Literary Sewing Circle: Fall 2025

  

Our Spring 2025 session of the Literary Sewing Circle starts today! 

I'm pleased to announce that our group read this time around is:

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Many people may have first encountered this story thanks to the Studio Ghibli film, which is lovely but is also quite different from the book. I have enjoyed both! But the book is so delicate and charming, funny and clever, and of course with a heroine who can literally do magic with a needle. I hope you will enjoy it too!

Summary: 

In the land of Ingary, where seven-league boots and cloaks of invisibility really exist, Sophie Hatter attracts the unwelcome attention of the Witch of the Waste, who puts a curse on her. Determined to make the best of things, Sophie travels to the one place where she might get help – the moving castle which hovers on the nearby hills.

But the castle belongs to the dreaded Wizard Howl, whose appetite, they say, is satisfied only by the hearts of young girls. To untangle the enchantment, Sophie must handle the heartless Howl, strike a bargain with a fire demon, and meet the Witch of the Waste head-on. Along the way, she discovers that there's far more to Howl—and herself—than first meets the eye.

[from publisher]

About the Author: 

Diana Wynne Jones was a celebrated British writer best known for her inventive and influential works of fantasy for children and young adults. Her stories often combined magical worlds with science fiction elements, parallel universes, and a sharp sense of humor. Among her most beloved books are Howl's Moving Castle, the Chrestomanci series, The Dalemark Quartet, Dark Lord of Derkholm, and the satirical The Tough Guide to Fantasyland. 

Jones was a major influence on the landscape of modern fantasy. She received numerous accolades throughout her career, including the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, two Mythopoeic Awards, the Karl Edward Wagner Award, and the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement. 

Jones studied at Oxford, where she attended lectures by both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. She began writing professionally in the 1960s and remained active until her death in 2011. 

[from Goodreads]

This book is available for purchase in multiple formats.

You can find this title at all of these locations:

IndieBound

Biblio.com

Chapters Indigo

Barnes and Noble

ABE Books

Amazon.ca

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com.au

Or, of course, check your local library!

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How does the Literary Sewing Circle work? We read a book together, discuss it, and then make something inspired by our reading. As long as you can point out what inspired you from your reading, even if just a sentence, you can share your makes in our final roundup!

Anyone can join, and you can sew, knit, crochet, quilt or embroider - any textile art that you like doing - to participate. This is a reading/sewing circle, very low-key; no competitions here, just reading and sewing for fun. 

There is no official sign-up to worry about; just start reading along if you wish, and leave your thoughts on the book or your project on any of the Literary Sewing Circle posts. We do have a dedicated book discussion post at the end, but leave your thoughts anytime. And you can follow along on Instagram too if you like: look for @sewmelwyk and the hashtag #LiterarySewingCircle and you'll find us.

And when the final post goes up on week 5, so does the project linkup -- you can leave a link to your finished project there, whether it is on your blog, a pattern site, or even Instagram. It's easy :)

So, join in, and share!

Literary Sewing Circle Schedule

Oct 10 - Announcement & Introduction

Oct  17 - Inspiration post 1

Oct 24   - Author feature

Oct 31 -  Inspiration post 2

Nov 7  - Final Post: book discussion wrap up & posting of project linkup

We will have our project linkup live for two weeks after the final post to allow you to finish up and post your projects, which takes us to Nov 21, when the window to share your projects will close.