samvara

• Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones. I'm totally charmed by this story, the magical duels, the characters and Chrestomanci's clothes fill me with glee. Cat Chant and his horrible sister are adopted by Chrestomanci the magician.
•  The Lives of Christopher Chant by Diana Wynne Jones. Fantastic worlds, unnatural love for cricket and magicians. Christopher has no idea what normal is as he gets bumped from weird life to weird life and then he gets adopted/recruited by Chrestomanci.
•  The Magicians of Caprona by Diana Wynne Jones. Evil enchanters, talking cats, spells that turn people green. Tonino Montana and Angelica Petrocchi, the youngest members of their warring families must save their city.
•  Witch Week by Diana Wynne Jones. Boarding school full of witches in a world where witches are illegal and burned to death. Children being revoltingly normal, uncivilised, self centred little beasts.
•  Conrad's Fate by Diana Wynne Jones. Didn't get to the end the first time I read this but on the back of all the others it's far more entertaining. Conrad is convinced he has a Terrible Fate and gets caught up in the young Chrestomanci's schemes.
•  Fake vol 1-7 by Sanami Matoh. Just as adorable as the first time I read it. (Madman were having a sale so I grabbed copies for myself) Gay cop manga. A really nice mix of romance and cop story.
•  The Cat Family Album by Barbara Thayne. Paintings and musings on life, I’m charmed. I’m also impressed, this is by my aunt.
•  Little Book of Hugs by Kathleen Keating. Technical training for huggers! A must read.
•  Grave Peril by Jim Butcher. The pace picked up a bit and it was good. Grotty, misunderstood wizard battles vampires and true love.
•  Lady of Quality by Georgette Heyer. Light reading, not as funny as some but enjoyable. Well bred single lady meets inescapably rude man who makes her laugh, Love ensues.
•  The Nonesuch by Georgette Heyer. Deeply amusing dialogue as governess Ancilla Trent meets Sir Waldo Hawkridge, a man of great sporting abilities and perfect manners. Orphans! Temper tantrums! Fleeing to London!

Year of the Griffin by Diana Wynne Jones is the sequel to The Dark Lord of Derkholm and was just as silly and fun to read. Young, magical creatures full of hope, youthful spirits and mysterious histories come to the University to study magic. I really liked the students deciding to cast EVERY protection spell they can find and the resulting beehive.

Conrad's Fate by Diana Wynne Jones I did not finish, I sort of trailed off 3/4 of the way through then lost interest. I need at least once character whereupon I can care if they live or die.

Sex and the Single Vampire by Katie MacAlister is a tragedy, she must have read the Malkavian Carpathian novels and been inspired to write something worse.. Remember the Malkavian Carpathian novels? You don't? Good! you've been saved from a terrible fate. Cheesy romantic fantasy about people a lot like vampires but not, who have mystically fated soul mates who invariably are human women who don't like them very much.

The Red Pony by John Steinbeck. I have no-one to blame but myself, I know how depressing Steinbeck is and yet I choose to read his stuff. The story of a boy on a poor farmstead who is given a pony to raise and train. It's atmospheric, vivid and awful in an "I write good about heartbreaking stuff' kind of way.

Sabazel by Lillian Stewart Carl demonstrates yet again why people should not write amazonian fantasy, it's so hard to build a world that the bullshit detector doesn't immediately reject.

Lifehouse by Spider Robinson will date terribly but is still readable. It's focused on fannishness and science fiction and retains the dreadful puns that seem to be a trademark of Robinson's books. Fun.