Charmed Life
Diana Wynne Jones
252 p.
Collins, 2000.
(first published 1977 by Macmillan Children’s Books.)
Back cover blurb:
Welcome to the worlds of Chrestomanci where magic is as common as mathematics - and twice as troublesome in the wrong hands!
Everybody says that Gwendolyn Chant is a gifted witch with astonishing powers, so it suits her enormously when she is taken to live in Chrestomanci Castle. her brother Eric (better known as Cat) is not so keen, for he has no talent for magic at all.
However, life with the great enchanter and his family is not what either of them expects and sparks soon begin to fly…
There’s a badge on my copy of this book proudly saying Hotter than Potter!. I assume Collins added this badge to sell more copies, and seeing as my sister bought this novel eight years ago, I guess it worked. However, if they did it in order to make children actually read the novel, they have failed dramatically. This novel stood in my bookcase for eight years, merely because of that badge. Being a Potter fanatic during the turn of the millenia, I believed anything which claimed to be greater than Harry Potter must be awfully bad, because, obviously, Harry Potter was the best. This was the reasoning of a ten-year-old, mind you.
Admittedly, if it wasn’t Diana Wynne Jones who had written this book, I doubt I’d ever have read it. I have, since getting to know who she is, held in quite high esteem, even though I never have read anything by her before. Although many of my friends have read many of her books, I have never really got around to it. When I, in preparation of the summer, looked through my bookcase, I found this book, placed under W, as it should be. I thought that, seeing as the greatest Potter-era is over, I might as well read some children’s fantasy. Actually, it is here I admit that I in a way prefer children’s fantasy, because they are rarely as pretentious as adult fantasy often is. They are also a lot more fun to read, I think.
So, to begin with, I wasn’t very impressed with the book. I was vaguely interested during the first two chapters, but not much more. After the slow start, however, the book became more and more exciting. I spent a lot of time flailing because I disliked Gwendolyn so, and even more time cooing because I found Chrestomanci so amazing. He was so charming! The last few chapters I read with unbearable excitement. Magic! Gardens! Animals! Stuff! The magic teacher! I can’t really remember his name, but he was pretty awesome as well. This autumn I’ll have to read some more Wynne Jones. Maybe I should read Howl’s Moving Castle, so I can let my family watch the film some time…
|
June 27th, 2008
Filed under Children, English, Fantasy, Fiction
7287pwkr
Assassin’s Apprentice
Robin Hobb
435 p.
For Here Be Dragons.
Bantam Spectra, 1996.
(First published 1995 by Spectra/Voyager Books.)
Back cover blurb:
Young Fitz is the bastard son of the noble Prince Chivalry, raised in the shadow of the royal court by his father’s gruff stableman. He is treated as an outcast by all the royalty except the devious King Shrewd, who has him secretly tutored in the arts of the assassin. For in Fitz’s blood runs the magic Skill - and the darker knowledge of a child raised with the stable hounds and rejected by his family.
As barbarous raiders ravage the coasts, Fitz is growing to manhood. Soon he will face his first dangerous, soul-shattering mission. And though some regard him as a threat to the throne, he may just be the key to the survival of the kingdom.
This if the first (new for me) fantasy novel I have read in Ages. (so long the Ages is capitalised!) Earlier, I used to read fantasy novels all the time, so returning to this kind of literature after quite soem time, I felt a bit unbalanced. I wasn’t sure what to expect. Additionally, I wasn’t sure if this was a very serious novel, or a more light-weight one. Soon I realised it was a serious novel. It was also a quite unsettling novel. (The forged scared the living daylights out of me.)
So, the plot was quite slow-moving, and at times I wondered if there even was a plot, but the more I read of the novel, the more I liked it. If the plot ever was boring, Hobb’s language made up for it. In a way, I wish I could read the second book in the series now, partly because of the story and partly (yes, I am that way inclined) to find out what the gay is. But I’ve got my planned reading, and anyway, I don’t have my hands on the second novel. Maybe this autumn I’ll be bothered finding it. Probably.
|
June 27th, 2008
Filed under Challenges, English, Fantasy, Fiction, Here Be Dragons
7287pwkr
Hey Dolly
Amanda Svensson
157 p.
Nordstedts, 2008.
Back cover blurb:
Dolly har en tråkig pojkvän och vänner som är seriöst psykiskt störda. Hennes familj består förutom en exemplarisk mamma av en död pappa och två syskon, som båda är döpta efter Astrid Lindgren-figurer. Själv är hon döpt efter en silikonfylld countrydiva. “Ni förstår att en relation är omöjlig”, säger Dolly. Alla hennes favoritfilmer är amerikanska produktioner, och det är hon mycket stolt över. Dolly associerar snabbt, driver iväg i fantasin, är elak, rolig och faktiskt ganska känslosam. Efter några timmar i hennes närhet är man sig inte riktigt lik.
This book is arguably the most discussed book in Sweden, possibly after Lars Norén’s diaries (which I, for the record, never intend to read). I was interested by this book, but I can’t really say why - it was not because of the author’s young age, which everyone else seems to be fawning over. I don’t see the interest in hounding someone because of their old or young age. Every review I read was ecstatic; this was the stuff!! What is interesting, is that every review has treated it as a novel for adults. If the reviews had not been so ecstatic, I bet they would have discarded it as a teenage novel. Because that is what it is, really.
And yes, it is a very good novel. At places, at least. I didn’t really like the whole subplot with the imaginary rockstar who is obviously imaginary, but they never really state it. That is, I guess, one of the problems with a novel written in the first person perspective. Fortunately, this subplot was… although quite important, not really the biggest part of the story. So I really liked it. It was well-written, funny at places, and so sad at others.
Right, there was another reason for me liking it. There were references to Morrissey. And quotes! And, well, any book which talks about Moz wins my heart directly. The first reference was after just ten-fifteen pages, so it made me one very happy camper. yaaaaay Moz. Admittedly, it was mainly There is a Light That Never Goes Out, but that is one bloody good song. And it fitted so nice in the plot. Oh, it was a good story. For those of you who know Swedish, you won’t lose anything reading it. So go and do!
|
June 19th, 2008
Filed under Fiction, Swedish, Young Adult
7287pwkr
School has ended, and book times begin! Or, I won’t have all that much time for reading, seeing as I’ll be travelling a fair bit and will be visiting lots of people, and writing a really important essay, but still! More time for books that usually! So, here they are, the novels I plan to read this summer.
- Wynne Jones, Diana: Charmed Life (1977)
- Williams, Tad: The War of the Flowers (2003)
- Tolstoj, Leo: Anna Karenina (1877)
- Svensson, Amanda: Hey Dolly (2008)
- Stevenson, Robert Louis: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (1886)
- Smith, M.M: The Servants (2007)
- Sayers, Dorothy L.: The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (1928)
- Sayers, Dorothy L.: Murder Must Advertise (1933)
- Nilsson, Per: Svenne (2006)
- Nabokov, Vladimir: Lolita (1955)
- Martin, George R.R.: A Game of Thrones (1996)
- Marr, Melissa: Wicked Lovely (2007)
- Lovecraft, H.P.: Omnibus 1 – At the Mountain of Madness (1966)
- Hobb, Robin: Assassin’s Apprentice (1995)
- Garner, Elizabeth: The Ingenious Edgar Jones (2007)
- Connolly, John: The Book of Lost Things (2006)
- Conan Doyle, Arthur: His Last Bow & The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1917/1927)
- Christie, Agatha: Dolken från Tunis (1926)
- Brontë, Jane: Jane Eyre (1847)
- Bray, Libba: A Great And Terrible Beauty (2003)
- Brandreth, Gyles: Oscar Wilde and the Candlelight Murders (2007)
- Barnes, Julian: Arthur & George (2005)
- Austen, Jane: Sense & Sensibility (1811)
- Abse, Dannie: The Strange Case of Dr Simmonds & Dr Glas (2002)
|
June 14th, 2008
Filed under Other
7287pwkr
Next Posts
Previous Posts
