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2.07k reviews for:
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
Catherynne M. Valente
4.06 AVERAGE
2.07k reviews for:
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
Catherynne M. Valente
4.06 AVERAGE
This book was so bizarre, but so interesting and intriguing, none of what happen was predictable all, and the characters were so unique and special. I loved this book it was so good and the writing so mysterious, I read it a couple years ago and(a couple more times since then)have now also read the whole series, and I can now say that it is a book that holds many special memories and is a book series that is worth the time to read.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is the only book I remember from 6th grade English class
"Can you imagine? A farmer's daughter, being allowed to sit and read all day with no one to bother her? I thought I would die with the pleasure of it."
~Catherynne M. Valente, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
~Catherynne M. Valente, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
Utterly delightful. A keen and clever mix that feels part Alice in Wonderland, part Narnia - but very much a thing of its own.
It starts somewhat light and airy and wondrous but has something a little deeper and darker at its heart, just like a book about Fairyland should have.
Rarely have I read something that so engaged me - when September got into trouble I did not think "Oh of course she'll get out of this okay and I wonder how" but I felt genuinely concerned and worried for her, so fully was I taken in.
An amazing journey. I'll be seeking out the sequel at once.
It starts somewhat light and airy and wondrous but has something a little deeper and darker at its heart, just like a book about Fairyland should have.
Rarely have I read something that so engaged me - when September got into trouble I did not think "Oh of course she'll get out of this okay and I wonder how" but I felt genuinely concerned and worried for her, so fully was I taken in.
An amazing journey. I'll be seeking out the sequel at once.
adventurous
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
I've read this book before and I read it these last couple of days mainly to recover from the Nevernight Chronicles and for the nostalgia. I still think this is a wonderful children's/young people's book, I love the story and the slight craziness about it, I'm certain Valente gained some of her inspirations from Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland, which is another favourite of mine.
All I can say is if you are not a fan of random and mad characters and storylines this may not be for you but as an easy read, I'd recommend it to any fantasy readers who enjoy books aimed at younger readers.
All I can say is if you are not a fan of random and mad characters and storylines this may not be for you but as an easy read, I'd recommend it to any fantasy readers who enjoy books aimed at younger readers.
Whimsical fairy tale with such delightfully complex phrases I had to read it on the page rather than listen to the audiobook. This is the second book by this author I’ve enjoyed and I’m looking forward to more. And to reading this to my kids when they’re older.
I heard this book on audiotape. I loved it so much I listened to it twice. This book is about a young girl named September who gets taken by the Green Wind and the Leopard of Little Breezes and whisked off to Fairyland. I love how the author titled the chapters also!! Chapter name: In which (and what happens), but not enough to actually give anything away. I totally recommend listening to the audiobook as read by the author. It is amazing! This is such a great story of adventure, magic, and growing up. Along the way there are witches, wyveraries, golems, Death, and Pandemonium. The writing was lyrical and whimsical, and reminds you of childhood, without being childish.
Fave Quotes:
“She sounds like someone who spends a lot of time in libraries, which are the best sorts of people.”
“It is well known that reading quickens the growth of a heart like nothing else.”
“Stories have a way of changing faces. They are unruly things, undisciplined, given to delinquency and the throwing of erasers. This is why we must close them up into thick, solid books, so they cannot get out and cause trouble.”
“When one is traveling, everything looks brighter and lovelier. That does not mean it IS brighter and lovelier; it just means that sweet, kindly home suffers in comparison to tarted-up foreign places with all their jewels on.”
“Readers will always insist on adventures, and though you can have grief without adventures, you cannot have adventures without grief.”
“Even if you’ve taken off every stitch of clothing, you still have your secrets, your history, your true name. It’s hard to be really naked. You have to work hard at it. Just getting into a bath isn’t being naked, not really. It’s just showing skin.”
“We all live inside the terrible engine of authority, and it grinds and shrieks and burns so that no one will say: lines on maps are silly.”
“That’s what happens to friends, eventually. They leave you. It’s practically what they’re for.”
"it's the wonders I'm after, even if I have to bleed for them.”
“Well, very splendid and very frightening. But splendid things are often frightening. Sometimes, it's the fright that makes them splendid at all.”
"You are young and far from your Death, September, so I seem as anything would seem if you saw it from a long way off-very small, very harmless. But I am always closer than I appear. As you grow, I shall grow with you, until at the end, I shall loom huge and dark over your bed, and you will shut your eyes so as not to see me.”
“I wish you the best that can be hoped for, and no worse than can be expected.”
“If one did not have at least a little luck, one would never survive childhood. But luck can be spent, like money; and lost, like a memory; and wasted, like a life.”
“Temperament, you'll find, is highly dependent on time of day, weather, frequency of naps, and whether one has had enough to eat.”
Fave Quotes:
“She sounds like someone who spends a lot of time in libraries, which are the best sorts of people.”
“It is well known that reading quickens the growth of a heart like nothing else.”
“Stories have a way of changing faces. They are unruly things, undisciplined, given to delinquency and the throwing of erasers. This is why we must close them up into thick, solid books, so they cannot get out and cause trouble.”
“When one is traveling, everything looks brighter and lovelier. That does not mean it IS brighter and lovelier; it just means that sweet, kindly home suffers in comparison to tarted-up foreign places with all their jewels on.”
“Readers will always insist on adventures, and though you can have grief without adventures, you cannot have adventures without grief.”
“Even if you’ve taken off every stitch of clothing, you still have your secrets, your history, your true name. It’s hard to be really naked. You have to work hard at it. Just getting into a bath isn’t being naked, not really. It’s just showing skin.”
“We all live inside the terrible engine of authority, and it grinds and shrieks and burns so that no one will say: lines on maps are silly.”
“That’s what happens to friends, eventually. They leave you. It’s practically what they’re for.”
"it's the wonders I'm after, even if I have to bleed for them.”
“Well, very splendid and very frightening. But splendid things are often frightening. Sometimes, it's the fright that makes them splendid at all.”
"You are young and far from your Death, September, so I seem as anything would seem if you saw it from a long way off-very small, very harmless. But I am always closer than I appear. As you grow, I shall grow with you, until at the end, I shall loom huge and dark over your bed, and you will shut your eyes so as not to see me.”
“I wish you the best that can be hoped for, and no worse than can be expected.”
“If one did not have at least a little luck, one would never survive childhood. But luck can be spent, like money; and lost, like a memory; and wasted, like a life.”
“Temperament, you'll find, is highly dependent on time of day, weather, frequency of naps, and whether one has had enough to eat.”