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Guess who bought all six Highlander seasons on Amazon today.
*ahem*
In much sadder news, Diana Wynne Jones died. I never knew about her books when I was a child, but about 8 or 9 years ago I finally succumbed to my friends' nudging and read a couple of them ... and then voraciously read them ALL. What I loved most about her books -- even beyond the humor and joy, the warm emotions, the mind-blowing creativity -- was how twisty and unexpected her characters were. Most YA fantasy characters wear their nature on their forehead: they are Good or Evil, which is usually betrayed by outward characteristics -- ugliness or beauty, perhaps, or choosing to ally themselves with the Good Side or the Evil Side (the Gryffindors or the Slytherins). But DWJ's characters were so much more than that -- those who were deemed evil by society or appeared ugly at first glance could turn out to be beautiful inside; those who seemed too good to be true often were. She wrote about people discovering that the world is not as simple as they were taught to believe, that ugliness does not equal evil nor beauty kindness, and that people can learn to love each other and do the right thing no matter the barriers in their way. Children learn that their "ogre" of a stepparent is just unused to kids; a girl spends her life afraid of the "evil" magician over the next hill, and then meets him and discovers that he's a giant dork and basically a sweet guy; a boy slowly realizes over the course of a book that his benevolent and kind uncle is actually a wicked and brutal person who's been enslaving him and using his talents for evil purposes, while the spy who betrayed him is a kind person caught in a dreadfully difficult situation.
I was always delighted to discover a new DWJ book (though I think I'm a couple behind now -- must fix that!) and the idea that there will never be another new one, ever again, is terribly sad. But she kept writing up to the end, doing something she loved that had brought joy to thousands of people. Would that we all could go like that.
*ahem*
In much sadder news, Diana Wynne Jones died. I never knew about her books when I was a child, but about 8 or 9 years ago I finally succumbed to my friends' nudging and read a couple of them ... and then voraciously read them ALL. What I loved most about her books -- even beyond the humor and joy, the warm emotions, the mind-blowing creativity -- was how twisty and unexpected her characters were. Most YA fantasy characters wear their nature on their forehead: they are Good or Evil, which is usually betrayed by outward characteristics -- ugliness or beauty, perhaps, or choosing to ally themselves with the Good Side or the Evil Side (the Gryffindors or the Slytherins). But DWJ's characters were so much more than that -- those who were deemed evil by society or appeared ugly at first glance could turn out to be beautiful inside; those who seemed too good to be true often were. She wrote about people discovering that the world is not as simple as they were taught to believe, that ugliness does not equal evil nor beauty kindness, and that people can learn to love each other and do the right thing no matter the barriers in their way. Children learn that their "ogre" of a stepparent is just unused to kids; a girl spends her life afraid of the "evil" magician over the next hill, and then meets him and discovers that he's a giant dork and basically a sweet guy; a boy slowly realizes over the course of a book that his benevolent and kind uncle is actually a wicked and brutal person who's been enslaving him and using his talents for evil purposes, while the spy who betrayed him is a kind person caught in a dreadfully difficult situation.
I was always delighted to discover a new DWJ book (though I think I'm a couple behind now -- must fix that!) and the idea that there will never be another new one, ever again, is terribly sad. But she kept writing up to the end, doing something she loved that had brought joy to thousands of people. Would that we all could go like that.
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Argh!
Sounds just like the kind of books I'd enjoy... (It's so *not* reasonable. I haven't even started the Hambly series yet. Not to mention I'm re-reading all the SGA novelizations, just for kicks. And I'm tackling Neil Gaiman as well. And Jasper Fforde is next. And, and, and.
But you make them so tempting.)
Why do I have a feeling I'm going to place a big order to Amazon pretty soon?
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I haven't gotten around to Jasper Fforde yet, though his books are on my to-read list! Heh, actually one of the things that's made me drag my heels on Fforde is that apparently he is one of those vehemently anti-fanfic authors, which is ridiculously hypocritical considering that he's made his reputation writing books that are entirely made up of bits of other books! No accounting for what people believe in, though, I guess ...
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I didn't know that Fforde was anti-fanfic. Hm. Not that I expect it'll be a problem for me, but I can see why it'd be annoying for some; if you get a sudden attack of fannishness and your usual way of expressing that is writing fanfic, what are you supposed to do about it? :)
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