![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
landofnowhereFire and Hemlock, Diana Wynne Jones. Reread of a book I read many times in my teens and early twenties, but this was my first time reading it in quite a while. It is still a very good book, though I don't love it as unreservedly as I did when I was a teenager. (Also it is the source of my username :-)) Things I noticed in this readthrough: I find Tom's "heroic driving" far more alarming now that I actually know how to drive a car. I'm also thinking about how things look from Seb's point of view, which I didn't before because he comes across as such an unlikeable character. I was wondering if the detail that he's a fan of Michael Moorcock is supposed to suggest that he's a Moorcock protagonist seen from the most unflattering viewpoint, but as, thanks to this book, I have never had any desired to read Moorcock, I can't say. (That said, Seb actually has decent taste in rock music! I find the Doors' Riders on the Storm to be evocative of the same themes as Fire and Hemlock, and wonder if it was an influence.)
The Fair-Haired Eckbert, Puss in Boots, The Midsummer Night by Ludwig Tieck, in English translation by various translators, available on Wikisource. I've for a while entertained the extremely aspirational idea of writing historical fantasy about the Mendelssohn siblings, and as part of that project I've been reading fantasy/fairy tales by German Romantic authors whose poems Fanny and Felix put to music. (A previous installment of this was Eichendorff's The Marble Statue, which I never wrote up.) The Fair-Haired Eckbert is one of these, and generally worked for me as a weird fairy tale, despite over-the-top plot twists and being the sort of tragedy where the characters alwasy make the worst possible decisions. But the main thing I got from it was from looking at the song part in German, and learning the excellent word Waldeinsamkeit.
Puss in Boots was recommended by a friend on Discord, after I mentioned reading Tieck: it is a comedy-satirical meta-theatrical adaptation of the fairy tale, published in 1797 but not staged until 1844 (I can see why -- it seems like a hard play to stage! but I think it will be fun to do as a group readaloud.) Tieck is just much more enjoyable when he's not taking himself too seriously.
The Midsummer Night, or Shakespeare and the Fairies is 16-year-old Tieck's Midsummer Night's Dream fanfiction, which he was prevailed to publish late in life, and is pretty good for that. (I wish I knew more about the Mary C. Rumsey who translated it.)
Homer's Daughter, Robert Graves.cahn's Odyssey read reminded me of this book, which I enjoyed when I was younger; and while I should in fact reread the Odyssey, I was visiting my family and looking for a paper book to pick up, so I started this; the premise is that our protagonist is a young Sicilian princess who is going to go on to write the Odyssey, basing certain parts on her own life. I'm liking it as much as I remembered it (especially once I got past the info-dumpy prologue), and enjoying how many details of women's work it weaves in to the events of the story. (I know now that Graves shouldn't be taken seriously as a scholar of ancient mythology, but it still makes for interesting worldbuilding and story.)
The Fair-Haired Eckbert, Puss in Boots, The Midsummer Night by Ludwig Tieck, in English translation by various translators, available on Wikisource. I've for a while entertained the extremely aspirational idea of writing historical fantasy about the Mendelssohn siblings, and as part of that project I've been reading fantasy/fairy tales by German Romantic authors whose poems Fanny and Felix put to music. (A previous installment of this was Eichendorff's The Marble Statue, which I never wrote up.) The Fair-Haired Eckbert is one of these, and generally worked for me as a weird fairy tale, despite over-the-top plot twists and being the sort of tragedy where the characters alwasy make the worst possible decisions. But the main thing I got from it was from looking at the song part in German, and learning the excellent word Waldeinsamkeit.
Puss in Boots was recommended by a friend on Discord, after I mentioned reading Tieck: it is a comedy-satirical meta-theatrical adaptation of the fairy tale, published in 1797 but not staged until 1844 (I can see why -- it seems like a hard play to stage! but I think it will be fun to do as a group readaloud.) Tieck is just much more enjoyable when he's not taking himself too seriously.
The Midsummer Night, or Shakespeare and the Fairies is 16-year-old Tieck's Midsummer Night's Dream fanfiction, which he was prevailed to publish late in life, and is pretty good for that. (I wish I knew more about the Mary C. Rumsey who translated it.)
Homer's Daughter, Robert Graves.
cahn's Odyssey read reminded me of this book, which I enjoyed when I was younger; and while I should in fact reread the Odyssey, I was visiting my family and looking for a paper book to pick up, so I started this; the premise is that our protagonist is a young Sicilian princess who is going to go on to write the Odyssey, basing certain parts on her own life. I'm liking it as much as I remembered it (especially once I got past the info-dumpy prologue), and enjoying how many details of women's work it weaves in to the events of the story. (I know now that Graves shouldn't be taken seriously as a scholar of ancient mythology, but it still makes for interesting worldbuilding and story.)
no subject
Date: 4 Jul 2025 06:28 (UTC)"the Doors' Riders on the Storm"
...could easily be some kind of meta joke about Jim Morrison's life and death (and, more generally, the club 27). Though, of course, that particular song with its fatalism and gloom would also serve as an excellent soundtrack to the Elric stories.
no subject
Date: 9 Jul 2025 23:25 (UTC)no subject
Date: 4 Jul 2025 11:02 (UTC)https://nineweaving.dreamwidth.org/529731.html
no subject
Date: 10 Jul 2025 00:01 (UTC)no subject
Date: 4 Jul 2025 13:20 (UTC)no subject
Date: 10 Jul 2025 00:02 (UTC)no subject
Date: 5 Jul 2025 05:01 (UTC)no subject
Date: 10 Jul 2025 00:37 (UTC)I'd assume that yes, Jones had experiences with teenage boys being sullen and self-absorbed, and she wrote that into the character of Seb, but I also think that Seb's character is so very much shaped by his experience of growing up as he did that it can't really be a portrait of one of Diana's kids. [Spoilers in ROT13]: Fro pbzrf bss nf irel hacyrnfnag xvq jura jr svefg zrrg uvz, ohg gur pbagrkg jr'er zvffvat vf gung uvf zbgure unf whfg orra fnpevsvprq gb uryy naq ur'f greevsvrq gung gur fnzr jvyy unccra gb uvz. Fb vg'f npghnyyl cerggl haqrefgnaqnoyr gung ur'f fhyxl naq frysvfu haqre gur pvephzfgnaprf. Yngre ba ur vf n greevoyr oblsevraq gb Cbyyl naq hfrf ure gb cebgrpg uvzfrys ng Gbz'f rkcrafr -- fb vg'f haqrefgnaqnoyr gung Cbyyl qbrfa'g sbetvir uvz, ohg nyfb ur unfa'g orra tebjvat hc jvgu tbbq ebyr zbqryf (V guvax Gbz vf gur pybfrfg guvat ur unq, sbe gur fubeg nzbhag bs gvzr gurl jrer sevraqyl, ohg gur jubyr gvgur guvat naq Gbz svaqvat Cbyyl qebir n jrqtr orgjrra gurz). Fb V'q xvaq bs yvxr gb frr n erqrzcgvba nep sbe Fro (jub vf bayl 23 be fb jura gur fgbel raqf), rkprcg gung gur raqvat fhttrfgf gung Fro jvyy gnxr uvf sngure'f cynpr nf Xvat/Ynhery'f Pbafbeg naq V'z abg rira fher jung unccraf gurer.
The Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones podcast is doing Fire & Hemlock next (one reason for my reread) and has had interesting things to say about the selfish/awful male characters in The Homeward Bounders and Witch Week, so I'm really looking forward to finding out what they have to say about Seb!
no subject
Date: 11 Jul 2025 05:10 (UTC)Definitely! I recently finished listening to the podcast episode about The Time of the Ghost, which is DWJ's most autobiographical book, and it makes me wonder how her experiences growing up were refracted onto her own kids. I'm a little behind on the podcast (I normally listen to it on my drive home from work, and then summer break happened), but also really looking forward to Fire & Hemlock!