The idylls of March

Listen: Hysteric - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

On the 26th of March 2011, the world became less awesome than it was every day. Diana Wynne Jones - that underrated fantasy writer you see on shelves in the YA sections of MPH and Kino - had passed away. And to think I had to find it out on Twitter...

I keep meaning to write a post about her, mostly about her books, of course. Then I forget, and make excuses, as always.

I must've spent most of my time in secondary school collecting her books, on and off, when I got into that particular phase. I tend to read in phases, even now - there'll be the Anne Shirley phase, then Artemis Fowl, maybe Diana Wynne Jones, Neil Gaiman, and - probably the most long-lasting cos of the awesome amount of books in the series - Pratchett's Discworld and the Tiffany Aching series(es).

But back to DWJ...let's see. My first book of hers was probably Charmed Life with the godawful blue cover that HarperCollins later changed to a better one with Chrestomanci in his legendary clothes. That was in Form 1. Then Chin Lei brought Howl's Moving Castle to school, and I borrowed that. So so so good. I remember getting all excited about looking for the sequel - Castle in the Air - and was a little disappointed because there wasn't enough Howl in it. I think I had a crush on Howl at that time, despite him being described as sly, selfish and vain. Cos, he had his good points...no don't ask me what, but I wanted to be Sophie Hatter at that point.

Then came Fire and Hemlock - one of those strange, indecipherable books that made me uneasy and confused and interested all at the same time. I think one of the reasons I bought it was because of Thomas Lynn's name...good thing I did too. Reading it for the millionth time after a few years just brings out more hidden sources and references that DWJ included in the story - although the characters start looking nastier as well. Like Tom, for example, befriending a nine-year-old girl and using her throughout her teenage years to free himself from a curse. And Polly, despite being only nineteen, giving herself up to him - oh come on - yes she would get with him in the end, in spite of what she said to him. I thought, reading it at 12 or 13, that 19 was such an old age and she was so grown-up. Now that I'm past 19...what the hell was Polly thinking when she did all that? If I were her friend, I'd probably give Tom the side-eye and drag her out of his life, past or not.

My favourite DWJ book is probably A Tale of Time City, although other fans I've read about tend to prefer the Chrestomanci books. Howl is another favourite, but Time City's still the best. Butter pies, for one thing. I imagine it as somewhere between butterscotch ice-cream and the gorgeous part of a roti where you get condensed milk and sugar and warm margarine all mixed together. Probably if it did exist in this world, I'd turn Paula Deen-esque and butterize everything. My god the awesomeness.

Okay, not just butter pies, but the whole universe and characters she made up in there - time-travel, Time Patrol, Dr. Wilander, the clothes, Vivian Smith, the Unstable Eras, the Mind Wars - and her humour in there, especially when it came to Dr. Wilander. The part where Vivian did her translation of Time City's history is still one of my favourite parts in any book everrrr. Goes something like this -

“One large black smith threw four coffins about,” she [Vivian] read.

Jonathan hurriedly stuffed a doubled-up lump of pigtail into his mouth. “Oh, did he?” Dr. Wilander said placidly. “To show off his strength, I suppose. Carry on.”

“So that they turned into four very old women,” Vivian read. “One went rusty for smoothing clothes. Two went white in moderately cheap jewelry. Three of them turned yellow and got expensive, and another four were dense and low in the tables—”

“So now there were ten coffins,” Dr. Wilander said. “Or maybe ten strange elderly ladies. Some of these were doing the laundry while the rest pranced about in cheap necklaces. I suppose the yellow ones caught jaundice at the sight, while the stupid ones crawled under the furniture in order not to look. Is there any more of this lively narrative?”

“A bit,” said Vivian. “Four more were full of electricity, but they were insulated with policemen, so that the town could learn philosophy for at least a year.”

Ahem, just sharing. Oh and don't forget Jonathan - of course I had a crush on him as well. I mean, I was only 13 kan, hehe.

But what really, really stands out about DWJ's books is that she doesn't sugarcoat her characters. Take Cat's sister Gwendolen, for one. This is a kid's - or YA - book we're talking about, but here I am reading about her using his lives for her own ends. Yes he does have nine lives, but she uses his magic, and then makes plans which would involve in his death. Just so she can get what she wants. And you thought Draco Malfoy and the other Slytherins were nasty. One of the things that make DWJ's bad guys all the nastier would probably be how ordinary they seem. And they do things for valid, almost rational reasons sometimes, and they can be anyone - from your own mother (Polly's mother Ivy), to your own people out of prejudice (The Power of Three).

Also...one of the main reasons why I love her books - her main characters tend to feel a bit out of place, to be quite uncertain of what they're supposed to do, and unsure of how people view them. And I suppose, in your teenage years, that feeling tends to come on pretty strong whether you want it to or not. Reading about it, and how these characters - who are also around your age - overcome these feelings can be a cathartic experience.

I'd write more, but this is going to turn into a mammoth post, so I'll stop here.

March wasn't idyllic, to be honest. It's a bit like spring - on some days you get nice warm days with sunshine, and then it just starts snowing again.