From A to Z: Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Dear Z,

Howl’s Moving Castle is one of my absolute favorite things in this universe! Both book wise and the Hayao Miyazaki animated feature film. I have watched the films countless times and re-read the book for the first time this week. The book and movie differ greatly but for me both are magical. This may be because I was a huge fan of the movie before the book but I would heartily recommend both to any who ask.

In the book the main character Sophie is cursed to be an old woman by an evil witch. She searches out a way to reverse the curse and along the way ends up the cleaning lady for the Wizard Howl and strikes up a bargain with the fire demon Calcifer. Many misadventures follow and even love for our lovely Sophie and Howl. In the book there is a lot more back story on Howl as a character even if he comes across a little flat. We also get to know Sophie and her family and the Witch of the Waste in greater detail. Not to mention the mythical land of Ingary where all this magic takes place.

One of the reason I have been so entranced by Howl’s Moving Castle is in fact the magic. It’s an older more innocent portrayal of magic than in most books today. it sparks and bubbles and isn’t shy in the slightest. It is also admired and beautiful. The movie I believe captures that magic wonderfully even if it takes huuuuge liberties with the plot. In the end though it all woks out beautifully.

Howl’s Moving Castle has two book sequels/companion novels. The first is called Castle in the Air and the second is the House of Many Ways. Both have Sophie and Howl as side characters but are thoroughly amusing to read. If you love a good fairy tale these books and the movie are for you! Also fun fact about the lovely author Diana Wynne Jones, when she was in university she attended lectures by C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien! Incredible! No wonder I’m so in love 😉

Until the Next Read

A

From A to Z Books: Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis

Hey Z,

So in my current class we are studying Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Charles Williams. Hence I have just finished Till We Have Faces by Lewis. I did not know how I was going to like any of Lewis’ other works outside the Chronicles of Narnia, for I fully expected them to be wildly different, and I wasn’t wrong. It is way different and way amazing too! I was expecting a peacock version of one of my religion classes from high school, instead I fell in love with a myth in a whole new way. I need to delve deeper into Lewis now!

Till We Have Faces is the retelling of the myth of “Cupid and Psyche” from The Golden Asse by Apuleius. Now if you’ve never read The Golden Asse count your lucky stars, it is beyond weird and creepy, but I guess if you want to read some ancient butt and fart humor sprinkled with bestiality then go for it my friend! However I would recommend finding the Cupid and Psyche passage and reading that, for that is a lovely myth and ten times worth its reading.

Now if you are unfamiliar with Cupid and Psyche’s myth I will give you a small summary here. Psyche is the third daughter to a king and very beautiful. Aphrodite is jealous of the woman’s beauty and admirers so she sends her son Cupid to destroy her. However Cupid decides to wed her instead, but Psyche is not allowed to view his face. Psyche lives on happily but her sisters come to visit her and become jealous. They basically trick her into looking upon Cupid’s face one night. Oil from the lamp Psyche uses falls on Cupid burning him and he runs off to his mother. Psyche cries and is despondent. Aphrodite decides to give her immortality and to her son if she completes several impossible tasks. She does this with some help from animals (first Disney princess story I swear) and then gets to become a goddess and live with Cupid forever.

In Lewis’ rendition we follow the story of Psyche’s sister. It is crazy the turns Lewis takes with the story while still being true to the myth at least in part. If you love mythology and strong female protagonists this book is for you. Orual is the sister and she basically raises Psyche, her betrayal is out of love, and selfishness. At the end of the book Orual has helped Psyche with her immortality and born the weight of the hurt she inflicted upon Psyche and the gods. Anyway I could go on for days, so if you love Lewis and want some more grown up fairy tales from him check out Till We Have Faces.

Until the Next Read,

A

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From A to Z Books: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Dear Z,

This was a book I have had on my to read shelf for quite a few years now! After all who hasn’t gotten caught up in the magic of Middle Earth since the new Hobbit movies have begun? Again this was a book I had cracked open when I was maybe thirteen and just couldn’t get my nose in it. Bilbo seemed a rather odd creature, after all who says no to an adventure?! However this month when I decided it was time to pick it up once more I found the charm in Hobbits, the delight of dwarves, the mirth of elves, and the nose tickling wit of wizards to be quite to my liking. As I have said previously I am reading both Tolkien and C.S. Lewis over this Holiday season and each time I can’t quite decide which world to fall in love with more, though being in my grandparents house in the mountains of Utah I feel a bit more like I am away in a magical wardrobe.

The Hobbit is the prequel to Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy which of course you have heard of unless you’ve had your ears blocked from popular culture for the past two decades. Tolkien is indeed a king of fantasy. He created a world filled with a dark powerful yet alluring magic one just can’t say no too. Even a certain Bilbo Baggins. This young Hobbit goes from a simple Hobbit and a very respectable one at that, thank you very much, into quite the hero! There are many a moment when he saves his twelve dwarf companions from dying or getting into quite the sticky wicket. The character development is a bit shallow for the dwarves but much can be seen in our young Mr. Baggins. For like Gandalf you’ve believed in him since the very beginning.

Now I normally don’t find it necessary to bring forth movie adaptations in these posts but the relationship between the Hobbit book and movie to be quite interesting. Normally when a movie is so strikingly different from a book I am quite put off, however I am finding myself in quite the blunder. I love them both. For it is like hearing a story from two different people. There is a poetic way to Tolkien’s writing that I believe would be extremely hard to capture on film. So I believe the filmmakers must indeed take the story and retell it as if it was their own to begin with. Just as every mother tells their children the same fairy tales with maybe a bit of their twist, but this doesn’t take away from the over all story. It is this type of story that I glean from The Hobbit. The Book and the movie are as different as can be but they tell a story recognizable either way and loved despite the ire that such film making has brought to many a book fan.

Now obviously if you enjoyed The Hobbit movie check out the book, it will tell you the story in a quite a different yet enchanting way. If you’ve ever fallen in love with fantasy this legend must some how make it into your bookshelf. I find reading Tolkien as inevitable to a book worm as Pride and Prejudice or Journey to the Center of the Earth. I feel though now all I can do is beg, please read it and fall in love with the fantasy genre all over again.

Until the Next Read,

A

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From A to Z Books: The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis

Dear Z,

So today I finished the first book in the Chronicles of Narnia series, The Magician’s Nephew, by C. S. Lewis. The books aren’t thick and the story moves along at a nice pace all of which makes me wonder why when my mother bought me the Narnia box set I was never truly able to get into them until now. (The same sort of thing happened with Harry Potter, didn’t read it until I was 16). However I can say that the deterrent for the first book may have been that you have to be nearly done before entering Narnia at all. This however is worth it.

C.S. Lewis did not write, nor were the Chronicles of Narnia published in chronological order. This lead to much confusion in the books’ early circulations. Nowadays the books are sold numbered chronologically by event. In The Magician’s Nephew Narnia is literally born. We meet Jadis who is destined to become the White Witch we all know from the famous The Lion Witch and The Wardrobe. It is a very interesting thing to read The Magician’s Nephew with a bit of foresight involved. Little connections to things we all know and love about Narnia can be made every few pages.

So if for some reason like me you did not read the Chronicles of Narnia as a child I thoroughly suggest doing so now. They are simple reads, but the magic in them is fully captivating. Not to mention C.S. Lewis is right up there with Tolkien as a father of the fantasy genre. If you enjoyed the movies produced by Disney for Narnia and want the back story of talking animals, how Narnia was born, the first King and Queen, who exactly is the White Witch, and the creation of the Wardrobe then please do pick up The Magician’s Nephew. And if that isn’t reason enough to pick it up do so simply to feel the childlike wonder of believing in magic again. Not a bad feeling to have during the Holiday Season!

Happy Holidays (6 days until Christmas!)

Until The Next Read,

A

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