Thoughts 
Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, A Greenwillow Book EOS • An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 2008 (orig 1986), 429 pages
I have been wanting to read this since Jenny of Jenny’s Books educated me on the MUSTS of knowing this author.
I wrote all about my attempt to participate in the first DWJ Week way back when in my review of her short story collection Mixed Magics. <– click on that underlined part Miss Mad…
I enjoyed Mixed Magics and I must say that Howl’s Moving Castle is just as delightful.
Delightful and LIVELY. Lively was the word I used to describe Mixed Magics and it applies here, too. Especially the beginning. I was grinning and giggling and very much excited to continue once I began. Ms. Jones just writes extremely engaging and SMART stories.
So this time around, “they” declared March as DWJ month and tweeted and twitted about it with hashtag #dwjmarch. I was a bit late to the party and was proud of myself for getting my hands on this book. Finally. AND reading it in March. Though I had to finish it in April.
I’m not going to yap too much what it’s about. An eldest daughter realizes that because she is the eldest, her chances of adventure are non-existent but things end up happening to her anyway. I’m actually liking the story even more reflecting on it.
Question for you parents of 11 year olds… Is this the perfect book for an 11 year old niece of mine? I’ve been just the wretchedest of aunties and forgot her birthday. I know, I feel horrible. So much for vying for FAVORITE-AUNT.
I actually am thinking of sending her the non-perishable ingredients plus recipe for Coconut Custard Pie – I just don’t know if she likes coconut! oh well, I think I’ll do it anyway…
SO then, let me know if you think I should buy this for the poor niece of mine who has been treated shabbily by Auntie-Care and do have a delightful day!
NEVERMIND. I believe this will be PERFECT for her. (I just read that post of Jenny’s again that I link to above…)
HIdeinWhitetoSkipLine
Care's Books and Pie 
Hahaha, I’m glad you came to the right conclusion about buying this for your niece. OF COURSE she will love it. And then she will have all of Diana Wynne Jones’s other books to look forward to, which, lucky lucky her.
And I’m buying it from an indie store, damnit! 😀
I STILL haven’t read Howl’s Moving Castle. My daughter was crazy for Diana Wynne Jones for a while (maybe starting at age 11, but I don’t remember.) Reading your post sent me over to Jenny’s books, which got me reading all her recent posts, and laughing about Harry Potter, and now instead of a quick read-and-comment on your blog, I’ve spent 20 minutes enjoying myself on the Internet. This is why I get nothing done!
The HP readalong posts are AWESOME. Jenny is passionate about her Sirius, yes? Go read Raych’s if you want to laugh more. Her posts are hysterical.
I think I have this book and forgot about it…. how does that happen? It looks wonderful!
It happens because there are so many wonderful books out there and it only takes a few minutes to acquire but much more time to read. Thus… We have more to-reads than done-reads. Right? ;D
My daughter is 11 and she loves this book. She also loved House of Many Ways, which is a related story — Howl & Sophie make an appearance, but I wouldn’t exactly call it a sequel.
Thanks! I hope to send a book package to her this week (but will probably not get to it until next because I’m already looking at the agenda and wondering how I will get everything done I need to do… 🙂
This is one of those books that I’ve always meant to get to. Sigh, there are SO many of those!!
And sometimes we have to hope that the books come to us just at the right moment.
I skimmed your review because I do that when I’d like to eventually read a book (one day I WILL read her) but I loved reading your dialogue with yourself about the gift. I hope that your niece loves it. And YUM to the coconut pie. You can send ME the ingredients. 😉 Actually, I have a ton of coconut in my pantry for some reason. Just used up the rest of a bag last night making fruit smoothies.
And this is way off topic but I’m a terrible emailer and I didn’t want to mention on your FB status. I vote that you retake the test. I took a test two years ago and didn’t pass and really really really wish I would have retaken it while the material was still fresh on my mind. It’s a bummer but that’s OK–don’t give up. xo
ok, ok. I wish I knew what I wanted to do…
hm, the comment above informs me I have been remiss in keeping up with people. I should actually use Facebook once in a while…
On another note, I love Diana Wynne Jones!
Oh how I suck. DWJ is one of those authors that I just *know* I will love, and yet I keep putting of giving her a try. Why is that? I do not know the answer. Maybe I don’t actually like myself or something. Nah, I think I’m at least semi-okay as a person so that’s not it. I am one of those “always saving the best for last” types–maybe I’m subconsciously trying to save all the “best” books for last. If that’s the case, I’d better get on with things here, because I surely ain’t going to live forever and there’s a lot of best books left to read. Btw, I think I have been horribly remiss–thank you so much for the postcard/pie quote. From this very book, nonetheless. I adored it. Adored!
Gosh, I loved this book. I wish I hadn’t seen the movie because sometimes when I think of Howl, I imagine him with really creepy feathers on his face which FREAK me out, but hopefully that will fade with time and I’ll just remember his hilarity 🙂
I checked this one out from the library, a couple years ago (because Amanda kept going on about it being her favorite) and returned it without even cracking open the cover. I’m terrible about that, but it’s still on my wish list of books to read. I’m glad to know you enjoyed it.
I keep hearing about this book … I suspect that I must just give in and read it!