Can I tell you a story?
It's about a young reader who was so in love with books that she couldn't stop reading even if she tried.
That was me, of course. When I was a child, I could never be without a book. I always drifted toward the fantasy section in libraries, because I loved reading about worlds full of magic and wonder and excitement, so unlike and yet in many ways so similar to our own.
The heroes of those books may have had magic on their side, but they were real people just the same, prone to tough decisions and hard choices that often had world-shattering consequences.
All right, so maybe I never had magic, maybe I never had the fate of the world in my hands, maybe I never went on epic adventures, but with these books I could go along with characters I loved into worlds where all this was real.
One of the first authors who allowed me to do that was Diana Wynne Jones.
Diana Wynne Jones, author of books such as Howl's Moving Castle, and The Chrestomanci Quartet, was a prolific fantasy writer whose works spanned worlds, galaxies, and times, all written with a loving hand and a wry humor that sparkled in the midst of plots that were complex, gripping, and sometimes frightening.
She wrote complex, passionate characters who, despite their fantastic surroundings, were so believable that it made their problems and situations that much more real. When I was reading her books, I believed in the plot, I believed in the characters, and I believed in the world they lived in.
I don't remember when I first started reading her books, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was even before Harry Potter was first published. Diana Wynne Jones' books had a profound effect on me, one that I don't think I ever fully realized until recently. They practically defined the genre in my mind, and I reread them constantly, despite my habit of very rarely rereading books.
I even wrote her a letter after reading The Magicians of Caprona. She wrote back, thanking me for telling her how much I liked the book. It was, she said, one of the only ways she could really know that people did like her books.
I still have the letter. It's on the wall in my room back in Vermont.
Diana Wynne Jones died today, leaving behind her an enormous legacy of beautifully written fantasy novels, many of which I haven't even discovered yet. She created vast worlds that were incredibly detailed and full of life and wonder and the love that only a writer who truly loves the worlds they're creating can write.
Rest in peace, Diana. I will always love your books. Thank you for what you've done for book lovers and fantasy lovers everywhere.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
The Unfortunate Vacuum: A Not-So Tragic Tale
Once upon a time, in a beautiful city, there lived a young woman. She resided with a dear friend in the house of a man she had never met, under the condition that the two women should keep the house spic and span and safe and sound in the hopes that one day the house should be sold.
And so, one bright sunny day in March, the two women were told that the very next day there would be an open house. This of course required the house be quite clean, prompting the young women to, over the course of two and a half hours in the early evening, attack the project with great vigor.
Our heroine, the younger of the two girls by a mere matter of approximately four months, charged herself with sweeping and vacuuming the floors. This task was by no means difficult, simply a chore to be done, and done with cheer. However, there was one small misfortune.
As the girl vacuumed, she noticed that very little was being achieved. This was quite irking, especially since the vacuum itself was of a highly respected brand, and such a well reputed device really ought to handle itself better. However, it did not, and as time went on, the young woman began to believe that perhaps the brand did not deserve such high praise as it received daily. Perhaps the spokesman for the brand should not so proudly promote his devices. For, according to its oft-stated affirmation, the machine did not "lose suction," it appeared never to have suction in the first place!
Growing ever more frustrated but determined to finish her task, the young woman continued to push the dratted device over the floors of two levels, doing very little apart from pushing small pieces of lint across the carpets. It wasn't until she was very nearly finished that she discovered something that should have been found when she first began the endeavor. The top of the vacuum popped off, and when she tried to secure it once more, it proved a useless effort. Curious, the young woman peered at the components inside, and found it to be a filter, easily removed. She turned the filter over and reinserted it, and found the top to close quite cleanly. When she restarted the vacuum, it ran perfectly, cleaning the floors in a manner that lived up to its high reputation.
Cheered and triumphant over her victory over the vacuum, the girl's mood darkened when she realized that this meant she would have to once again clean every carpet that she had already supposedly cleaned.
Nevertheless, after such trials and tribulations, the house shone and sparkled from the efforts of the two ladies, and they were confident that no real estate agent could find fault with them.
And so, one bright sunny day in March, the two women were told that the very next day there would be an open house. This of course required the house be quite clean, prompting the young women to, over the course of two and a half hours in the early evening, attack the project with great vigor.
Our heroine, the younger of the two girls by a mere matter of approximately four months, charged herself with sweeping and vacuuming the floors. This task was by no means difficult, simply a chore to be done, and done with cheer. However, there was one small misfortune.
As the girl vacuumed, she noticed that very little was being achieved. This was quite irking, especially since the vacuum itself was of a highly respected brand, and such a well reputed device really ought to handle itself better. However, it did not, and as time went on, the young woman began to believe that perhaps the brand did not deserve such high praise as it received daily. Perhaps the spokesman for the brand should not so proudly promote his devices. For, according to its oft-stated affirmation, the machine did not "lose suction," it appeared never to have suction in the first place!
Growing ever more frustrated but determined to finish her task, the young woman continued to push the dratted device over the floors of two levels, doing very little apart from pushing small pieces of lint across the carpets. It wasn't until she was very nearly finished that she discovered something that should have been found when she first began the endeavor. The top of the vacuum popped off, and when she tried to secure it once more, it proved a useless effort. Curious, the young woman peered at the components inside, and found it to be a filter, easily removed. She turned the filter over and reinserted it, and found the top to close quite cleanly. When she restarted the vacuum, it ran perfectly, cleaning the floors in a manner that lived up to its high reputation.
Cheered and triumphant over her victory over the vacuum, the girl's mood darkened when she realized that this meant she would have to once again clean every carpet that she had already supposedly cleaned.
Nevertheless, after such trials and tribulations, the house shone and sparkled from the efforts of the two ladies, and they were confident that no real estate agent could find fault with them.
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