Another newbie...

[lady-schrapnell.livejournal.com]

Though without the interesting question! Trying to remember some of the questions asked in the intro thread:

I'm female, living in Dublin (the one in Ireland), and happened to pick up a review copy of The Thief in my local secondhand bookshop - possibly just when it had been published in the UK, thinking it looked good. I read it to my older daughter immediately (she was in her teens then) and we were both floored by it - enough to order The Queen of Attolia from the US in hardcover the minute it was out. Reading that aloud was unreal - I got to chapter three (everyone will know what I mean) and somehow my eye went to the far page and found that it did actually happen and I could barely even keep reading. With daughter going 'What? Why aren't you reading it? They don't really cut it off, do they??'. Needless to say, I finished the book that night before my bed! I read both books a bit later to my younger daughter, and she's as big a fan too.

Anyway, other authors - those who recognize my screen name would know I'm a big Connie Willis fan, and Diana Wynne Jones (v. on-topic as she's the one who helped MWT get published!), Martha Wells, Joan Aiken, Jane Austen, Hilary McKay... Lots of others, of course, but those come to mind.

I am really old already, and clearly destined to be a perpetual student - just finished a BA in Lit with the Open University and going to start on an MA in children's lit with Roehampton University in September. I wrote a pretty good essay on Diana Wynne Jones' Fire and Hemlock and The Odyssey for my Homer course - which is all the bragging you'll get from me. ;) Far more interestingly though - Fire and Hemlock is a brilliant book, and everyone should read it!

Oh - and one of my favourite scenes of all the books is Eugenides and Irene (are we allowed call her that?) climbing the stairs after he's 'kidnapped' her. Oh again - and the way she tries to let him know she's not really going to have him chopped up more when she gets free again. And the scene after he's wounded in KoA and has to be stitched up, and Costis finally copping on... And every time a god or goddess appears - including the 'Go to bed.' appearance... Yeah, I've a little trouble choosing favourites with these books!

Comments

[dannybailey.livejournal.com]

HI! It's great to have another die-hard fan hanging out here. :)

*sqees* I'm so glad that this community continues to grow. More discussion, I just love it!

I've only ever read the first 2 1/2 Chrestomanci books, so I don't know all that much about DWJ, but I did like what I read.

As far as choosing a favorite scene, I totally agree with you: there are too many good ones to pick from! I love all the ones you mentioned, plus (being a big angst whore) the one where Eugenides tells Eddis about visiting the hospital with the war vets, the scene where Attolia walks in on Eugenides and Galen at the campsite during QOA and sees him taking the hook off (shivers!), plus tons of tiny little things that I just love.

Anyway, once again: Welcome!

[lady-schrapnell.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the welcome! I'm really grateful to whoever told me about the community. Those scenes are totally amazing too.

On DWJ - I love Lives of Christopher Chant, partly because it was the first of hers I read, but other than that, the Chrestomanci books aren't at the very top of my DWJ list. Fire and Hemlock, Deep Secret and Howl ususally occupy that spot. And the first two have brilliantly done angst too. :)

[sprite6.livejournal.com]

Always glad to see a fellow newbie. :) And word to your DWJ choices. I like F&H, but Howl and Deep Secret are my favorites, with The Year of the Griffin and Hexwood close behind.

[(Anonymous)]

being a big angst whore

Heh. Me, too.

~checkers, who is working on creating a livejournal login

[rowana.livejournal.com]

Welcome! And here I thought I was the only person in the UK even remotely interested in DWJ. I'm curious now, you mentioned a Fire and Hemlock essay, did you ever post this online? I read one a while ago which I rec-ed on the DWJ forum which I thought was excellent. If not, kudos to you anyway :)

DWJ fans are doubly welcome here, for the reason you stated. I have to second your recommendation. Everyone must read Fire and Hemlock.

(Another small question on the side, what's studying with the Open University like? I'm about to start a module on human Genetics through them.)

Welcome again!

[lady-schrapnell.livejournal.com]

Thanks! You'll be happy to know that there are many DWJ fans around these parts - I've even got close RL friends in the UK and Ireland met from the DWJ listserve. And a lot of MWT fans on that list as well - in fact, I was the first to rave about her there - making new fans as soon as they tried the books, of course! The essay was the Red Hen one, right? Not mine - which was coursework and probably not really of much interest to anyone other than a fanatic who has also read The Odyssey, and preferably 'The Heroic Ideal' too - the essay DWJ wrote on the writing of F&H. I found it obsessively fascinating. ;)

I loved studying with the OU - though I don't know anything about the Science courses. (Did that waaaaay back in my younger brick uni. days - and I'd happily bet you'll do much, much better with the OU!)

Thanks again for the welcome!

[rowana.livejournal.com]

It's good to know that I'm not alone. :) And that MWT's fandom is slowly spreading. Yes, the essay was the Red Hen one. Fire and Hemlock is the sort of book that inspires obsessive fascination I think. :) Not least because of the ending. I'm afraid I don't know much about The Odyssey beyond the basic story, so I can't compare. And wait, a DWJ essay on the writing of F&H? That sounds like an incredible read.

I'd probably stick the Chrestomanci (I agree with you on TLOCC, it seems to top them all) books, the final Dalemark one, Hexwood and Archer's Goon at the top of my DWJ list, with Deep Secret, Year of the Griffin and Howl following closely behind. Does anyone else think we need more Flury/Elda? ;)

I imagine the science courses are studied in a similar way. Whew, that's a weight off my mind, cheers!

[fabricalchemist.livejournal.com]

Yay! New people! I was in love with Howl, but Archer's Goon is by far and away her best.

[lady-schrapnell.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Hey - had I known there were so many mutual DWJ/MWT fans, I should have boasted instead about having a Calcifer sitting on the lamp beside my bed which came from - no, it's too shameless, and swanking about things got which were neither rightfully stolen nor earned isn't up to Gen's standards. ;)

[fabricalchemist.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah? Well I made a ceramic Calcifer =3 What kind is yours?

[lady-schrapnell.livejournal.com]

:) You win! Hands - or hand even - down! Mine is stuffed and very orange. Flickr pic (http://www.flickr.com/photos/84777768@N00/95023331/) On the mantle-piece, before taking up residence beside my bed. (If that works!) You have a picture someplace?

[fabricalchemist.livejournal.com]

Ooh, he's pwetty ^^

I shall go about getting you a picture. I'm very proud of him :) He's based off the book Calcifer, though, so the only orange is in his eyes; he's all kinds of blues and greens and purples and looks pretty evil.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

*sigh* I want a Calcifer.

[fabricalchemist.livejournal.com]

Nuh-uh, cause then you have to give up your heart and can't love anyone properly.

[rowana.livejournal.com]

Debatably though, a Calcifer would be worth it.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

*Pulls Archer's Goon off the library shelf to take it home*

[fabricalchemist.livejournal.com]

The first half is kinda slow, but it builds up to these killer plot twists.

[rowana.livejournal.com]

*agrees* Archer's Goon is fantastic. The way it built up to the revelation at the end.

[generalblossom.livejournal.com]

You old? bah! And just finished the new reread of the whole series,gearing up to try to comment on it. Loved it, of course.