shows how he became the administrator of all magic in his world - a job his arrogant nature is not well-suited for. He plays pivotal parts in the The Magicians of Caprona  and Charmed Life. In Witch Week, Chant arrives to smooth out magic gone awry - still a pivotal part but you don't get a feel for his personality.  I only read Conrad's Fate once but Chrestomanci had influence there as well.

Oh, the Goddess!  And those Milly books! Yes.  Just thinking about her books makes me break out in happy memories. 

She left this world in 2011.  We might find her impression as a time ghost in Time City (A Tale of Time City), should we be lucky enough to travel there. 



*That 22 times-read book was Little Men by Louisa May Alcott.