Diana Wynne Jones, RIP

[strange_complex]

I learnt via fjm this morning that Diana Wynne Jones has finally lost her long battle with cancer. She was easily my favourite children's author, and indeed quite probably my favourite living author full stop. The world will feel several shades greyer without her in it

Comments

[the_lady_lily]

Reading the Chrestomanci books literally changed my life as a child. They opened up this other world of possibility - and, bizarrely, may have been one of the influences on me to think about academia and knowledge being valued and prized, and something to aspire to. I'm so glad those books are in the world, but it is very sad that the author is now gone.

[strange_complex]

Wow, that's a great tribute to their power and impact - and I'm sure a story which many of her readers could tell, too. Like you, I'm very glad that at least we still have the books.

[parrot_knight]

I still haven't read any Diana Wynne Jones, and keep meaning to. My friends lists today have been full of reactions to her death.

[strange_complex]

I'm absolutely certain that you would enjoy both the Chrestomanci books and the Howl books. Both series have much that is Whovian in them - strangely unheroic hero-figures whom the point-of-view characters don't really understand, an emphasis on personal growth and integrity, not to mention travel between multiple places and indeed parallel worlds. Deep Secret also contains much that you will recognise from attending fan conventions. :-)

[ditzy_pole]

I've also been meaning to read her books.

Ironically just last night I was watching Howl's Moving Castle and thought I really ought to get that.

[megamole]

RIP DWJ.

[strange_complex]

*nods*

[strange_complex]

I certainly would have thanked her on your behalf too if I had known you! :-)

[softfruit]

Thanks for making a missing link in my brain - I saw the headline but haven't learned her name despite Ange lending me the books a while ago. Liked those Chrestomanci books a lot, had no idea they came out long enough ago for people in our age bracket to have read them in school!

[strange_complex]

Oh yes - Charmed Life was first published in 1977. But it is a long-running (though only ever occasional) series, with The Pinhoe Egg only published in 2006.