Thursday, March 8, 2018

#MarchMagics / #DWJMarch Week 1 Roundup


Oh, this first week of MarchMagics / DWJMarch was heaven. I read four books, two collections of shorts, two novels.


First up was Dragons at Crumbling Castle, a collection from 2014 of stories that Terry Pratchett wrote between 1965 and 1973. From the introduction,
"... read the stories that I wrote as a teenager, mostly as they were first printed, although the grown-up me has tinkered just a little with a few fine details--the odd tweak here, a pinch there, and a little note at the bottom where needed, and all because the younger me wasn't as clever back then as he turned out to be."
These are stories for children but so lighthearted and funny that I loved them all. I loved the punny-ness of the title story. I loved revisiting the Carpet People. I loved the tortoise and the caveman inventor and the hapless Santa. Most of all, I loved the break from everything serious and bleak. This was a joy to read.


And, as much as Pratchett knows about creating lovable characters, DWJ is a master at the most loathsome, horrid creatures ever -- six different ones made their appearances in the three stories of Stopping for a Spell. The stories are each named after these awful characters (the "Chair" Person, Angus Flint, and the Four Grannies) and their awfulness is certainly the basis of each tale. The fact that she could provoke such intense, visceral reactions from adults reading short stories for children is proof that Diana was a bonafide genius.


Besides this horrible cover that I had to explain to Z had hardly anything to do with the story, Eric was another fun Rincewind/Discworld adventure. It won't work as a starting book for anyone just getting into this universe but, once you get to it, literature fans will have a wonderful time with some of the references. I was sad that it was only 197 pages long. Luckily, it left me a lot of time in the week for this doorstop ...


This was my second read of The Merlin Conspiracy (558 pages) and I loved it oh so much more this time through! There are two narratives, those of Nick and Roddy, weaving together through most of the book and then they join at the end and I wavered between each one as a favorite and ended up deciding that I had to love them both equally. The basic story is one of parallel worlds, with Nick in one and Roddy in another and how their lives eventually intersect. The stakes are high and there are some seemingly bad characters who turn out to be good and horrid ones who turn out to be even worse than you originally think. There is a lot of magic of all different sorts and the creatures are especially fun -- even the goat. I would definitely call this an all-ages book too. It has layers. Many, many layers.

So, what did you read this first week? Leave thoughts or links below!
(I know some people have trouble commenting on Blogger sites so it's okay to just leave a comment on anyone else's post too and I will find you.)

Loathing and loving,
K

12 comments:

  1. I started reading Dragons at Crumbling to my daughter a few months ago, and she quickly lost interest. I was laughing, but it seemed most of the humor was going over her (6yrold) head. I'm looking forward to finishing it by myself though.

    Damn though, I don't think I've finished a single book yet in March. Sloooow going I guess.

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    1. I could see that. I know that Z was iffy on British humor when he was younger because he didn't know all of the alternate words for things.
      I am definitely reading more this month than I have in a while. ;)

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  2. I've had so much fun reading short stories. Gotta get a post up...

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  3. Here's a post about short stories for younger readers: http://howlingfrog.blogspot.com/2018/03/march-magics-stopping-for-spell-and.html

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  4. WOW, you're on fire! So much reading! :D

    This week, I read The Game by DWJ which was absolutely fascinating. I loved the Mythosphere stuff, and the characters! It was fun and brilliant. :D I also read Dragons from Crumbling Castle and it was delightful! I loved that it was just sheer FUN. I immediately handed it off to my younger brother to read, something I haven't been able to do with Pratchett's works for older readers, so that made me happy. :) Both were new reads and delightful. ^_^

    YOu're making me want to re-read The Merlin Conspiracy! I loved that one, and the goat and elephant, and Romanov, and Nick and Roddy, and Wales, and all the things! I read that one a few years ago when I was home alone looking after things while the fam was on vacation and I had the flu, so my memory of the book is slightly hazy and yet vivid all at the same time. It also made Nick looking after Romanov's house while Romanov had the flu seem SO APPROPRIATE, like I was in the book myself. XD So good.

    Shared a review for Deep Secret (speaking of Magids) which was I read for my FIRST March Magics! :) https://thepagedreamer.wordpress.com/2018/03/08/deep-secret-diana-wynne-jones/

    Loved your post and looking forward to another great March Magics week. ^_^

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    1. The Mythosphere is such a cool concept and I wish there had been another book with that as an element.
      And it's definitely hard not to try and read EVERYTHING again each year. This is why I make lists and try to stick to those.

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  5. I'm still working on Everard's Ride. However, my current readaloud to my son is Castle in the Air, having just finished Howl's Moving Castle last week. I'm so glad he shares my reading genes.

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    1. That's fantastic! I could never convince Z to give DWJ a try. He read all of Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker books last summer so I'm hoping I have more luck getting him to try Pratchett!

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    2. Oh, that's so sad. But if he liked Adams there's a good chance he'll like Pratchett. I should get some of the kids books for my son too, I just don't own any (while I have 30+ DWJ books sitting on the shelf.)

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    3. Exactly. Now, as I collect more Pratchett there's more chance that he will pick one up!

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  6. I listened to the audiobook of Dragons at Crumbling Castle and loved it. Favorite story was The Carpet People, too! Footnote: his footnotes totally cracked me up.��

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    1. There's a whole Carpet People novel and I'm thinking of rereading it sooner than later!

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