tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-754919688510890076.post3784597085127418181..comments2024-03-07T11:38:48.622-08:00Comments on We Be Reading: DWJ March: Guest Post from KimKristen M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02335598194501733541noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-754919688510890076.post-84872691308538048502013-03-12T19:15:08.548-07:002013-03-12T19:15:08.548-07:00Thanks for the quote, Goldeen! Yes, I think DWJ ha...Thanks for the quote, Goldeen! Yes, I think DWJ has met a dragon or two in her life. She and Robin McKinley really get dragons.Kim Aippersbachhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02556947405633680410noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-754919688510890076.post-60325458529954716422013-03-12T17:39:49.423-07:002013-03-12T17:39:49.423-07:00The more times I reread the Derk books, the more t...The more times I reread the Derk books, the more they move toward being my favorite DWJ books. Although I just read them last year, I'm ready to pick them up again!Kristen M.https://www.blogger.com/profile/02335598194501733541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-754919688510890076.post-90693139385889529432013-03-12T15:54:07.435-07:002013-03-12T15:54:07.435-07:00I am just about to read Charmed Life, so this was ...I am just about to read Charmed Life, so this was a fun post to read. I don't have the Dark Lord of Derkholm, and yet I know it and the sequel have been on my list for so long. Thanks for the reminders about how good they are (and she was). My copy of Charmed Life has a postscript by her, but it's a different one, about how she came to write fantasy, and how her children helped her. Charmed Life came to her one day when she was ill with a virus, and wrote itself in front of her: "To this day, I can recall my amazement at the speed with which the book then spread out from it (the central scene just described) forwards and backwards, zip-zip, as quickly as that, bringing with it Chrestomanci, Gwendolen, Mrs Sharp, the Nostrum brothers, Mr Baslam, Will Suggins and an entire world in which magic was as normal as music. The whole book was in my head in seconds. It was all utterly obvious to me." She had already written 5 books with magic in them, but she was thinking "she had to explore further since there was all kinds of magic and ways to write about it, and she hadn't found the right way to write it."<br /><br />I think the rest of her life was exploring how to write about magic, and she's left a wonderful legacy of books behind. Susanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09095246748581382752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-754919688510890076.post-58793414591732704762013-03-12T13:31:31.973-07:002013-03-12T13:31:31.973-07:00"Notice that her villains are terrified of be..."Notice that her villains are terrified of being made ridiculous, while her heroes learn to be perfectly comfortable with oddity and goofiness."<br /><br />Love this on so many different levels!! I'm still a newbie to DWJ, but this one sentence really captured what I have read so far and loved about her writing.Tif Sweeneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06015299390676538748noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-754919688510890076.post-66515980236370124712013-03-12T07:43:36.531-07:002013-03-12T07:43:36.531-07:00Darklord of Derkholm is one of my favorites! Allow...Darklord of Derkholm is one of my favorites! Allow me to help with a quote. This is from Chapter Twelve, and it rather spoiled dragons for me in all other books (except the Merlin Conspiracy.)<br /><br />--Then all at once there was a roaring so much louder and deeper than Kit's that it seemed to come up from the earth and down from the sky at the same time. It came from all around, as if the whole world were roaring. Something massive and dark passed over Blade's head in a surge of hot air and hit the tipped-up dome of magic. SLAP. The dome fell back into place with a wallop that shook the turf under Blade's feet, tumbling yelling soldiers in a heap down the wall behind it. The massive shape wheeled above the dome and swooped down upon Don and Kit. The great roaring became words.<br /><br />GET BACK INTO THAT DOME, SCUM!" Flames flicked as if the words were on fire.<br /><br />The soldiers around Don looked up, saw the gigantic dragon powering down on them, and ran.--<br /><br />Darklord of Derkholm also has some truly scary and touching bits in. Can't recommend it and Year of the Griffin enough!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05659359099461093235noreply@blogger.com