Monday, March 31, 2014

#DWJMarch: Wrap-Up


Oh no. It's the end of March and therefore, the end of DWJ March. Boo! I thought that it was another fantastic month of celebration and I hope that some of you enjoyed it too. It was a lot of fun starting a tumblr this year. I'll keep putting up DWJ stuff there throughout the year as I come across it.

Here's what I read this month:

Deep Secret - First time reading this one. I wanted to start it again almost as soon as I finished. This is already one of my favorites!
Enchanted Glass (reread) - I had fun with this one again except being a bit more bothered by that one revelation at the end than I was the other times I read the book.
Stopping for a Spell - This is a collection of three short stories for younger readers -- Chair Person, The Four Grannies, and Who Got Rid of Angus Flint? These were some of my least favorite DWJ pieces I've ever read because the adults in all of them were so loathsome!
Charmed Life (reread) - Wonderful as always. Poor Cat Chant.
Believing is Seeing: Seven Stories - I got both of the short story collections as ebooks from the library and was underwhelmed by both. I think I'm a bigger fan of DWJ novels than short stories. I did like a couple of the stories in this one enough to probably read them again later though -- Enna Hittims, What the Cat Told Me and Dragon Reserve, Home Eight.
House of Many Ways (reread) - Charmain! I think she's just fantastic. I really missed her.
The Merlin Conspiracy - First time reading this one too. I can't believe I hadn't picked up the Magid books yet but I seriously want to blame the US covers. They are quite bad. Now I own the pretty UK re-release covers and I love these stories!
The Islands of Chaldea - Boohoo. I don't want this to be Diana's final released story.
The Homeward Bounders (reread) - I had forgotten just about everything about this one so it was a fun reread.

I spent the month celebrating a wide variety of Diana's stories and worlds and it was really, really fun. I wish I could just keep going on forever and ever reading and re-reading her books. Be sure and let me know in the comments which book(s) you read this month!

I also want to say congratulations to the winners of books from my giveaway! They've already been contacted and their books are on the way.

Tif in the US is getting Fire and Hemlock and The Dark Lord of Derkholm.
Lauren in the UK is getting Year of the Griffin.
Carolina in Mexico is getting Eight Days of Luke and Enchanted Glass.

I love that I was able to have books sent all over the world. I might still have one or two books to send out too. I can't stop spreading the DWJ love!

Well, that's it for Year Three of #DWJMarch. If you have any suggestions or requests for next year, send me an email. And thank you for joining me in this celebration of Diana's life and literary legacy. Each person that wrote a post or a tweet or left a comment made this event that much better. I truly appreciate all of you (especially Anastasia, Jean, Jenny, Lauren, Amy, Chris, Tif, Carolina, Kim, Kerry, Kelly, mockturtle8, Goldeen, Heather, Trish, Hannah, Andrew, Thomas, Care, Livia and Ela).

I can't wait until next year for the 4th Annual version of DWJ March!

15 comments:

  1. Here is my wrapup post: http://howlingfrog.blogspot.com/2014/03/dwj-wrapup-post-and-changeover.html

    Thanks so much for doing this. I do so love DWJ March. I wish I hadn't done a flameout, it had nothing to do with this at all, just fatigue.

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    1. Plus I think you absolutely deserve to go to the UK and present a paper at the conference! :D

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    2. Thanks so much for all of your participation! It's totally okay that you just did what you could. It was still fun. :)
      And yes, I think I need to go to the conference.

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  2. Thank you for hosting this event! I can't wait for the books to arrive :3
    I reread 'Fire and Hemlock and checked all the posts I could!

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    1. Thank you for being such a great fan! I hope you enjoy both of the books. They're two of my favorites. :)

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    3. I'm sure I'll love them!

      I'm currently reading Dogsbody and loving it! DWJ's is a balm for my soul! I'm spreading her works by lending my books!

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  3. Such a wonderful event, Kristen! And I'm super pleased that you like Deep Secret -- I did not love upon my first reading of it, but I have come around. As one does.

    I reread Year of the Griffin last night, staying up very late to finish it. I sure do love that one. It's so tidy at the end, and everything's nice, and now I want to reread The Dark Lord of Derkholm because Year of the Griffin hasn't got enough Kit and Calette in it.

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    1. I was surprised at how early I fell in love with Deep Secret. It just grabbed me from the start. I think that's one of Diana's gifts -- her books are of such a variety that you just have to try a few of them to find the one(s) that can grab you like that.

      Thanks for spreading the word and participating this month!

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  4. I had so much fun joining in with this event. Thank you ever so much for organising it. I really appreciate your hard work and that of all the contributors.

    My copy of Year of the Griffin arrived this morning. I can't wait to get stuck into it. Thank you very much!!

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    1. I love that I could get that book to you. Thank you for being a wonderful DWJ fan! It makes it so much more fun and meaningful to share it with others. :)

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  5. As my final wrap-up, I decided I had to figure out what cauliflower cheese was (from Enchanted Glass). As I expected, it's just cauliflower with cheese sauce, except you bake it in the oven and that transforms it just a bit. It was quite yummy! (But I can see getting tired of it if you had it every day!)

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    1. I'm not a cauliflower fan but maybe I will try this sometime just to see what it's like. :)

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  6. I am extremely late in posting, but I have to say that I really enjoyed DWJ March yet again! I cannot wait to dive into more books before the event next year. I've got some great ones to get lost in!!

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    1. And I'm late in replying but I am so, so happy you participated this year and that you're still exploring DWJ's books. I envy you for how many books you still have ahead of you. I'm down to just a handful. ::sob::

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