A personal list of favourites

[silverfyshxin]

These are the books that I like much more than any others. They may not necessarily be the best books, and I am not here to debate that. I am here to say, 'gosh, yes, these books make make my life better for my having read them, and I would read them many times over again'.

Comments

[ladyjoust]

I'm so with you on most of your choices, it makes me want to read - and find love for - DWJ.

Also, this has given me a delightful new list of "I must seek this out!" books. As if I didn't have a huge honkin' stack already awaiting my attentions...

[silverfyshxin]

Oh gosh, if you haven't read Diana Wynne Jones, you really, honestly must. I heard a rumour somewhere that Stardust rose out of a bet or an agreement between Neil Gaiman and DWJ to write a story based on John Donne's 'Go and catch a falling star'. DWJ's efforts resulted in Howl's Moving Castle, which is a deconstruction of fairytale tropes and utterly fantastic. (SOPHIE ♥)

And Chrestomanci is marvellous. Short stories, standalones with Christopher Chant on the periphery, anything to do with the Chant family in general! Everything is awesome.

[ladyjoust]

It's no secret that I have nothing but love for 'Stardust.' I have read 'Howl's Moving Castle,' and liked it well enough. Mayhap I ought to try some of the Chrestomanci books.

[silverfyshxin]

I love HMC, but must admit Chrestomanci is more of a favourite than HMC. Christopher Chant may have an aloof and ~superior~ facade that he presents to the world, but within! He is an enormous, enormous dork and I love him kind of a lot. And Milly is amazing, with what she's got to put up with, and she does it with such aplomb!

I am going to throw a rec at you: The Magicians of Caprona is one of my favourite Chrestomanci novels, and it's a standalone. It has singing wizards and plays around with Romeo and Juliet, only people are a lot more sensible. It has cats! (Cats are a recurring motif in the Chrestomanci multi-verse, because the Chrestomanci is a nine-lifed enchanter.) Chrestomanci himself comes in to clean things up at the end, and to supply twiddly backstory bits.

[ricardienne]

But I really love boarding school stories that are boarding school stories.

I want to respond with an over-enthusiastic caps-locky agreement to this!

[silverfyshxin]

WHAT NOT-SO-SUBTLE HARRY POTTER DIG

I love stories that address the pain of school! And have midnight feasts and pranks! And uphold nasty double standards! Because children are pretty horrible. And people study for exams and half-kill themselves to do work, and hate on the brainy ones for doing everything so effortlessly while managing to be prefect/monitor at the same time!

School plays! And sports! Diverse extracurricular activities in general!