Among Others by Jo Walton (2011)

[warriorofworry]

Writing a review that just said “Wow” over and over again would be pathetic.
Never let it be said that I wasn’t tempted.
 
There is nothing sentimental about this coming of age story.  Morwenna – or is it? – moves through a world which is simultaneously sparkling magic and soul-stultifying mundanity. Endless possibility and bottomless grief, encompassing wonder and bone deep fear.
Crippled by the car accident that killed her twin, she makes a place for herself in the boarding school to which she’s sent, beyond the library and the books she loves.
I have tiptoed through the forests of Lothlorian, shrugged the mothball scent of old coats into the crisp air of Narnia’s winter forest, and muddied my toes herding pigs with Taran, but I have never stepped into a world so much like the magic of my own childhood imaginings.
I first encountered Jo Walton on livejournal, where some cogent comment or poem spoke to me out of the electronic flow.  She began reviewing books on Tor, where she always saw something in a work, even those I’d disliked, that made me rethink the story in new ways and often sent me to my bookshelves or the library.
Among Others partakes of that critical sense of wonder, and one should read with a pencil handy.  It has expanded my reading list, and ended with a tiny tribute to one of my favorite books ever. 

And there’s a grandfather with a cat named Chairman Meow.   

This a book I'll be re-reading, for years.