Chris Lovegrove 💙📚

Music, magic, maturity (c) C A Lovegrove. Cart and Cwidder (1975) by Diana Wynne Jones,in The Dalemark Quartet, Vol 1.Greenwillow / Eos 2005. There is sometimes an assumption that if a novel’s protagonists are youn…

Repost of a review of 'Cart and Cwidder' (1975), high fantasy by #DianaWynneJones in The Dalemark Quartet, for #MarchMagics2026. #Booksky wp.me/s2oNj1-dalem...

My Reading Life: February 2026 : Farewell winter — hello spring. The daffodils are in full bloom and there’s a magnificent display of magnolia blossoms this year. We just have to hope we don’t get any storms in the next few weeks oth...

My Reading Life: February 2026 bookertalk.com/my-reading-l... via @bookertalk.bsky.social #ReadingWales26

The books of Taliesin: #ReadingWales © C A Lovegrove. Inverted commas: Kindling daydreams Chapter Fourteen of Rhidian Brook’s debut novel The Testimony of Taliesin Jones (1996) gives a fascinating glimpse into the reading matter…

Inverted commas: Kindling daydreams. The magic of books for young (and old!) minds, as highlighted in #RhidianBrook's 1996 debut novel 'The Testimony of Taliesin Jones'.
#ReadingWales #BookSky
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Sounds good to me! Just read the disappointing graphics version of The Colour of Magic, but at least it'll spur me on to enjoy the subtleties of the original novel soon. 🙄😁

From Fantasyland to Discworld: #MarchMagics2026 #MarchMagics2026. CalmgroveBooks.WordPress.com “They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it’s not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance.” — Sir Terry Pratchett. This is an …

From Fantasyland to Discworld: #MarchMagics2026 calmgrovebooks.wordpress.com/2026/02/04/f...

Not one I've read — but then, there are so many Pterry titles I've yet to become acquainted with!

Like bruised blood: #ReadingIrelandMonth26 © C A Lovegrove. Long Lankin by John Banville. The Gallery Press, revised edition 1984 (1970). She watched him go away down the road. He did not look back, and soon he was gone around a bend. She t…

My review of 'Long Lankin' (1984) by John Banville for #ReadingIrelandMonth26.
#BookSky
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A wild, rum place Jeake’s House, Mermaid Street, Rye, East Sussex, where Joan Aiken was born. © C A Lovegrove. Tales of London Town by Joan Aiken. Introduction by Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Afterword by Lizza Ai…

I rather suspect they fit into a different timeline and world, as with other stories in 'Tales of London Town' full of incidents in Rumbury Town! wp.me/p2oNj1-8st

Thanks, Jonathan – a bit of a labour of love. 🙂

Yes, BHB is brilliant but heartrending, though I did see the appeal of NBN for JA herself after she visited the island.

Joan Aiken’s Wolves Chronicles Joan Aiken, 1924—2004. This page will link to posts I’ve published on what Joan Aiken’s daughter calls the Wolves Chronicles, but which is variously called the Willoughby Chase saga or …

I rather slyly assume that 'Midnight is a Place' is part of the Wolves Chronicles in my extended analyses of Dido Twite's world: calmgrove.wordpress.com/joan-aikens-...

Joan Aiken’s Wolves Chronicles Joan Aiken, 1924—2004. This page will link to posts I’ve published on what Joan Aiken’s daughter calls the Wolves Chronicles, but which is variously called the Willoughby Chase saga or …

You might be interested, then, in my extended analyses and reviews of the Chronicles, Miranda, with links to all my posts! 🙂https://calmgrove.wordpress.com/joan-aikens-wolves-chronicles/

Fun is a serious business Mixed Magicsby Diana Wynne Jones.Collins, 2000. Publishers and booksellers think they know their market when it comes to the fantasy novels of Diana Wynne Jones and her ilk: young readers aged 9 to…

Repost of my review of 'Mixed Magics', a collection of short stories in the #Chrestomanci series by #DianaWynneJones for #MarchMagics2026.
#Booksky wp.me/s2oNj1-magics

Flights of fancy Illustration by Mackenzie Crook. The Windvale Sprites by Mackenzie Crook. With illustrations by the author. Faber, 2011. That is when the thought struck him. ‘I’ve found a fairy.’…

A quick reminder that, before The Detectorists and Wurzel Gummidge, #MackenzieCrook had imagined prototypes for #SmallProphets in a 2011 children's story called 'The Windvale Sprites'.
#BookSky
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A picture of PEW poll on global attitude survey, saying the % who rate the morality and ethics of people in their country as good vs bad, where the US has the worst rankings and Canada the best

Americans: we live in a fallen state—embroiled by sin, cheating, lying, and evil. You cannot trust anyone, not even those who claim to know you best

Canadians: I love my neighbors and my friends!

'Gungho nutters' is surely the most succinct phrase to describe the reality star and the Fox News attempting to start WWIII, the Pol Pots de nos jours.

Also, Armagh City has two cathedrals dedicated to St Patrick, one Catholic on the ancient spot associated with the saint, and the 19C COI building.

Incidentally, the silhouette of the Edinburgh cathedral with three spires is very reminiscent of Lichfield Cathedral.

School for sorcery © C A Lovegrove Witch Week by Diana Wynne Jones.HarperCollinsChildren’sBooks, 2000 (1982). a parallel world | where they persecute witches | and children aren’t safe Witch Week was the …

Repost of my review of 'Witch Week' by #DianaWynneJones in the #Chrestomanci series for #MarchMagics2026. wp.me/s2oNj1-week

Flights of fancy Illustration: Mackenzie Crook The Windvale Sprites by Mackenzie Crook. With illustrations by the author. Faber, 2011. That is when the thought struck him. ‘I’ve found a fairy.’ Ju…

The malevolent spirits in #MackenzieCrook's 2011 children's book 'The Windvale Sprites' were clearly an early iteration of the author's #SmallProphets in the small screen series of the same name. Worth investigating perhaps? wp.me/p2oNj1-3r0

A photo of the front cover of issue 1670 of Private Eye magazine, with the caption “on shelves now.” The main headline reads “TRUMP ATTACKS IRAN,” with a subheading “HOW OPERATION EPIC FURY UNFOLDED.” The cover features four photo panels set in the situation-room with US political figures seated around a table. Speech bubbles add dialogue: “Is the Supreme Leader dead?” followed by “No, Trump always looks like this!”; “Mission accomplished!” answered with “Yes, I’ve killed the Epstein story”; “What happens next?” with the reply “Popular revolt and regime change,” and a follow-up, “In America?”; and finally, “Why have you started this war?” answered with “So that I can stop it,” alongside “I’ll ring the Nobel Committee.”

Trump Attacks Iran. How Operation Epic Fury unfolded…

The new Private Eye is out now.

A stranger world: #MarchMagics2026 Woodcut of Mephistopheles and Faust. Wild Robert by Diana Wynne Jones. Illustrated by Emma Chichester Clark. Collins, 2001 (1989). ‘Heather felt as if something tipped with Robert’s han…

My review of 'Wild Robert' by #DianaWynneJones for #MarchMagics2026.
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Alike in indignity 19th-century Florence The Magicians of Caprona by Diana Wynne Jones. Collins, 2002 (1980). Two families, bothalike in magic, fight tillforced to face real foe. First things first: I wondered why Di…

Repost of my review of the #Chrestomanci story 'The Magicians of Caprona' by #DianaWynneJones for #MarchMagics2026.

wp.me/s2oNj1-caprona

In today’s episode of “hello, I’m a dickhead” x

Master of his own fates William Blake’s The Ghost of a Flea. Conrad’s Fate by Diana Wynne Jones.HarperCollinsChildrensBooks, 2006 (2005). In the English AlpsConrad tries to change his fate.Unsuccessfully. Conr…

Repost of my review of 'Conrad’s Fate' by #DianaWynneJones for #MarchMagics2026.
#Chrestomanci
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#MarchMagics2026 begins today, celebrating the lives and work of #DianaWynneJones and #TerryPratchett!

Intimations of mortality (c) C A Lovegrove. The Lives of Christopher Chant by Diana Wynne Jones. HarperCollinsChildren’sBooks, 2000 (1988). This Diana Wynne Jones book has an intriguing title: we are used to The Live…

My review of 'The Lives of Christopher Chant' by #DianaWynneJones, posted for #MarchMagics2026. wp.me/s2oNj1-lives

YouTube video by Maximilien Robespierre Hero Of The Year: US Politician DESTROYS Nigel Farage Over Free Speech!

Please watch and share this! People who are taken in by Farage need to see this and open their minds and eyes to what he is.
This video needs to be shared as much as possible.

youtu.be/oAkPrkXjGi0?...

The faculty of imagination: #TheBookOfDust Map of Lyra’s Oxford, with a globe showing the Eurasian landmass. © C A Lovegrove. “No; we have other ways of travelling.”  “The way you have,” Lyra said, “…

As it happens I've published a few posts about the geography of Lyra's world, including this latest post: calmgrovebooks.wordpress.com/2026/01/18/l...

Lincolnshire mayor cuts English classes for some foreign nationals Dame Andrea Jenkyns says the funding will be reallocated and spent on literacy skills for everyone.

"Mayor cuts English lessons for foreign nationals" – what a petty-minded hate-filled specimen #AndreaJenkyns is, but then what else can one expect from #Reform, and especially a #Reformatory. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Tanka: #NaHaiWriMo After Kitagawa Utamaro: detail of Pink Flowers with Butterflies and a Dragonfly. I have filled each day with senryu or haiku to prove that I could. Now at month’s end I too end, haiku prolong…

I have filled each day
with senryu or haiku
to prove that I could.

Now at month’s end I too end,
haiku prolonged: a tanka.

A final #DailyHaiku in February for #NaHaiWriMo National Haiku Writing Month
zenrinji.wordpress.com/2026/02/28/t...