#susan cooper

[tuulikki]

Finished just in time for the solstice. A little unbalanced in composition because frankly I had just been fucking around and hadn’t planned to turn it into an official project. Oops.

From Susan Cooper’s poem, “The Shortest Day”:

[terpsikeraunos]

And so the Shortest Day came and the year died And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world Came people singing, dancing, To drive the dark away. They lighted candles in the winter trees; They hung their homes with evergreen; They burned beseeching fires all night long To keep the year alive. And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake They shouted, reveling. Through all the frosty ages you can hear them Echoing behind us—listen! All the long echoes, sing the same delight, This Shortest Day, As promise wakens in the sleeping land: They carol, feast, give thanks, And dearly love their friends, And hope for peace. And now so do we, here, now, This year and every year. Welcome Yule!

The Shortest Day, by Susan Cooper

[dduane]

That's one I'll buy. :)

[vintagerpg]

Another of my favorite series of books as a kid, Susan Cooper’s Dark is Rising sequence pairs well with both Weirdstone (and all of Garner’s work) and Prydain — it’s concerned with dual natures, the weight of responsibility, coming of age, the mythic landscape of pagan Britain, King Arthur, Welsh mythology and more.

The first novel, Over Sea, Under Stone (1965) is sort of an outlier, written earlier and in the style of a fairly standard children’s mystery in which the Drew siblings — Simon, Jane and Barney — unravel riddles to find something like a grail for someone who seems a lot like Merlin. The supernaturalism rises dramatically in The Dark is Rising (1973), in which 7th son of a 7th son Will Stanton comes into his power and thwarts the first moves of the Dark Rider in what will be the final battle between Light and Dark. Greenwitch (1974) returns to Cornwall and introduces the Drews to Will. Jane takes center stage here, communing with the titular entity, created each year in a folk ritual. It’s almost my favorite of the books, but that honor goes to The Grey King (1975) in which Will vacations in Wales and confronts a terrifying Power that lives in its mountains (this book feels very paired with Garner’s The Owl Service, 1967).

The Silver on the Tree (1977) has all the children and wraps up the battle decisively. The battle is a bit besides the point — it was prophesied the entire time that the Light would win. Rather, its about the journey. When all is said and done, the world is free to make its own way without the interference of cosmic forces and, cruelly, the children forget their magical adventure. Not me, though.

[389]

The Shortest Day Carson Ellis

[the-book-ferret]

"So the Shortest Day came and the year died And everywhere down the centuries of the snow‐white world Came people singing, dancing, To drive the dark away."

[haveyoureadthisfantasybook]

vote yes if you have finished the entire book.

vote no if you have not finished the entire book.

(faq · submit a book)

[albaharu]

this movie was when I fell in love with Melissa McCarthy 

[iamcaledonia]

[geopsych]

The Shortest Day by Susan Cooper, my favorite reading of it.

Welcome, Yule!

[the-dust-jacket]

I do not need all of the pretties, I do not not need ALL of the pretties....

[tuulikki]

Local idiot too much of a perfectionist to leave previous unbalanced blank space unfilled. Too disorganised to centre addition properly. I still can’t reliably make consistently sized French knots either! Very frustrating, great fun, 10/10 crafting experience.

The poem remains better than my homage to it, so I hope no one will mind my sharing it again:

[burins]

cover for The Dark Is Rising, Alan E. Cober, 1973

[best-childhood-book]

Round 1, Poll 14: The Dark Is Rising vs Leviathan

[sepdet]

I started rereading The Dark Is Rising series while visiting my parents this winter (because it's the only time I ever see snow)

and please can we have somebody make a true-to-the-spirit-of-the-books adaptation with Peter Capaldi as Merriman Lyon before it's too late

after all, nobody's done a movie of it yet la la la

[hazelbutterflies]

shortest day by susan cooper