Books!

[bagheera_san]

I'm gonna talk about books in this post, that is, books I've read in 2014 so far. Most of them are Children's Fiction because I'm doing my PhD on CF. I'm still about anxious about that, because on the one hand I'm enjoying the reading a lot, but on the other hand it's one of those genres that have been quite popular, especially among female lit

Comments

[dragonofmemory]

A Diana Wayne Jones book I haven't read? *gasp* How did I miss this one?

It's not all about Harry Potter indeed. There's a lot of good childrens lit out there, though it's hard to think of ones specifically with tricksters. I always loved the Wizard of Oz books though. Those, Narnia, Pern, and The Dark is Rising Sequence. Lewis Carrol was also a lot of fun. Patricia C. Wrede was another favorite of mine. I particularly loved some of her short stories. Admittedly, I also loved things like Bunnicula, The Last Unicorn, and The Boxcar Children, so I'd read quite a few genres.

I hated Watership Down, sadly. Hated it passionately. I still glare at that book whenever I see it. -_- I tried reading Artemis Fowl once, but I remember being very unimpressed with it.

Sadly, I'm still coming up with a lack of tricksters. I apparently did not focus on that trope at all growing up.

[bagheera_san]

Eight Days of Luke seems to get overlooked a lot, maybe because it isn't part of a series? Even though it would have made a brilliant series; my fingers are itching to write sequel fic.

I shall give the Dark Is Rising sequence a try because I've had it recced before, and Wrede is on my list.

[dragonofmemory]

I've noticed some of her books aren't always printed in the states as well, which might have been the case. I shall have to look this one up. XD

Dark is Rising is one of my favorites. I'll admit, one of my first crushes was on Will. Him and Prince Caspian from Narnia. -_- I think you'll enjoy Wrede. She's quirky. Her Enchanted Forest Chronicles are fun, and I love her short story, "The Princess, the Cat, and the Unicorn." That one and the one in the rose garden, but I can't remember the title of it.

[asthenie_vd]

I did not know DWJ had written a book about Loki. THANK YOU! I just bought and downloaded it to my eReader, and if I weren't so in love with the book I'm reading right now, I'd start reading Eight Days of Luke right away.

Also, I am now extra keen to start The Amazing Maurice. I loved Watership Down when I was a kid.

I think there will be some interesting things to say about the overlap between British heroes in imperialist adventure stories and trickster narratives.

I would LOVE to read about that!

[bagheera_san]

Woo, a successful rec! I hope you enjoy Eight Days of Luke, but I can't imagine why anyone who likes Loki wouldn't like it.

[argendriel]

Ooooh, tricksters are great! If you haven't read it already, "The Boggart" by Susan Cooper might be relevant to your interests - the titular Boggart is basically a trickster spirit.

[bagheera_san]

Thank you very much for the rec! It goes on my list :)

[tasabian]

I love Eight Days of Luke and have reread it every year for the past 20 years! Love the introduction of every character and how David is amazingly good at coping with the strangeness of it all.

Margaret Mahy's "The Tricksters" is a fantastic YA book that I also reread every year.

[bagheera_san]

Thanks for the rec!

EDoL is an excellent example of intrusion fantasy and mundanes dealing with the supernatural - the fact that they all cope with it quite well (Alan and Alan's sisters! I loved how they just go visit the norns like they do it every day - and I love how Astrid guesses who Thor and Loki are long before David does) makes the magic fit much more smoothly into the world. My only complaint is that the book wasn't longer ;)

[clocketpatch]

The Eight Days of Luke is going straight onto my Too-Read list for the future.

Watership Down is one of my all time favourite books, even if it is a spectacular Bechdel fail. I love it to pieces. Bigwig is absolutely the Brigadier.

[bagheera_san]

I was rather amused but also creeped out by the gender fail in WD because I seriously don't remember noticing this as a child. Many of the books I really loved either had male heroes or were set in entirely homosocial environments - maybe I even thought that WD was cool because it wasn't "girly".