Reading Diana Wynne Jones
Last year, I decided to read along with the Hugo-Award-winning Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones podcast. Moving chronologically, the podcast covers the works of British children's author Diana Wynne Jones. Hosts Emily Tesh and Rebecca Fraimow usually discuss one novel per episode. The sound quality early on can be a bit dodgy (it gets better!), but the discussion is always fun and Tesh and Fraimow are very enthusiastic fans of Wynne Jones's work. They even make space for criticism when it is warranted, which makes for a degree of balance and nuance I don't always find in fan shows or communities.
When I was in middle school, I read 1998's Dark Lord of Derkholm and 2000's Year of the Griffin. I loved them dearly, but I could not find any of Wynne Jones's other work at my school library. When I started high school, I lost access to those two books as well. Finding more of her work after so many years has been good fun.
As of this writing, Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones has reached Dark Lord of Derkholm. I'm running a bit behind, with a good start made on 1993's Hexwood.
I have finished:
- Wilkins' Tooth (1973, published in the U.S. as Witch's Business)
- The Ogre Downstairs (1974)
- Dogsbody (1975)
- Eight Days of Luke (1975)
- Cart and Cwidder (1975)
- Power of Three (1976)
- Drowned Ammet (1977)
- Charmed Life (1977)
- The Spellcoats (1979)
- The Magicians of Caprona (1980)
- The Time of the Ghost (1981)
- The Homeward Bounders (1981)
- Witch Week (1982)
- Archer's Goon (1984)
- Fire and Hemlock (1985)
- Howl's Moving Castle (1986)
- A Tale of Time City (1987)
- The Lives of Christopher Chant (1988)
- Castle in the Air (1990)
- Mixed Magics: Four Tales of Chrestomanci (2000)
That's a lot for one year! What has made all this time with one author worthwhile is that Wynne Jones was a truly wonderful writer of fantasy. Even her poorer books contain beautiful little worlds that give the reader the sense that more is happening around the characters than those characters know, that their universes are richer and stranger than they can imagine. In Time of the Ghost, for instance, a child meets a spirit who may very well be King Arthur, albeit an Arthur who does not recall why he waits to be recalled from the grave. In The Magicians of Caprona, a happily-ever-after version of Romeo and Juliet takes place in the background of the novel. In Charmed Life, an angry young girl disappears and seizes control of an alternate world. This is ancillary to the core plot of the novel. Wynne Jones packed her novels with wonderful details like these, along with healthy servings of jokes, picking her books up out of the dark they often inhabit and making them feel joyful. Not every book has been perfect, but they have all had their fantastical pleasures.
I plan to check in here once I have read a little further, especially after I've finished Dark Lord of Derkholm and Year of the Griffin. It will be wonderful to revisit those old friends.