"Howl's Moving Castle" by Diana Wynne Jones

I've been meaning to read Howl's Moving Castle for probably a decade now.  I even got it out of the library once, but took it back unread because I just ran out of time for it.  My son discovered this series recently, and he loves it so much I said I would read the first book so he had someone to discuss it with.

Happily, I liked it a whole lot!  It had the sort of quirky, absurdist humor that makes me laugh aloud.  And the characters were quite loveable.  

Sophie is the oldest of three daughters.  Alas, in the world where she lives, eldest daughters never have any adventures or good luck of any sort.  They always fail.  They are never special.  Since she's doomed to a boring life, Sophie figures she should just stay in her tiny village and sell hats while her younger sisters of have all the adventures and find all the fortunes.  

Except, of course, Sophie ends up having to go out and have an adventure in spite of her own expectations.  After she falls afoul of the Wicked Witch of the Waste, she finds a new job keeping house for the Wizard Howl in his moving castle.  Sophie befriends Howl's apprentice, Howl's fire demon, and (eventually) Howl himself, and she discovers some pretty surprising things about herself too.  And, of course, she ends up helping save the day even though she doesn't think she's meant to.

Particularly Good Bits:

"It's just a tantrum," Sophie said.  Martha and Lettie were good at having tantrums too.  She knew how to deal with those.  On the other hand, it is quite a risk to spank a wizard for getting hysterical about his hair.  Anyway, Sophie's experience told her that tantrums are seldom about the thing they appear to be about (p. 122).

"Nobody's safe in a wizard's house," Calcifer said feelingly (p. 323).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for some perilous and mildly scary parts and lots of (obviously pretend) magic.