This is one of the books I decided to read along with others after I published photos of the whole of my TBR and some people picked out books to read with me. There’s still time to join in, of course – I love hearing what other people thought of books I’ve read and reviewed, even years after I posted my review! I received it for Christmas in 2018 and looking at this pile, I’m a bit horrified to see I’ve still got most of these books on my TBR (and the Thirkells will have to stay there until I’ve got the three reprints in August which fill in the wartime gaps between ones I have on there).
Anyway, hopefully Elle from Elle Thinks has been reading this one, too: Lory was thinking of it but not sure she committed. Anyone else reading or read it recently? Well I liked it so much, I ordered the two sequels (oops).
Diana Wynne Jones – “Howl’s Moving Castle”
(25 December 2018, from Laura)
A lovely story, set in a world where all those magical things like seven-league boots are real but people are prosaically and nicely basically the same. Sophie’s the oldest of three daughters and therefore feels doomed to be the boring one who fails in her tasks. However, her hat-making skills have amazing effects and she ends up with powers of her own, living as the housekeeper to a wizard who MIGHT be evil and steal girls’ actual hearts, in a castle that moves around thanks to a demon in the fireplace (got that?). It’s just such a fun read, which you can see Wynne Jones had great fun writing!
There are some small leaps into what’s almost our world, and knowing comments “I’m surely due to have a third encounter, magical or not. In fact, I insist on one,” says Sophie (p. 36). I also love the computer game given to a boy which is set effectively in the world of the book. We’re set firmly beside the author and our heroine in these asides. And looking back at the book, I’m also cheered that although Sophie is magicked into being an old lady, she’s still full of energy and vim and vigour.
There are great interviews with the author about writing the book and the film adaptation in this newer edition of a 1980s book (how did I not read it at the time; maybe I thought there were only the Chrestomanci books).
This also fills in a year on my Century of Books. I’ve been doing well with that recently. Any recs for missing years gladly received!
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 09, 2020 @ 13:30:16
Haven’t read this for decades – had a *huge* DWJ thing in the 1980s (even met her once). She was an excellent author and her books are streets ahead of HP…..
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Liz Dexter
Apr 09, 2020 @ 13:34:31
Oh wow!! What was she like? And yes, I was always forcing her on hapless HP fans back in the day! BTW I managed my Hive order, it asked me to choose a shop right at the end. Phew!
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kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 09, 2020 @ 13:39:26
She was lovely – met her at a day of talks organised, possibly, by the Tolkien society (it’s a long time ago and my memory is rubbish). Went along with my then BFF who was utterly obsessed. I remember her as being quiet, warm and charming!
And hurray for Hive! I’m going to try to use them more often (assuming my first order arrives). Yes, I had to choose a bookshop at the end!
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Liz Dexter
Apr 09, 2020 @ 16:22:12
How wonderful!
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buriedinprint
Apr 09, 2020 @ 16:19:37
This would make a lovely readlong. Do you plan to watch the film too?
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Liz Dexter
Apr 09, 2020 @ 16:21:57
Do have a read and then share your thoughts – the readalong has sort of been ongoing this week but I love hearing from people about their thoughts however long afterwards. I haven’t seen the film and I don’t think I plan to, as I know it’s quite different and not all as she herself imagined: I think I’d rather keep my own thoughts and visions of it, if that makes sense. I’m not a big fan of book adaptations personally.
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buriedinprint
Apr 09, 2020 @ 20:51:57
I don’t have my copy anymore, unfortunately, but I’ll enjoy the conversation from afar. FWIW, I loved the film. My step-daughters both loved it too (we agreed on Miyazaki, more so than on Disney, which they enjoyed and I did not) so I’ve seen it quite a few times. I understand it’s different from the book, but I gather it’s different enough that, providing one goes into it with that in mind, it’s more like a different story with a similar spirit.
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heavenali
Apr 09, 2020 @ 17:00:00
Never read DWJ she passed me by,but this sounds like a great read for these present times. I don’t have any of those new Thirkells. I always like the idea of reading her more than I actually do. I really want to love her like others do.
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Liz Dexter
Apr 09, 2020 @ 17:12:32
Fantasy really isn’t a genre you read, is it, so I’m not surprised (I really don’t read a lot of it but have always been fond of her). I have more tolerance of the dodgy and snobby bits of Thirkell, I think, although that reflects better on you than me, I fear!!! Ah well, we have a nice big overlap otherwise.
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Elle
Apr 09, 2020 @ 22:04:47
Yes, I read this as per our agreement! I really enjoyed the freedom that Sophie’s old-ness gives her; she even has a moment of self-reflection where she realizes how unafraid she is now that she’s an old woman, and I love the idea of age actually being a deeply empowering state, because no one can do anything to you anymore unless they want to enter a special level of hell reserved for truly terrible humans. I think it’s slightly too complicated a story, especially in the final quarter or so, but there’s something jolly and comfortably squashed-in about that.
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Liz Dexter
Apr 10, 2020 @ 20:11:07
Hooray, and you’ve expressed what I was trying to say in my review about Sophie’s oldness, so refreshing and another eadon to read DWJ. Have you read the sequels? The ending was a bit rushed, wasn’t it: I’m not entirely sure I understood everything fully but it was jolly, somehow! Thank you for your suggestion for a great book to read this week!
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Elle
Apr 11, 2020 @ 19:53:58
I haven’t read any of the sequels, no! I’m not convinced it needs them, though a part of me wants to know what Howl’s and Sophie’s marriage is really like…
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Liz Dexter
Apr 13, 2020 @ 13:46:37
I can’t really work out how much the sequels feature them or are just set in the world. but I do know I need more of that world!
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wadholloway
Apr 10, 2020 @ 01:48:07
Jones is not an author I know, after a lifetime reading SF and assiduously avoiding Fantasy. Your description of HMC reminds me quite a lot of Terry Pratchett – whom I greatly enjoy – and I see on looking Jones up, that she is cited as an influence for him (and for JKR Rowling) amongst others.
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Liz Dexter
Apr 10, 2020 @ 20:12:35
I am really not into fantasy but I’ve loved DWJ since I was a child – her Chrestomanci series is the one I read most. I think I love that her worlds are realistically twists on our world, with little bits of magic – I did do some of those fat trilogies in my teenage years but they don’t really appeal. DWJ and Ursula K Le Guin yes, though.
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Lory
Apr 10, 2020 @ 07:52:26
Alas, this week slipped by without my managing to do a reread (don’t ask me why I am so busy, but the time escapes me). I hope I will read it soon! And I’m very glad you enjoyed it.
I think the film is quite good for what it is, but it certainly is not a faithful rendering of the book. To me, the Japanese animation style is jarring from the outset for a story that is rooted in European fairy tales. The art should look much more like Rackham or HJ Ford to be appropriate. However, it’s the way DWJ got at least some of the attention she deserves and I’m grateful for that.
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Liz Dexter
Apr 10, 2020 @ 20:13:41
Do pop a link or a comment here when you have read it, it’s certainly worth a read and I’ll be keeping it for re-reading purposes (and the sequels – oops!). And yes I’d expect those styles or that weird Eastern European animation style more than Japanese for it.
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Jerri C
Apr 10, 2020 @ 18:50:21
Howl’s Moving Castle is high on my list of favorites. I have read and listened to the audiobook numerous times. Put me on the “didn’t like the movie”, too different from the book, and not just the plot but also the spirit, hated the war stuff. Now, I did enjoy the movie version of The Little Broomstick, by Mary Stewart (I believe the title was Mary and the Witch’s Flower), even though that also messed with the plot of the very English book, I did think the spirit was preserved.
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Liz Dexter
Apr 10, 2020 @ 20:09:30
Is the audiobook narrator good? I was recommending it to my husband and he’s pretty well audiobook only these days. I can’t believe I hadn’t read this already as I’ve loved her for years. I don’t recall that adaptation though I have the book! And welcome to my blog, by the way!
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Jerri C
Apr 10, 2020 @ 20:34:10
Well, I gave the audiobook 5 stars. It has a female narrator and some listeners don’t like her version of Howl’s voice. However, since the book is more from Sophie’s point of view, I think it is better to have a female narrate. It has been a while since I listened to it, but I remember enjoying it, and my records show me buying Castle in the Air within a couple of months of Howl, (with the same reader) so I must have liked it. I do all three media, “dead tree” books, eBooks and audiobooks and find I get something a bit different from each experience. If possible, you and your husband might try listening to Howl on a road trip together, and while he listens for the first time you might find a new demension.
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Liz Dexter
Apr 10, 2020 @ 20:44:00
I’m terrible with audiobooks unfortunately – they lull me and send me to sleep! I wish I could enjoy them. I do read e-books as well but prefer an analogue book if I’m going to keep it. I am glad the narrator is female, anyway!
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Ste J
Apr 11, 2020 @ 08:37:02
I had only heard of this as a Studio Ghibli film, now I will bin that off my list of Netflix films and wait to get a copy of the book instead. It sounds like a real treat this one, I am so hyped for book shops to open again!!
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Liz Dexter
Apr 11, 2020 @ 17:59:56
Yes, I’m really missing bookshops!
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JacquiWine
Apr 11, 2020 @ 09:20:06
I don’t think I’ve ever read this, although I have seen the Studio Ghibli film based on the book. It’s on Netflix at the moment, along with most of the Studio G output, a handy resource for these lockdown times!
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Liz Dexter
Apr 11, 2020 @ 18:00:18
Oh that’s good to know. It’s a great book, but I always love hers.
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Thomas
Apr 12, 2020 @ 00:24:32
Have you seen the film for this book or are you considering it, Liz? Lots of my friends love the film so I may watch it before I read the book. I hope you’re doing as well as possible during these trying times; unsurprisingly I’m also reading a ton in my apartment during these times so we are both doing that even if miles and miles apart. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this book and others on your blog, always. (:
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Liz Dexter
Apr 13, 2020 @ 13:49:53
I haven’t seen the film and this book is so rooted in European folk tale, as said above, that I’m wondering how the Japanese style would fit it. I’m sure I will end up seeing it at some stage, however, just to see how they did it! And doing OK here, thanks – reading more at the weekend with nowhere to go out, but working normally in the week so almost less time for reading because of the length of time shopping and sorting out always take! I’m reading two great books at the moment, though, “Queenie” and “Hidden Figures”.
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Jerri C
Oct 06, 2021 @ 15:35:14
The film is so different, especially in the conclusion. I liked the book far more, but then I had read the book many times since childhood before encountering the film.
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Book reviews – Diana Wynne Jones – “Castle in the Air” and “House of Many Ways” #amreading | Adventures in reading, running and working from home
Oct 11, 2020 @ 08:00:36
Zezee
Jun 06, 2023 @ 14:54:51
Oh wow! I didn’t catch that the computer game is set in the main world of the story!
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