Books

[gilana]

Coraline — Neil Gaiman
The Pinhoe Egg — Diana Wynne Jones
Unexpected Magic — Diana Wynne Jones (most of it — had to return it to the Philly library before I left)
Mary Poppins Comes Back — P.L. Travers

How on earth have I not read Coraline before? That was really good. And somehow I seem to have missed most of DWJ, too. I had been hearing about The Pinhoe Egg, but didn't realize it's part of a series. I can't wait to go back and read the rest now.

Comments

[magid.livejournal.com]

The Pinhoe Egg isn't really part of a series; DWJ has a recurring character, Chrestomanci, but the books in which he appears don't form a series of themselves, since pretty much the only thing that connects them is his character. Which is not to say they're not fine reading, of course :-).

I have Unexpected Magic if you want to finish it. It's not among my favorite of her books, fyi.

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

In general you're right, but Pinhoe Egg is actually a direct sequel to Charmed Life. And it's about time!

As it happens, Gilly, I have... uh... well... every Diana Wynne Jones book ever published. Including the rare ones that were published only in England, decades ago. And since you live next door to me... You can borrow any of them, any time!

I may be a leetle bit obsessed.

And I LURV Coraline!!!

[magid.livejournal.com]

Which ones are rare? (I don't have them all, just many.)

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

I had to change my answer when I realized that some of my info is out of date -- even her very early children's books, which I found copies of overseas many years ago, like Wilkins' Tooth, have been republished in the US now (sometimes under different titles). And there are a few that it can be hard to get ahold of the right versions, since there are badly edited republished runs out there with both mistakes and deliberate changes -- Deep Secret and Ogre Downstairs have both been edited for language, and The Tough Guide to Fantasyland was (finally) very recently republished, but with lots of errors. Then there's Changeover, her first book (not a children's book, and honestly not all that special), which appeared recently in a limited print-by-request run -- I have that one -- and the Skiver's Guide, which I'd love to own, but don't. Probably the rarest thing of hers that I own is Everard's Ride, of which I think there are something like a thousand copies -- that's my real prize!

Aside from Everard's Ride, I think there's one other novella/short story, The True State of Affairs, which only appeared in one now-out-of-print short story collection -- Minor Arcana? -- and hasn't reappeared anywhere else. While there are many out-of-print short story collections, I'm fairly sure all of the other short stories in them are still out there in in-print collections somewhere. But that information sometimes changes, as new collections come out, old ones go out of print, and every so often she publishes a short story in an anthology somewhere, and we have to wait for a new, completer collection to appear.

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

I suddenly find myself unsure... maybe Everard's Ride and True State of Affairs have been republished in one of those collections -- there are so many, and I don't pay attention when I know there's nothing new to me in them. But I'm positive that her essay "The Narrative Structure of the Lord of the Rings" doesn't appear anywhere except in Everard's Ride, as it's not a short story. But, call me a completist!

[gilana]

Ooo! Thanks, I'd love to borrow some. I love finding a new author with lots of lovely books to read!

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

Yay, Chrestomanci!