From the Bookshelf of Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge…

Howl’s Moving Castle (Howl’s Moving Castle, #1)

Diana Wynne Jones

Start date: January 13, 2016

Finish date: January 16, 2016

Discussion: 2016 Challenge prompts

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2016 Challenge prompts

A book with a protagonist who has your occupation...
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last updated Jan 27, 2017 08:22AM

The first book you see in a bookstore
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last updated Dec 29, 2016 04:24PM

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What Members Thought

Jul 25, 2013 Chessa rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: sf_fantasy, ya, the-mary-sue

That was the LONGEST 212 pages of my life! That might be a slight exaggeration, but seriously, I cannot remember the last time such a short book took such a long time to get through.

I know this is going to be a very unpopular review, since all my friends that have read this have given this 5 stars. First off, this is one of those times I saw the movie before I even knew there was a book - and I loooove the movie. But, oh my gosh, I could just not find my footing with this book. The pacing was so That was the LONGEST 212 pages of my life! That might be a slight exaggeration, but seriously, I cannot remember the last time such a short book took such a long time to get through.

I know this is going to be a very unpopular review, since all my friends that have read this have given this 5 stars. First off, this is one of those times I saw the movie before I even knew there was a book - and I loooove the movie. But, oh my gosh, I could just not find my footing with this book. The pacing was so incredibly slow. I usually don't have a hard time concentrating on books in general, but I have never been so distractible in years as with this one. Squirrel! Huh? What, I only read 1 paragraph?! It felt like 10 pages! Argh!

I have been meaning to read this for a while, and when it came up as the pick of the month for an online book club (where I nominated it!) I thought, great, now's the time. And maybe that was part of the problem - I felt a lot of pressure to read it *right now* whether I was in the headspace for it or not (and it's a library book with a holds list, so I had a limited amount of time). So, time limit enforced, I forced myself into it. And I mean, forced. Like, I put myself on a book diet. I will read X number of pages of this today to make the due date. Then, I will read X number of pages and then I can go check Litsy. The bribes, they were crucial.

What I liked:
Magic!
Wales?! I loved that. That departure from the movie kind of saved me midway through. I might have bailed otherwise.
Sophie (and to some extent Howl) is a thoroughly unlikeable character that you can't help feel sympathetic for anyway. Like a real person.

What I didn't like:
OMG GLACIAL PACE
I just felt...adrift. Like a leaf floating on a breeze, flitting over here for a bit of story, then over here, aimless. Squirrel!
Many, many of the secondary characters just felt like props. Total cardboard.

So there it is. I did it. And before any of you complain that I'm a terrible person for not loving this, just remember that Neil Gaiman agrees with YOU about this book, and so you are clearly right and I am wrong and we can all just go on with our lives happily, ok? Ok! ...more

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Apr 25, 2017 Ama rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017, teen, children, fantasy, tween, ez-rat

What a fun read! I have seen the anime film on a few different occasions, so knew a bit about the story. The novel has so much more depth (as one would expect). I love Sophie’s sassy attitude. Calcifer was a lot of fun. I wanted to borrow Sophie’s stick a few times and smack Howl upside the head. I’m sure it is something she was tempted to do very often! I might read the next book in this series.

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Aug 01, 2011 Christy Laub rated it really liked it

This was a loaner from my sister-in-law which I had put off a bit because I was only familiar with it through trailers I had seen of the film and I thought it was going to be a confusing Anime experience in book form. Instead, it is a funny, absurd, and very British tale that owes a lot to Dr. Who, Monty Python, and the Brothers Grimm. Really well done diversion.

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