March Magics 2024

Long time, no post, eh? Well, I wanted to let anyone know who is looking that Chris Lovegrove over at Calmgrove is hosting this year's March Magics festivities.

The kickoff post is here and Chris will have a couple more posts throughout the month. I'll be reading a couple of Discworld books that are new to me and the recently released collection of Pratchett's early short stories. I also think I'll be rereading Howl's Moving Castle and its sequels. I rewatched the Miyazaki Howl movie the other night and am definitely in the mood for more.

All is well with me and mine. Z is attending a local college and seems to be taking a lot of Digital Media Arts classes even though he said he wanted to study psychology. I think he's just finally admitting where his talents lie and realizing that choosing a career means being in a field for long time. I'm happy as long as he is finding his way forward! I'm still being a support parent and doing a lot of reading and exercising and various other things so nothing to write home (or a blog) about but I do sometimes missing chatting with all of you. Maybe one day I will find my writing mojo again.

Anyway, take care and enjoy March Magics and its celebration of Terry Pratchett and Diana Wynne Jones. I will be!

March Magics 2023 Begins

It's March 1st, time to start reading Terry Pratchett and Diana Wynne Jones!  This is the year to celebrate all of the good things, be they Chrestomanci, Howl, or Tiffany Aching. I can't even imagine my reading life without these two stellar authors. They have comforted me, distracted me, amused me, and brought me to tears. And I have yet to read a book by either one that I wouldn't be willing to read again and again. (And seeing how my final new DWJ is below, I think I'm pretty safe.)

I have these first time reads ahead of me and will probably start with The Fifth Elephant because you can never go wrong spending time with Vimes and The Watch. I'll fill in the rest of my DWJ reading with whatever I'm in the mood for as the month goes on.

I am not using Twitter at the moment so come find me on Instagram or Mastodon or leave your links on this post ... and remember to use the #MarchMagics hashtag wherever you post!

#MarchMagics 2023: All Good Things

Hello, friends! I wanted to do an early heads-up this year about March Magics because I have decided that this will be my last year hosting this lovely event. I started it as DWJ March in 2012, one year after our beloved Diana Wynne Jones passed away and then it became March Magics in 2016, one year after the passing of Terry Pratchett. As this 26th of March will be the twelfth anniversary of Diana's death and will also be the last year that I have a new-to-me book of hers to read, it felt like the right time to wind this down. It will only be eight years since Sir Pterry died (on 12 March 2015) and I do have a dozen or so of his books still ahead of me but it seems like a nice, odd milestone to hit for him as well.

Paraphrasing Chaucer, this year's theme will be All Good Things ... (Must Come to an End). This means that basically anything goes, because, with these two, there are so, so many Good Things to enjoy and they're different for everyone. I hope that many of you will join me this year in reading one or both of these authors. I don't have plans yet for any read-alongs or guest posts but, if you are interested, please do let me know! And thank you for spending each March with me in this celebration of literary lives well-lived. It has been one of the highlights of my reading year for so long now. Finally, I am more than willing to hand off the hosting of this event to someone else so do let me know if that is something that interests any of you.

Look for an official kick-off post on 1 March!

Wrapping Up #MarchMagics 2022

Thank you all for joining in again this year to celebrate the wonderful works of Diana Wynne Jones and Terry Pratchett. It has been eleven years since Diana passed and seven since Terry left us but it still feels so recent.

I was able to read almost everything I planned and certainly met new friends and enjoyed my time with the old ones. I had a lot of fun with Sir Pterry's The Last Continent, The Wee Free Men (a relisten), Dodger (a relisten), and Equal Rites (a reread). I also watched the 2008 miniseries The Colour of Magic (with story from both The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic) and listened to LeVar Burton read the short story The Troll Bridge on his podcast. It was also quite a treat to read the biography The Magic of Terry Pratchett by Marc Burrows.  I'm looking forward to having Rob Wilkins' Pratchett biography (Sept 2022) to read next year.

As for DWJ, I got through Dark Lord of Derkholm (a relisten), Cart and Cwidder, Drowned Ammet, and The Spellcoats (a reread). I started The Crown of Dalemark the other day and got about 50 pages in (where Mitt and Moril first meet) and decided that I just wasn't ready to finish my final new-to-me DWJ. I will save this book until next year and postpone that particular sadness.

How was your March Magics month? Let me know what you ended up reading!

#MarchMagics 2022: Friends Old and New

I was considering whether to just let March Magics go this year since I haven't blogged since the last one when I got a short message from Chris, asking for an event image. Well, I just couldn't let him down so here we are again, celebrating Diana Wynne Jones and Terry Pratchett through their always-wonderful works. I am actually quite happy to host this again for the 11th (!) time.

I chose the theme Friends Old and New this year because we are all at different places in our DWJ and Pratchett journeys. Some of the characters have been old friends for years, others we have yet to meet but are guaranteed to be friends when we do.

This is my stack for the month, minus one book that is still on its way. I'll be reading two more Discworld books in my journey through that series--The Last Continent and Jingo. I have also decided to reread Dodger since I can't even remember how long it has been since I first read and loved it. And I have Marc Burrows' biography, The Magic of Terry Pratchett, that I'm really looking forward to. Then for DWJ, well, I'm picking up the last unread books I have of hers--The Dalemark Quartet. The Spellcoats will be a reread but the other three will be first time reads. It's going to be quite sad to have no more new-to-me DWJs after this. But, this is still a chance to make new fictional friends, right?

I would love to know who is participating this year and what you are planning to read so please leave a comment or find me on instagram or twitter. And if you post about the event during the month, please use hashtag #MarchMagics. I hope to chat with many of you soon! And thank you for becoming my friends over these many years through our shared love of these authors. I appreciate all of you!

Read-Along: Nation #MarchMagics

Terry Pratchett's Nation is a multiverse book, a "not our world but one a lot like it" story that brings together two young people who are an unlikely pair. There is Mau, the young Pacific Islander on the cusp of manhood who loses everything when his village is destroyed by a giant wave. And there is Daphne, a British young woman who used to be Ermintrude but who used the wreck of the ship she was on to reinvent herself. Her ship, of course, wrecks on the island that used to be the home of the Nation, Mau's people. As other refugees from the storm start arriving on the island, Mau and Daphne learn to communicate and to create a new found-family as they also strive to each understand themselves better.

I couldn't have picked a better book to fit my "All Together Now" theme. So many characters come together, each with their own strengths, to build a new community from the remains of the old one. They do things that are hard and sometimes uncomfortable but it allows them to process their grief and move forward and to save each other. There is also the pro-science message of the story that seems especially timely right now.

Some things I thought about while reading, if anyone wants to discuss:

Why are we always so certain when we speak about history when we are constantly discovering new facts about what came before?

Will white supremacy ever end or will it eventually be the end of our species?

Why can't we stand up to our grandparents or other elders when they are obviously wrong/mean?

Could you survive alone (or almost alone) on a previously inhabited island?

Can you really shout underwater to scare away a shark? (I looked this one up. The answer is ... maybe sometimes.)

I hope most of you will eventually read this book if you didn't get around to it for this event. It is a fantastic story that showcases more of the philosophical side of Pratchett. There is definitely still humor but it takes a backseat in this one and I found it refreshing. Of course I'm reading Guards! Guards! right now so I can obviously appreciate all of the humor as well. He really was one of the best.

#MarchMagics / #DWJMarch Week 4 Roundup

The end of March already?! It came far too quickly for me. I managed two more books in the past week, making it six Pratchetts and six DWJs for me. I am (almost) satisfied with that result. ::wink::

My final Pratchett of the month was Interesting Times, the 5th Wizards book and my 20th Discworld novel! Yay! This is how the book begins ...

When I posted that picture, I had multiple conversations on both Instagram and Twitter about how we are all evidently cursed at the moment and how we are certainly hoping for dull days to return sooner than later. In this book, the interesting times are happening to our old friend Rincewind. He gets sent to the Counterweight Continent and has all sorts of unpleasant adventures (as he usually does), even running into some of his former acquaintances, Cohen the Barbarian and Twoflower.

I was kind of up and down while reading this one. There were some moments of squicky feelings since the book is set in a loosely-veiled Asia. Sometimes the parodies seemed to cross the line ever so slightly into unfavorable stereotypes and were not cool. But, other times, there were breakings of said stereotypes and quite a few funny moments and then I would get wholly back on board. I think, after this, I'll just head back to good old Ankh-Morpork for a while.

And finally, I finished off my Diana Wynne Jones reading with my third time through The Homeward Bounders. I swear that this novel is different every time I read it. This time I really thought a lot more about the various worlds (I think because I read the Magids books and the Chrestomanci short stories and even Everard's Ride during the month) and also about the nature of Them, the baddies of this book. I also decided that this could possibly be Z's entry book into DWJ so I'm going to try and get him to give it a chance this summer!

I had so much fun this year with the short stories and all. I even had a couple of unexpected moments of DWJ/Pratchett synchronicity -- first I saw in A Blink of the Screen that one of the short stories that Terry wrote was for a collection that Diana curated, and then, in Deep Secret, Diana had one of the characters at the fantasy convention wearing an "Oook!" shirt -- in reference to Pratchett's Librarian, of course! What a joy to think of these authors admiring each other.

Well, that's it for me. Please share your final thoughts and links over the next couple of days. Thank you to each of you who spread the word about the event as it approached and thank you again to those who read and shared something new or something beloved (or a healthy mix of both) over this lovely March Magics / DWJ March event. I hope to see you back here again next year!

On a personal note, today is the start of Z's spring break and then I'm having a houseguest (mom), starting my first pieced quilt (with mom), heading out on an anniversary weekend trip (15 yrs married/25 together ... eek!), and having a birthday (old) so I'm going to take a couple of weeks, possibly a month off from blogging. So, don't forget me while I'm gone and I will be back around the end of April/beginning of May!

With melancholy love,
K

#MarchMagics / #DWJMarch Week 3 Roundup

We're nearly three-quarters of the way through March Magics / DWJ March, I have read nothing else but stories and novels by these two authors, and I could honestly keep going through the month of April.

First up: Terry Pratchett's A Blink of the Screen: Collected Shorter Fiction, where all but one story was new to me. I didn't dislike a single one of the 33 pieces in this book. The worst I can say is that some of them just weren't subject matters that I cared that much about -- like football rosters and British politics. I wouldn't mind skipping a couple of those on reread. But, of the rest, I enjoyed the diversity of topics, the humor, the tie-ins to classic literature, and yes, Granny Weatherwax. My favorite was "FTB", where a computer gets a visit from a down-at-the-mouth Father Christmas. It was the sweetest story and, if I can remember, I'll revisit it in December!

Then I had a truly enjoyable reread of Mixed Magics, four shorts set in the Chrestomanci world. His appearances in them range from not at all to fairly major character but the stories all have that sense of omnipresence that DWJ wrote so well into all of the Chrestomanci tales. I barely remembered any of the plots from the last time I read this book so it was almost like reading them all again for the first time.
Also, I want to buy the version with this cover -- not because I especially dislike the cover on mine but because my copy is crunchy. It crackles with each turned page because it was bound badly. I'm hoping a newer version will be better!

Pyramids is actually the first book I finished this week. It's part of a little two-book Discworld side-arc and I really liked it! It explored ancient religions, family dynamics, and advanced mathematics (as calculated by camels) and was a fun "now-for-something-completely-different" kind of book. It would definitely work as a standalone.

Finally, a reread of Deep Secret kept me up far too late last night and I have been suffering from sore eyeballs all day long! I don't know why I read the Magid books out of order this time but it just felt right and it totally worked. I liked seeing Nick's beginning after already knowing how he would turn out. Maree was less annoying this time than the last (not sure why) but the romance seemed even more improbable. I do wish there had ended up being more than two books in this series! ::small sob::

Well, I'm out of short stories from both authors (except for that elusive DWJ, "The True State of Affairs", and the Pratchett Christmas collection) so I guess I will just be reading novels for the next week. I have a couple more Discworld books out from the library and I'm planning to reread Homeward Bounders. After that, who knows?!

What did you read this week? What are you going to try and get to before the end of the month? Leave thoughts or links below!

Shifting back to long tales,

K

#MarchMagics / #DWJMarch Week 2 Roundup

It's the end of the second week of our Diana Wynne Jones / Terry Pratchett celebration and, for me, it was another great week of short story reads.

I spent the first part of the week reading The Witch's Vacuum Cleaner and Other Stories, the second volume of short stories for children that Pratchett wrote in his younger years -- from 1966-1973. This was another joyful collection, full of humor and friendship and, in this one, the wild west of England -- Wales. And, while every story in Dragons at Crumbling Castle was equally fun, this book actually had a couple of stories that stood out and that I would call favorites.

"The Truly Terrible Toothache" is hilarious, in that a librarian accidentally brings an Elizabethan magician to the present day and he starts changing the town and the people into what he remembers. The librarian fights his hardest to not let his language change so that he won't forget he's a modern man. It has the funniest dialogue and a cute twist.

"The Blackbury Park Statues" was so incredibly sweet. The statues in a park are alive and, when an older woman who has been coming to the park her whole life to feed the ducks stops coming, they miss her and go on a quest to find out what's wrong.

To be honest, I think this collection is actually stronger than the first. That isn't what I was expecting at all. What a pleasant surprise! I now have to find out if the holiday collection will be published in the US or if I need to make a little Foyle's order.

Then I reread Unexpected Magic and was transported again into some favorite DWJ worlds. The thing with this collection is that some of the stories are more for adults while others are okay for older middle grade/YA so it's a little harder to get into a reading groove. But, if you stick with it, you will be rewarded with some amazing stories (and one stellar "novella" which is really long enough to be a novel).

"The Girl Jones" is a (likely embellished) autobiographical tale about the day 9 year old Diana gets put in charge of a dozen or so little siblings of other kids in her village. I think about it all the time actually because it's just such a perfect portrait of someone who thinks differently enough that she was destined to become a storymaker.

"Dragon Reserve, Home Eight" seems to be set in the sequential worlds of Chrestomanci or the parallel ones of the Magids and it is far and away my favorite DWJ short. I would have loved to have seen how Siglin spent the next few years and to be able to explore more of the worlds.

This book does have some strange science fiction stories (which I don't think are DWJ's strength) and some creepy tales that are basically horror that aren't quite to my tastes. But there are enough gems (including the 230-page Everard's Ride) to make this a volume well worth visiting and revisiting. Now that I've read it all of the way through twice, I think I'll just start reading individual stories when I'm in the mood!

So, what did you read this week? Leave thoughts or links below!

Keeping the party going,

K

#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

Welcome to #MarchMagics / #DWJMarch!

Hooray! March first! I'm so ready to start reading all of the Terry Pratchett and Diana Wynne Jones I can possibly shove into these 31 days. This wretched month may have taken these authors too soon but we can conquer the blues with the grandest reading celebration possible!

My plan is to have a post each Thursday starting next week where you can come and comment and/or leave links so that we can all share our reads and posts. Remember to use the #dwjmarch or #marchmagics hashtags on social media! I'll pick up content from those each week.

Here are the books I've currently pulled to read this month but I'm giving myself permission to grab any others that I end up in the mood for --

These are the short story collections. The DWJs will all be rereads and the Pratchetts are all new to me.

And these are the novels that I've pulled so far. Jean mentioned recently reading DWJ's Magids books and she put me in the mood for rereads! The two Discworld books are new to me as I'm still working through them all for the first time. They'll be my 18th and 19th Discworld reads.

And, confession: I've already cheated and started reading Dragons in Crumbling Castle a day or two early. It's got silly little stories that are a pleasant escape!

What book are you starting the month with? What are you most looking forward to?

In fondest memory,

K

Announcing 2018's #DWJMarch and #MarchMagics Theme

Hey there, my Diana Wynne Jones- and Terry Pratchett-loving friends! Guess what? I almost forgot to share what my plan is for this year's DWJ March/March Magics event, our grand celebration of two beloved authors that left us far, far too soon. I've had my chosen books sitting in a stack since sometime in December but it would probably help if I revealed the plan to you as well, right?
So, without further ado ...

Short stories!! Because I had three books of Terry Pratchett shorts on my TBR and because I can never reread Diana Wynne Jones's stories enough times, I decided that this is how I want to spend the month of March this year. It should work well with my current short attention span and around all of the worldly distractions and I hope it will help some of you participate more easily too.

If you need guidance on which books to request from your local library, here's a list of short story anthologies to look for:

Terry Pratchett's short stories will be easiest to find as these books have all been released only in the past few years.

A Blink of the Screen is a collection of his short adult fiction, 21 non-Discworld tales and 11 Discworld ones.

Then there are three collections for youth: Dragons at Crumbling Castle and The Witch's Vacuum Cleaner are the two that have been released in the US so far. If you're in the UK, you'll also be able to find Father Christmas's Fake Beard.

Diana Wynne Jones' anthologies are a bit messier. The main three where you will be able to find almost all of her stories are Unexpected Magic (16 stories), Mixed Magics (4 Chrestomanci stories), and Stopping for a Spell (3 stories). Then there are a few more anthologies that carry a mix of these stories -- Warlock at the Wheel and Other Stories, Everard's Ride, Minor Arcana, and Believing is Seeing. These will all be harder to find and there is only one story between them that isn't in the first three I mentioned ("The True State of Affairs"). Still, who knows what everyone's random libraries or used bookstores will have around, right?!

As for the event itself, I'll just be reading throughout the month and writing random posts to highlight the stories that I love. Feel free to write up your own posts and give me links to share or just stop by and comment on any of the posts here during the month with your thoughts. I want to keep it rather informal this year. You can read one story or 83 like I'm planning to do.

Leave a comment if you're planning on participating!

Tidying my pile of shorts,

K

#MarchMagics : Thief of Time

This final read for March Magics, Thief of Time, was also the only one I was reading for the first time. I was happy then to end the month with this smart, funny, thoughtful exploration of form, function, and time. This is another book with a complicated set of interwoven plots and characters. There are the Monks of History who live in one perfect day and manage time, shuffling it around when it is needed or is being wasted. There is Jeremy, a clockmaker in Ankh-Morpork who is a bit off but has been tasked with making an impossible device. There is Lobsang Ludd, former thief and current apprentice to Lu-Tse, a sweeper for the Monks. There are the Auditors, those grey hooded rule-makers who can't stand the diversity and unpredictability of human life. And then there is Susan and, of course, her grandfather, Death.  Oh! And Nanny Ogg makes a couple of appearances! Love her.

So, it was a bit confusing at first as each of the plots was starting up but by the end the stories clicked together like, well, clockwork. And there were two moments at the end that were some of the sweetest moments in the entire Discworld series. This is definitely my new favorite Death book. Pratchett really gets better through the years and is best when he couples complexity with depth while keeping his trademark humor and intelligence.

Question of the Day: Death by chocolate is a real thing in this book. What food/treat, if made perfectly, would be the death of you?

My answer? It would be a tie between snickerdoodle cookies (Martha Stewart's recipe ... LOADS of butter) and See's Dark California Brittle (almonds ... mmm ....). If I had either of those around regularly, I would die of overeating in a very short time.

So, that's the end of March Magics and DWJ March! I hope you all enjoyed the event this year. I'm already thinking about next year's theme. But, even if we all just randomly picked books by Jones and Pratchett, we would be guaranteed to have an amazing experience.

Reluctantly closing the doors on March,

K

#MarchMagics : Soul Music

It seemed almost predestined that I would be reading Soul Music when the inestimable Chuck Berry died last week. This story is an homage to the power and the eternal nature of rock and roll. It is also a study of humanity and fate. Death has been overwhelmed by an expected but unavoidable loss and he goes in search of oblivion, leaving his job to be automatically filled by his sixteen-year-old granddaughter, Susan. One of Susan's first empty hourglasses belongs to Imp y Celyn, a young musician. But, just as she prepares to break the rules and save his life based on a strange feeling of familiarity, she is preempted by a chord. The music instead saves him and takes over his life.

This is one of those books that has SO many references that it is impossible to catch all of them on the first or even the second read. Even the smallest throwaway phrase can be a joke or a play on words. The big ideas though are easy to catch. The music of the universe began with the big bang and rock and roll has the power to change the world. Also, a human would not make a successful Grim Reaper because it's a job that has to be done without emotion, no matter what ... usually. I loved all of the side characters, even C.M.O.T. Dibbler and Ande Supporting Bands. This is a good, solid book that must have taken ages to put together so seamlessly.

Question of the Day: In this story, almost everyone who hears the Music With Rocks In has an urge to play it or worship at its altar. Did you ever dream of a rock and roll lifestyle? What is your musical life story?

My answer? As a kid, I sang in the church choir and in one or two school musicals, played the trumpet for eight years, and studied classical piano for a bit. None of those seemed particularly "cool" though and I always wanted to learn guitar. I tried one lesson but the guy was a 90's metal band type who taught songs instead of fundamentals and it just wasn't the right fit for me. After high school, my daydreams turned to waiting for the day that one of my favorite bands desperately needed me to be a backup singer in the middle of a show. But, no matter how many concerts I went to, they never felt the need to grab my hand, pull me up on the stage, and marvel at my skill. Sigh. Now I just crank up the car radio on sunny days and sing until I'm hoarse.

On the backbeat,

K

#MarchMagics : Reaper Man

Reaper Man is the story of what happens to Discworld (and to Death himself) when Death is "fired" for developing a sense of self. In Ankh-Morpork, the life forces of everything that should have naturally transitioned start backing up and some souls that should have passed are stuck. Oh, and Death heads to a farm in the country to put his stellar scything skills to use.

This is a book that I liked the first time I read it but didn't love. I thought the two plot lines weren't equally compelling. That definitely changed this time through. I loved Windle Poons, the zombie wizard, and his motley band of undead compatriots. I also loved the transformation of Death into Bill Door. The moment when he told Miss Flitworth that he was afraid to die was heartbreaking. There were so many funny and bittersweet moments in this story that I was a bit disappointed when everything resolved. Even the strange snow globe/trolley/mall plot was amusing.

Question of the Day: Some of the extra life force in Ankh-Morpork causes head-wizard Archchancellor Ridcully's swears to be personified. They remain in a little swarm above his head and perched on his hat.

The word he uttered was unfamiliar to those wizards who had not had his robust country upbringing and knew nothing of the finer points of animal husbandry. But it  plopped into existence a few inches from his face; it was fat, round, black and glossy, with horrible eyebrows  It blew him an insectile raspberry and flew up to join the little swarm of curses.

 If your favorite swear word/phrase turned into a creature, what would it look like?

My answer? My swear would be slim and white with piercing acid green eyes and terrible teeth and claws and would be shaped a bit like a mink stole, always resting on my shoulders. I'm pretty sure it would growl quietly at just about anyone, friend or foe, that came near me.

Contemplating the possibilities of life,
K

#MarchMagics : Mort

Mort was the fourth Discworld book written, the second published in 1987, and the first to have Death as a main character. The long and short of this one is that gawky, brainy but spacey teen Mortimer (Mort) isn't wanted around his family vineyard because of his tendency to ruin things so his dad and uncle decide he should find an apprenticeship. That job ends up being with the one and only Death. Why Death has decided to take an apprentice when he has the job for, well, life is unknown but the fact that he has a marriageable, adopted human daughter might be part of it.

This is actually one of the stranger Discworld books that I've read. Death takes an apprentice, the apprentice makes a major mistake, Death doesn't seem to notice and instead begins trying to more fully understand human emotion and purpose. He also goes fishing. In the meantime, as apprentice Mort tries to repair his mistake, he begins losing his humanity. And the ending is so fast and unexplained that it even perplexes the characters. I like some of the ideas explored in this book and the characters themselves but, overall, it's a tough one to love, even on this second reading. (I do love this amazing Gollancz cover, though!)

Question of the Day: Death has a soft spot for Discworld's kittens and cats. If you were not fully of this (our) world, what would be the thing that would attract/intrigue/charm you the most?

My answer? I think it would also be the animals. The variety, the color, the adaptations. It was nice to see Death get so angry when he found a sack of drowned kittens. When I wasn't doing whatever I needed to be doing in my regular existence, I would probably be down here watching puffin parties or elephant families or whale migrations.

Also exploring humanity,

K

#MarchMagics / #DWJMarch : Launch!

Happy March! The time is here to do some glorious reading and rereading of the books of our beloved Diana Wynne Jones and Terry Pratchett. Hooray!

As always, everyone is welcome to read as much or as little from one or both of these authors as they desire. I'll be posting about the Chrestomanci and Death series on this schedule. (The first book is Charmed Life, discussion up on the 3rd.) Feel free to stop by any of those posts and leave your thoughts. If you post about any other books, be sure and leave me your links (here or on Twitter) and I'll spread the word. You can use either hashtag on Twitter and I'll be retweeting everything. Use the hashtags on Instagram too!

If you aren't sure what to read this month, we have a stellar guest post by Lory tomorrow that might give you some ideas. You can also ask Jenny on Twitter for a personalized DWJ recommendation and I'm sure she'll be more than happy to oblige. And, finally, here is a little info on each of the two series that I'll be reading, in case you aren't familiar with them.

Here's what Diana herself had to say about Chrestomanci --

There are thousands of worlds, all different from ours. Chrestomanci's world is the one next door to us, and the difference here is that magic is as common as music is with us. ...
Now, if someone did not control all these busy magic-users, ordinary people would have a horrible time and probably end up as slaves. So the government appoints the very strongest enchanter there is to make sure no one misuses magic. this enchanter has nine lives and is known as "the Chrestomanci". You pronounce it KREST-OH-MAN-SEE. He has to have a strong personality as well as strong magic.

Readers get to meet a couple of different Chrestomancis over the course of six books (and four short stories in Mixed Magics). The one you will come to know best is well-known for his fancy dressing gowns and amazing wife. The four stories we will be reading skip around in time but tie together.

Death is, well, The Grim Reaper. He has black robes and a scythe, a beautiful Victorian house and garden, and a slowly-expending hourglass for every person alive. He also has an adopted daughter and a granddaughter and, strangely, he's a bit lovable. He "speaks" in small caps straight into the minds of those who are unlucky enough to meet him. Death apparently appears in all but two of the Discworld books but I'll be sticking to four of the five books that are considered the Death series and feature him or his family as main characters.

So, I think that's enough to get us going. If you know what you are planning on reading this month, share it in the comments!

Craving the most magical March ever,
K

Announcing #Discworldathon

I keep meaning to mention a really cool event that this blog is actually going to be a part of in 2017! Bex of An Armchair By The Sea is hosting #Discworldathon through the entire year and I'm the March portion of it with #MarchMagics (and yes, #DWJMarch will still be happening as well ... don't worry!).

From Bex:

Whether you're an afficionado, a total newbie or somewhere in between you're more than welcome to join at any point throughout the year.

We have lots of fun bookish stuff in store for you and fellow bloggers will be hosting events throughout the year. If you'd be interested in hosting a readalong, themed month or anything else get in touch as there are a couple of hosting spots open still.

January starts at her blog and the entire schedule for the year is up as well. The readalong book for the month is Wyrd Sisters.

I'm not quite sure yet what my focus will be for March Magics but I'm thinking about Discworld short stories. There are some, right? ;)

In health (so not in Ankh Morpork),
K

#MarchMagics - Favorite Ship

For the final prompt of March Magics, I chose Favorite Ship. As I was thinking about this one over the month though, I realized that I didn't have anything in mind to write about. But, having just finished Sourcery and while listening to House of Many Ways, I started thinking that a funny cross-author one would be a romance between Rincewind and Charmain Baker (ten years older, of course). Between Rincewind's complete lack of confidence and bravery and Charmain's inability to look before she leaps and never-ending belief in her absolute rightness, I think it would be hilarious to put the two of them together and I think it could eventually work to their mutual benefit.

Which two characters, either within the Pratchett or DWJ canon or between them, would you love to see get together?

Writing imaginary stories in my head,
K

#MarchMagics - Favorite Fan Art

Because I am not an artist, I love going to look for artist's interpretations of my favorite characters after I'm done reading a book. My favorite place to do this is on DeviantArt. Here are some of my favorites related to the DWJ and Pratchett reading I've done this year. (You can click through for bigger versions.)

 

Tiffany Aching: books by Ner-Tamin on DeviantArt

Oook Tribute to Terry Pratchett by maiarcita on DeviantArt

Derkbabies by Kecky on DeviantArt

Empty your pockets, Chant! by monotogne on DeviantArt

Terry Pratchett Nation by Ullbors on DeviantArt

Where do you go to find fan art? Have you ever tried making your own?

In awe of talent,

K