DWJ March: Lives of Christopher Chant

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Throgmorten!
Today, we're reading one of my all-time favorites, and certainly my favorite Chrestomanci title, The Lives of Christopher Chant.  This is just such a great story! 

Kristen comments on Christopher's sullenness through a good half of the book.  He's got good reason to feel put-upon; although he doesn't understand or articulate it until the Goddess does, Christopher is a kid who has never had anybody love him.  He gets pulled and pushed around with no warning, so it's no wonder he's rude and grumpy when he is taken away from school (which he loves) to go to the rather grim Castle.  But at the same time, he has to figure out that he bears some responsibility for his unhappiness too; his behavior has alienated the Castle people, who are sympathetic, even if clumsy.  When he makes an effort, things change for the better, and stubbornly clinging to his misery has done him no good at all.

On to the question of the day -- Kristen asks,
When The Living Asheth gets to World Twelve-A, she needs a new name so that she can hide from The Arm of Asheth. She chooses Millie because of the boarding school books that she adored from Christopher's world. If you needed a new name, which bookish moniker would you choose?
 Ha, I would think of a DWJ name first, but I don't really feel that Polly Whitaker suits me, and Tanaqui only works as an Internet handle, not a name.  (Now I'm looking at my bookshelf and realizing that I can't pick an Indian or Russian name because that would be too implausible.  This is hard!)  Jane, from Susan Cooper's books, is a good solid name but far too close to my own; it's a cop-out, really.  How about Bentley Saunders Harrison?  Nope.

What if I go with an author's name, like Eleanor or Diana?  Those are both nice.  I'd have to pick a last name out of a phone book, in that case.

Comments

  1. AnonymousMarch 10, 2017 at 5:10 PM

    What bookish name WOULD I choose? I would choose Vane as my surname, for sure, and then maybe Lucy from Chronicles of Narnia? Lucy Vane? Would that work?

    ReplyDelete
  2. JeanMarch 10, 2017 at 5:22 PM

    Lucy Vane is an EXCELLENT name.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kristen M.March 12, 2017 at 11:49 AM

    I had a hard time thinking of a question for this book because it's so familiar but then the name thing seemed fun and silly and I needed a question like that. When it came time to think of my answer, a million names popped into my head. I guess I've always considered the names I read as possible future names for myself. Who knew?!

    ReplyDelete

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