"The Magicians of Caprona" By Diana Wynne Jones

You can tell I have had nothing much to do but read these past couple of days, since this is going to be my 3rd post in 30 or so hours.

The Magicians of Caprona is a very entertaining story that starts -note I say starts- off a bit like Romeo and Juliet, with to very respectable feuding families. But it's not about romance at all. It  focuses on the younger members of each family as they try to stop the adults from being stupid, and Chrestomanci is once again left with a big mess to clean up.

If it were juice I would have dipped in a straw, and sucked steadily down to the last dregs. Barely pausing to breathe.
I live for books.

"Charmed Life" By Diana Wynne Jones

This book is actually a few books ahead of "The Pinhoe Egg" in the Chrestomanci series that I posted about around a week back. It's the first one that Cat comes into in fact.

In contrast to the Pinhoe egg, this is not one of my favorite Diana books. This was actually the first time I've reread it. Not because it's a bad read or anything, but because of Cat's sister, Gwendolen. She's a nasty piece of work. I tell you.
And I don't like the way Chrestomanci deals with the whole situation. It's not one of his best moments..

One thing that is fascinating is that you see in detail a lot of Chrestomanci's dressing gowns. Quite amusing really. I'd almost forgotten just how extravagant they all are. By the time the other books come around, Cat has gotten somewhat used to them, and does not notice them so much.

"Black Maria" by Diana Wynne Jones

This is another book by Diana. One that I had put off reading for a while, because the title and cover promised that it would have a dark theme to it. I try to stay away from books like that, with psychological war fair and so on. My own brain doesn't react well to it.
But, I am out of money and new books to read. So, thinking of how I have yet to read a book by Diana that was actually mentally damaging, I went into my sisters room yesterday to pick it up.
And it was ok.
It did have a little scary bit with a ghost, (don't worry, that's not a spoiler. He gets mentioned in the first chapter) but even that can't really be classified as scary.

It will never be one of my favorite books, mainly because it's not my type, but Diana certainly demonstrated with it her ability to make engaging even that which you thought wouldn't interest you.

The Pinhoe Egg. by Diana Wynne Jones

Dianna was a genius with pen and paper as far as I'm concerned. (I use the word 'was', because sadly she passed away last year.................... A moment of quiet in respect.....................)

I have yet to read one of her books that I didn't like, and 'The Pinhoe Egg' is my favorite of the lot. 

Hmm, I'm having trouble describing what I liked about it without giving away spoilers, so I'll start by saying the simple things and hopefully that will put some wind in my sails.

• It's aimed at a younger audience, but it's enjoyable for everyone.
• Her writing stile is simple but engaging. It has a steady rhythm to it that manages to remain constantly "new" yet not overwhelming. 
• It's part of the Chrestomanci series about Chrestomanci who is a very powerful enchanter, who's job it is to police other magic users so that the don't misuse it.
  'The Pinhoe Egg' is about Erik Chant - aka Cat - who is in training to be the next Chrestomanci.

I would definitely recommend it to anyone. 

And that's pretty much all I can say about it I think without turning this into a spoiler version.