224-Howl's Moving Castle

Are all wizards from Wales? Today we are talking about Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. This book has everything: scarecrows that knock on doors, angsty goo, and fire demon friendships. Enjoy!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hey, I'm Sydney and I'm Delaney, and.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
This is still book called Today we were talking about
Howell's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. I'm guessing it's.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Win I think so wine. What it could be, who knows,
but yeah, just like a couple of minutes months later
than we said we would. So it's fine. And to
deal with a house that will give you motion sickness,
I'm drinking strawberry selet.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
I'm drinking a huckleberry wine that diamond got me Yog's
Secult party. If I wasn't all a drink sounds pregnant.
So I'm just trying it out and it is good.
It's in loving worth from some winery. Can't tell you
what it.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
Is, well, mystery huckleberry wine, probably good, i'd imagine if
it's on diamond. Yeah, well yeah, it.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Was one of the wine which we went to from there.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
It's so cute. Okay, wow, what a nice drink. Okay,
So for fun facts, this is just from the Howells
Moving Castle Wikipedia page. But here's what it says. So yeah,
this is a fantasy novel as we know. It was
published in nineteen eighty six by Greenwillow Books of New York.

(01:20):
It was a runner up for the annual Boston Globe
Horn Book Award and won the Phoenix Award twenty years later,
whatever that means. It was adapted into a Studio Ghibli
animated film of the same name in two thousand and four,
which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
Howe's Moving Castle is the first novel in a series
of books called the Howell Series. The series also includes

(01:43):
Castle in the Air, published in nineteen ninety and House
of Many Ways, published in two thousand and eight. I'm
pretty sure that Castle in the Air is a movie too.
I don't know if it's necessarily based on that, but
I'm pretty sure that's a like a Ghibli type movie. Anyways.
World Cap don't know what that is reports that Howell's
Moving Castle is the author's work most widely held in

(02:05):
participating libraries, followed by its first sequel, Castle in the Air.
Okay for the idea, Jones very much thanked a boy
in school I was visiting her words whose name she
had noted but lost and forgot. He had asked me
to write a book titled The Moving Castle. So that's
a fun backstory on where the name came from.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
Yeah, and the idea, I guess the way I said
a boy in school I was visiting is probably like
when she was also in school in second college, or
she was like dating him or something. But it sounds
like she just went to go see some kid in
his like elementary school and he's like, write this she said.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
Okay, Yeah, that's kind of the vibe I got, But
I did no more research into that, so who fucking knows.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
Yeah, well, tell us how this book starts.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
Let me tell you how this book starts. So Sophie
is the eldest of three girls, which sucks because she's
basically destined to live a boring life and her sisters
will just like learn from her mistakes and get to
Mary Rich. Basically, you get that right, as the eldest
of girls, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
Say, as the eldest of three girls, this related to me.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
Well, technically you have an older brother, so I don't
know if you really can relate Sydney.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
Yeah, but being the eldest of three girls is the
whole thing.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
You You're like, Wow, I get it. So, Sophie, the
only difference is you work in a hat shop.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
I don't even have a hat shop to work in,
So really, Sophie.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
Good for you inherit she gets a business. She doesn't
even appreciate that. Yeah, she gets a beast's hand, which
you were whatever. So the sisters are named Sophie, Letty,
and Martha. Sophie and Letty's mom died when Letty was
like a year old or something, but then their dad
remarried this younger lady named Fanny, and then they had Martha.

(03:48):
And luckily Fanny is like super cool and treats all
the girls the same. She does not favor Martha, so like,
good on her and their dad like make sure that
they like go to a good school and like learn stuff,
and they also have like a hat store on the side.
And then the dad dies, so Fanny has to pull
the girls aside and be like, yo, I don't know
how your dad was supporting you going to this expensive

(04:10):
as school. The hat shop's income cannot do that, so
like you can't go to school anymore. And the girls
are like, okay, we kind of saw this coming, but
like said, and she's like, I got apprenticeships, Like I
got it all set up for you though, So she
tells Letty that she is going to go apprentice at
the bakery, which is it's like a super pop and bakery,

(04:32):
and she's basically sure to meet and marry a good
man there. Martha is going to apprentice under some witch
I think her name is Missus Fairfax, and she's basically
she's going to be Hella powerful, she's gonna have a
lot of connections, like it'll be great. And since Sophie
is the eldest, she's going to apprentice at the family
hat shop because she's gonna take over once Fanny retires.

(04:57):
None of the girls are really pumped about this, but
they all accept their fates because like what are you
gonna do? So they all like go to start their work.
Letty and Martha are sent away. Sophie gets immersed into
the hat shop immediately. She kind of barely notices her
sister's absences. She obviously misses them. But it turns out
that Sophie's hats are like super popular, so she has

(05:19):
like a lot of custom orders to fill, and Fanny
basically like goes out and like buys supplies and like
does networking and stuff. So it's just like Sophie alone
in the hat shop all day and she'd be talking
to those hats like that's all she has to talk to.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
Basically, yeah, bitch, her friends are hats.

Speaker 1 (05:35):
Her friends are hats. And also they live in like
a kingdom, so there's like some there's like drama. They
live in some kind of fantasy land. Also because there's
like a lot of witches. There's a lot of witch
drama in this kingdom because the Witch of the Waste,
she's like a giant bitch and she doesn't like the king.
And then like the King's brother that's the Prince, is missing,

(05:57):
and then this other wizard's missing. I don't know. The
Witch of the Waste is super powerful, though, he tries
to send his personal wizard after her to like kill her,
but instead the wizard goes missing, and everyone's like, oh,
he's dead. He's like called the Wizard Sully men, I think.
And then of course a castle shows up in the

(06:17):
hills of Sophie's town and it's like moving around and
everyone's like, oh, my god, is that the Witch of
the Waste, But it's not. It's the wizard Howl, and
so like he's pretty chill, more chill than the Witch
of the waste, except for this one thing that he
does where he steals the souls of young women and
like eats their hearts or so the rumors say, so
like oh not the best.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
Yeah, they're like this guy will eat a heart.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
So just like of a young woman, and so like
that's annoying because Sophie and her sisters are young women.
So it's like now they cannot go out walking by
themselves because like this wizard's gonna eat your heart or whatever,
and so annoying. But after a while, like working, Sophie
decides to go visit Letty because the bakery isn't actually

(07:02):
too far away, and so she goes on May Day
because the hat shop is closed on holidays, but the
bakery is open until midnight on holidays, so she's like,
this is a great opportunity. She regrets this decision immediately
because as soon as she leaves the hat shop, like
the town is bustling because of the holiday. Everyone's out
and about. She is bundled up in a gray dress

(07:22):
and has like a shawl over her head because she
is trying to blend and like not have anyone notice her.
This doesn't work, because some dude notices her immediately and
is like, oh my god, you look sad. Can I
buy you a drink? And she is like no, So
she manages to get to the bakery whatever. It's bustling
in there. Everyone's asking for Letty, and Sophie sees Letty

(07:44):
and Lenny's like, oh my god, my sister, like get
over here, meet me in the back. And so when
Sophie gets back there, Letty is like, hey, guess what,
here's a cake sit down. I'm actually Martha, because the
girls switch places because Martha's like more social and into
the bakery scene, whereas Letty she wanted to fucking learn

(08:05):
and study more and she's a little more introverted, so
like the witch apprenticeship makes a lot more sense for her.
She's like interested in magic and stuff.

Speaker 2 (08:13):
So so just telling their mom like, hey mom, we
would actually like to switch these Is that cool? And
they're just like magic.

Speaker 1 (08:21):
Yeah, they just get a spell that makes them look
like each other and it like fades away gradually, so
people won't notice that their faces completely change after a while. Yeah,
So they do that, and Martha is like, we tried
to think of a way to like get you out too,
but like that was a lot harder because Mom's using
you for like slave labor, so like, you know, we

(08:42):
couldn't figure that one out. And Sophie tries to defend Fanny,
but Martha is like, girl, she don't even pay you.
Like rumor has it, she's like gonna buy some mansion
in the hills with the money you're making her at
that hat shop. And Sophie is like, damn, that is crazy,
and Martha's like, yeah, we could pay for our apprenticeships, dude,
and you know, so Sophie is like shit. She goes

(09:03):
home and she's like, hey, Fanny, can I like get paid?
And Fanny is like, oh my god, yeah, let me
just like finish this paperwork and then I'll like calculate
that right up. And then Fanny just like never brings
it up again, and Sophie is like, okay, fuck this.
So she's at work one day feeling a little bitter,
and then a customer comes in and is like, I
bought this hat from you because edoneill be getting man's

(09:23):
with men with your hats and I didn't get a man,
so like what the fuck? And Sophie, being bitter that day,
is like, well, yeah, the hat doesn't match you at all, Like,
obviously it doesn't work. So the customer like leaves in
a huff, and Sophie like stuffs the hat in the
trash and she's like, maybe I shouldn't be around the
customers today. And then another lady comes in and she's

(09:44):
dressed like fancy as fuck, and Sophie's thinking, She's like,
my hats aren't good enough for this lady, but this
lady wants to see the hats, so Sophie be getting
out the hats and none of them are good enough
for this lady. So eventually she's just like, I don't
know why you're here. We both know none of these
hats are gonna be your style. And the lady is like,
I'm telling you I'm here because I need to tell

(10:06):
you stay out of my fucking business. And Sophie's like what,
and then she's like, by the way, knowing you can't
like tell anyone that you're under a spell. And then
she leaves and Sophie's like what and she feels her
face and uh, turns out she's old as fuck. Now,
she's like ninety, and she's like, Okay, this sucks. She's
resigned to this.

Speaker 2 (10:26):
She just not she know, She's just like, huh, well,
I guess I'm old.

Speaker 1 (10:31):
She's like, I better get out of this shop since
Fanny won't recognize me.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
Yeah, she doesn't even try to tell her stepmother or anything.

Speaker 1 (10:39):
No, because she like hacks up and leaves close the shop,
walks out the door.

Speaker 2 (10:43):
Yeah, she's like, ah, sex that my life is gone
when I die soon now literally.

Speaker 1 (10:48):
And it's not just that she leaves the shop, she
leaves town. She just books it as fast as her
little old lady legs can take her, which is not
very fast. And so she leaves. She starts looking for
a walking stick because walking is hard, and she finds
this like turn up scarecrow thing and it's on a stick,
but like she feels bad like taking the stick from

(11:10):
the scarecrow, so she just like stands him up against
a tree and is like, good luck, bro, and then
keeps walking. And then she hears a noise and she
follows that noise and like crawls through some fucking bushes,
which I was like, girl, you're like ninety, now, what
the fuck? But she finds a dog that's like he
has like a rope around his neck and the rope
is like all twisted up and like strangling him, and

(11:32):
there's like a stick twisted in the rope, and so
she cuts the dog free and grabs the stick and
it's like a legit walking stick, so that's like convenient,
and so she grabs that and just starts walking and
she walks into She also runs into some dude, but
like whatever. She settles down for the night because it's
like dark, and then she notices that she's like not

(11:54):
even in the in the like she's not in the
city limits or anything like she can she can look
down and see the hat shop and be like, oh
my god, I could get back there in like twenty minutes.
You know, she has not made it very far, and
so she's kind of like sitting there and then Howl's
castle walks by, and she's like, I'm gonna get in there,
and so she starts walking out and she's like, hey,

(12:16):
you stop, and the castle stops and she's like sick.
So she hobbles over, but the door won't open. So
she goes to the back door and that's like protected
by like magic, and then there's like a wall she
can't go around. But eventually she finds a door that
she can open, and then the house starts walking away,
but she makes it inside the house, and this is
much to the dismay of Howl's apprentice, this kid, Michael,

(12:39):
and Michael is like some younger guy. He's like a teenager,
and Sophia is like, hey, I got to talk to Howell.
The Howl isn't there. So she just like sits down
in front of the fire and is like, oh, will
wait for him, and then like falls asleep, and Michael's
like a nice kid, so he just like lets her
sleep there because he's like, what the fuck am I
supposed to do? And then he eventually goes to bed,

(13:00):
and when she wakes up, it's dark. The fire is
super low, so she throws some logs on it, and
then as the fire grows, she sees a face in it,
and it turns out there's a fire demon in there,
and so he starts talking to Sophie and he's like,
I know you're under a spell, and like I can
help you if you help me, because he's under contract
with Howl and cannot leave the hearth and like has

(13:22):
to do all the magic to keep the castle going
and stuff. So he's like I'm not having a great
time with this, and she's like, okay, I'll help you
if you help me. And he's like, okay, well, I
have to study your curse for like a month because
it's like complicated. I know the Witch of the Waste
is involved, like that's a lot. And Sophie's like, okay,
I'm going to need to think of an excuse to
stay here though. That's like a fucking long time. So

(13:44):
in the morning, she's like looking around the castle and
it's fucking gross. It's not even that big. It's like
four rooms, but everything's dirty, and Michael is like, hey,
you want breakfast and she's like, oh my god, yeah,
I would love some hot food. And he's like I
kind of for you bread and cheese because only Howel
can cook because Calcifer doesn't let me cook. And she's like, well,
that's fucking stupid. So she grabs some bacon and she's like, hey, Calcifer,

(14:08):
you're gonna let me cook or I won't help you
break the curse, or even better, I'm gonna pour water
on you. And Calcifer is like, I hope you're bacon burns,
but he like helps her cook.

Speaker 2 (14:18):
Like his head, so the flames are there. I don't know.

Speaker 1 (14:21):
Yeah, it makes more sense in the movie, but like,
this is not a movie, so just imagine. So she
starts cooking and then Howl shows up and takes over
and he's like, who are you and she's like, I'm
here to clean your fucking castle. And that's when she learns,
like how the wait what?

Speaker 2 (14:42):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (14:42):
Yeah, she learns, Like she learns the hat the howel'st
castle is like it moves, but it's also in like
multiple towns at the same time, because there's like a
knock on the door or something, and so she learns that,
like there's like a spinner next to the door, and
it has four colors on it, and each color opens
a different door to a different town. And so because

(15:02):
of that, the castle is only like what you see,
even though like the outside makes it look a lot bigger.
It's weird, it's confusing, but it's basically just the downstairs,
a bathroom, and two bedrooms. That's the whole castle. So whatever,
there's a knock at the door, Calcifer tells Howell which
door the guy's at. Howell turns the spinner opens the door,

(15:25):
and then the guy pays him a bunch of money
for like giving a spell to the king, and Howell
goes to take a bath, and Michael is like, I
really wish that guy hadn't given Howel all that money
because Howell is so bad with money, and I was like,
fucking relatable, man, how Will just buys a lot of
nice clothes and stuff. And I'm like, I mean relatable,
I mean, let the man look nice. Okay, this is

(15:49):
a wizard. Okay, it's all about appearances these days, so whatever.
Howell also turns out to be the guy that Sophie
met in town that tried to buy her drink. Not
really that important, but like fun fact, so she definitely
knows he can't recognize her because of the spell. At
this point, as the days pass, Sophie cleans the castle.

(16:09):
Each room takes like at least a day or more
because it's super dirty and she's not very like efficient
about cleaning. She just like cleans stuff as she thinks
about it. Whatever, So all the towns that have the door,
they start recognizing Sophie because like she's in the background
when Michael or Howell is opening the door giving people

(16:30):
spells and whatever, and so some people think she's a witch,
and so they start bringing her gifts and stuff, and
Sophie's like, okay, that's not terrible for me, but whatever.
When she tries to clean Howell's room, he will not
let her. He's like, this is off limits. And then
she goes outside to clean there's like a yard space,
which doesn't make much sense, but whatever, it's part of it.

(16:51):
And he tells her she can't clean that either, because
she's already too nosy. He calls her nose a lot,
which I think is really funny. So she's pissed about that,
but whatever. She's baffled, but why he hasn't kicked her
out because she hasn't really given much reasoning here, but whatever.
Michael thinks that it's just because Calcifer likes her, because

(17:12):
Howell bases a lot of his interactions on how how
caulselfer reacts to people, which valid whatever. Throughout all of this,
Howel has been pursuing some girl, trying to get her
to fall in love with him. That's like his whole thing.
Michael and Calcifer explain to Sophie that he doesn't eat

(17:32):
hearts or steel souls like Howell literally made Michael spread
that rumor around Sophie's town so that people would stay
away from him. But like it doesn't work, obviously, and
so like howese whole thing is he will go out
and find women and then they fall in love with him,
and he essentially drops them right then because he can't
love them back. Whatever. We don't know that yet, but

(17:54):
that's what's happening. So this girl that he's trying to get,
she is not giving. She's not loving him back. So
Howel is super angsty about that. And he gets home
one day and he goes to take a shower, but
at this point, Sophie's already cleaned the bathroom show she
like fucked with all his weird powders and potions that
he had in there. So when he comes out of

(18:15):
the shower, he is moaning about his hair and how
like he's like, Sophie, fuckeding my shit on purpose, because
his golden blonde hair is now ginger. It's actually tinged pink.
We find out later he has pink hair, but Sophie
and Michael are like, it's really not that bad, and
Sophie's like, you're just a fucking baby. And this is
apparently not a great response, because this makes how Will

(18:37):
scream and then a bunch of like green slime pours
out of him, and it's like this whole thing, and
so Michael pulls Sophie out out the door into one
of the towns. The whole town can hear how Will screaming,
and they all just kind of like move to the
other side of the town while he's like screaming and
being angsty. And I was like, how often does this happen?

(18:58):
But okay, they know.

Speaker 2 (19:00):
They're like, oh my god, go again, get out of
the way.

Speaker 1 (19:03):
Another temper tantrum. But okay, when he stops screaming, they
go back to the castle and there's just green goo
everywhere and Howell is like covered in it, and so
Sophie just pushes him to the bathroom because she's pissed,
and she it takes an hour to clean him up,
and it takes another hour to get him dressed in
a different suit that Sophie like just finished him ending
before the tantrum started, and then Sophie has to spend

(19:26):
the rest of the day pushing all the goo out
the door. And then even when it's all clean, Howel
still won't talk. Because he's still being a baby. So
she makes him some warm milk and she's like, Okay,
what's this all really about. It's about the girl he's
trying to woo, and he had apparently left her alone
for a couple days to see if she would realize
how much she loved him, but instead she told him
that she had a new boy that she was seeing,

(19:48):
so he's sad about that, and then he says the
girl's name is Letty Hatter, and Sophie's like, fuck, that's Martha.
That's my sister Martha who's pretending to be Letty. Fuck day,
Howell leaves because he has to go talk to the
king about something, so Sophie is like, I'm gonna go
talk to Martha and warn her that she's been seeing

(20:08):
the wizard Howl. But then Michael is like, I'm going
out for the day. So she's like, oh, I can't
leave the house because like Calcifer, and Calcifer is like,
oh no, I can like unlock the door for you guys.
That's like totally fine, and so she's gonna go leave.
But then she opens the door and the turnip scarecrow
is back at the door, and this freaks her out.
It like almost gives her a heart attack, and so

(20:29):
she's like, Calcifer, you got a book, it we gotta
out run Turniped. So Calsifer like pushes the pace until
they leave Turniped behind, and then he like stops and
rests for the night because he's like fucking exhausted. Michael
comes back. He has a pie onions and like a
wrapped up cake from the bakery, and he tells Sophie
He's like, I'm in love with Letty at the bakery,

(20:51):
and I was worried that she was seeing Howel. But
how must be seeing a different Letty because my lady
does not know Howell, and I know that she's selling
the truth because Letty twiddles her thumbs and she stops
when she lies. And Sophie's like, oh, yeah, I know
that too, because she is my sister's granddaughter. So like,
Sophie's fine with Martha and Michael being in love because

(21:14):
they're basically the same age, and she knows that Michael
is like a good guy. But this means that the
real Letty has been seeing Howell entrusted him enough to
tell him her real name, So that is a problem.
Howell comes home eventually, and Kelsipher is like not burning
and he's like I'm resting, which Sophie is like, oh
that's because of me, and turniped. And this kind of
pisses Howell off because he's like, you need to not

(21:36):
fuck around with Kelsipher and tell him to do that shit.
And he's like, Calsper, don't even listen to Sophie.

Speaker 2 (21:41):
My fire demon. Why are you with why are you.

Speaker 1 (21:44):
Doing her hitting right? He does not get why Calcipfer
listens to Sophie, but like whenever, so they give Howel food.
This cheers him up, and then he complains about the
king because he's like, the king is starting to favor him.
Y'all need to black in my name so that the
king doesn't name me as his official wizard. Because the prince,

(22:05):
who is the king's brother, is missing, and the prince
went to look for the wizard Sullyman that everyone said
was dead, but Howl made the mistake of saying he
thought the wizard was like lost in the waste, which
the waste is like the land outside of the kingdom,
and that's where the Witch of the Waste lives, so
it's like not a great place it's like a desert.
It sounds like, yeah, but Howell doesn't want to be

(22:28):
sent to look in the waste because the witch of
the Waste cursed him to burn alive and the only
reason that he has outran that curse is because he
gave her a fake name. So he's like, I ain't
about that. So the next day, Howel is like, I'm
gonna go visit Letty. But when he goes to leave,
Turnipet is at the door. He's at the door, and
Howell tries to push him away, and then he's like

(22:49):
you better leave, but Turnipet is like no, So Howell
just punts him hundreds of feet into the air using magic.
So like that's pretty cool, I guess, And he like
to Sophie for being mad about it the day before.
He's like, I get it, Turniput's.

Speaker 2 (23:04):
Freaking fucking scary shit, not even mad anymore.

Speaker 1 (23:08):
Yeah, But Sophie meanwhile, is like having a heart attack again,
so he like makes her sit down and he's like, okay,
Michael makes sure Sophie rests today since she's freaking out,
and then he leaves and Sophie has decided to visit
Letty today too, so she can like warn her away
from Howell. So she just waits until Howel is gone
and then goes to leave, but Michael is like, no,

(23:31):
you can't. Michael said so, and she's like, okay, the
Letty that Howel is seeing is also my sister's granddaughter
or whatever the fuck, so obviously I cannot let her
get with Howell. And Michael is like, that's too many Letty's,
but okay, I will help.

Speaker 2 (23:47):
Yeal confused by this, Yeah, I would be like, so,
yeah too too.

Speaker 1 (23:54):
Niece's name Lendy, I think he asks her at one point,
he's like how many nieces you got? And she's like,
don't even know, man, I'm too old.

Speaker 2 (24:02):
Yeah, there were so many. Of course there's two Lettis.

Speaker 1 (24:06):
Every Letty, they're all mine. But whatever. So she's like this, Letty,
I can't let her get with how obviously, and Michael's like, okay,
you're right. Let me help though. So he grabs some
seven League boots, which are boots that you put on
and you walk twenty one miles in one step, and
so he's like, if we each wear one boot, that's

(24:26):
ten and a half miles per step. And where Letty
is is about eleven miles away, so that works. So
they each put on one boot and take a step
and it takes them right where they need to go.
But then Sophie falls over because the boot's really heavy.
So then she takes another step and she's just gone,
and she does that like fifteen more times until she
ends up back where Michael is and he catches her. Whatever.

(24:48):
I was like, do the boots stop working at a
certain point? Apparently not. It's fine, I guess going.

Speaker 2 (24:54):
She just walked a bunch of miles.

Speaker 1 (24:56):
A bunch of miles almost gets hip like run over
by a but it's fine. So they go to say
hi to the Witch that Letty works for missus Fairfax,
and she's like, oh yeah, Letty's with a suitor right now,
and then she starts yapping about how she and Letty
know that the suitor is the Wizard Howl even though
he's a fake name because he used to be a

(25:17):
student there and like so obviously the Witch knows him.
And then the Witch like told Letty she's like, hey,
Howell is probably a way better teacher for you than
I am, because he's like a lot better at this
than I am. And you're really smart, so you should
get with him so he can teach you wizard stuff.
And Sophie thinks this is a terrible idea, but obviously
you can't see that say that, and she's like, hey,

(25:40):
wasn't Martha actually supposed to like apprenticeship with you? Why
is Letty here? And the witch laughs and she's like,
oh my god, yeah, I recognize this spell they used
because like it was one of mine, so like, of
course I did. But she's like really smart and wants
to learn, so I don't really care that they switch
spots whatever. But then they have to leave because Howell's
coming over, and so they step back to the castle

(26:03):
and kell Sper's like, oh my god, someone's been knocking
on the door since he left. They opened the door.
It's a sea captain who needed a wind spell. So
Michael does that while Sophie's in the background. She ends
up taking apart a suit that Howell had ruined when
he had a slim tantrum, and she's decided to make
a patchwork skirt with it, because why not. She later

(26:25):
turns it back into a suit, but whatever. Michael is
working on a spell in the background, and he can't
like figure it out, so he asked Sophie to help,
and the spell is like a riddle, so they work
on this all day and can't figure it out. But
like one line is about catching a fallen star, so
Michael's like, okay, let's go do that, and they use
the Seven League boots so they can like run after
the stars, and Michael does almost catch one, but like

(26:48):
the star when it's like getting really close, it's like
trying to get away from Michael and it's like I
want to die and Michael's like.

Speaker 2 (26:54):
No, yeah, it's like what the fuck.

Speaker 1 (26:58):
It's really weird, and then the star hops into a
marsh and drowns itself, so they do not get the
falling Star. They leave empty handed, which is whatever I get.
But the next day, Howel gets home and he has
like a bunch of parcels and he's in a bad
mood because the king has officially asked him to look

(27:19):
for his brother, the Prince, and heavily implied that Howell
should also kill the Witch of the Waist, and Howl's
like that fucking sucks, So he gives most of the
parcels to Sophie and the other one to Michael and
it's all new clothes, like new stockings, new petticoats, whatever
the fuck. It's all really nice. There's a lot of
like nice lace and stuff. It's expensive. And Michael got

(27:40):
a new soup and Howl is like, this is so
you Sophie can pretend to be my mother and convince
the king that I can't do these things for him,
and Sophie is like, what the fuck, Like I do
not want to do that. Why would I do that?
And Howel is like, you want more green slime, I'll
get more fucking green sline, and so Sophie does eventually agree,

(28:02):
and how I was like, okay, cool, I don't want
you to be overwhelmed with how fancy the castle is,
so I'm gonna first send you to my old teacher's
house because she's super fancy, so you can kind of
like dip a toe in. And then he turns to Michael,
who is trying to ask about the spell from earlier,
and how looks at the spell and is like, oh,

(28:22):
that's not the spell that I left for you, actually,
and this spell is from the forbidden Black Door, which
Sophie did open at one time, because Howl was like,
don't ever go in that door, and so obviously she
had to open that door when he wasn't there, and
this spell is from there. So when Sophie opened the door,
it's snuck in somehow. I don't know. That's not really explained.

(28:44):
It doesn't matter. So Michael explains how they tried to
solve the riddle and everything, and how he tried to
catch the star but it drowned itself, and how I
was like, that's good that it did, because that would
have fucking been terrible if you could actually caught that star.
And Kelsper in the background is like, didn't you do
that once? And how Ill's like yeah, and then he

(29:07):
changes the subject and he's like, you guys want to
see what's in the door? Off looking show? You come here,
and Michael and how will step through the door, and
Sophie's about to and Calsifer is like, hey, did you
hear that clue about my curse? And Sophie's like what now?
And then she goes out the door with the boys
and I.

Speaker 2 (29:23):
Was like, Sophie, duh, Like girl.

Speaker 1 (29:27):
Calcifer even was like you'll get a hint about my
curse later today, Like come on, whatever, So she steps
in and she stepped into like it's like a neighborhood
that's just outside of town, and Howell tells them they've
tore different clothes, so essentially they're wearing jeans. It sounds
like whatever. They go to a house and it's like

(29:49):
the real world countryside England. It's actually Wales, we learned later.
So it's a house with a TV and there's a
woman knitting and it's How'll sister and he's like, hey,
has the nephew found any weird like papers lately? And
then the lady's like, yeah, his homework went missing and
he found some weird paper and he turned it into

(30:10):
the teacher to prove that, you know, he didn't not
do his homework. And so Howell goes to talk to
his nephew and Sophie and Michael follow. The nephew's playing
a video game that Howell unplugs and he asks about
the paper and the nephew's like, oh, yeah, my teacher
took it. And Howl's like, where's your teacher live? And
the nephew knows somehow, which is not seen as weird
but whatever, and then Howell gives him a book or

(30:32):
something I don't know. And then they head out to
Howell's car, which is really terrifying for Sophie because they
ain't got cars in her world, so she's like, oh
my god. And they drive to the teacher's house and
he asks for the spellback and she gives it to
him and like it's weird because it's like he's like, yeah,
I majored in like charms and potions or some shit,
and I'm like what because I thought this was like

(30:54):
the real world, but they also have magic, So I
don't know.

Speaker 2 (30:58):
We all talk about it in my question because I
think that's all my questions are based on this whole Mells.

Speaker 1 (31:05):
I saw that bit in your final thoughts, so we'll
come back to that then. So yeah, the teacher uh
gives him the spell back, and then he gives her
the poem homework back and he's like what poem is
that from? I recognize it, and the teacher like reads
the rest of the poem to him and he like
stops her and he looks sick. And then they leave

(31:28):
and he's mumbling about how the witch the waves caught him,
and then when they get homecoun Siper is like, bro,
she caught you, and he's like, yes, she did, and
that's my half.

Speaker 2 (31:37):
Yeah. So Sophie, she's getting ready to meet the king
to about taw Cow, but like you said, he wants
you to meet his old teacher first, pretend to be
his mom. I was like practice. So this teacher who
maybe I named later, I don't think I ever do.
Her name is along. I'm not getting into it anyway.

(31:59):
She tells how Michael's like, get the fuck out. So
she just talks with Sophie and once Hell leaves, and
she's just like, I'm worried about how I think he's
like going bad, like he's becoming bad. And she thinks
he's hee some black magic because he's currently wearing a
suit that's like attracting ladies, and she's like that's not good.
And Sophie's like, fuck, I sowed that suit. And then

(32:21):
later on she thinks like, oh my god, I added
magic in it to make him look hot on accident.
But right now she's just like that's crazy, it's cursed
or whatever. I literally did that suit. But the teacher's like, hey,
he's starting to get like the Witch of the waist
and like something's going on. Sophie's like, oh, she must
be sending his deal with Kolsper and like the bad
influence on him. And the teacher's like, girl, you got

(32:43):
fixed out and so he's like, bick for me, what
the fuck? And then she sold she has some strong
magic herself, and this is when she's like, oh my god,
this suit that was me My bad anyways, because she
talks to things and that makes stuff happen. So Sophie
now feels bad and it is confused because she's like
actually magic. But also she used to like go bed
mouth out to the King's still, so she has a

(33:03):
lot going on. This lady just dropped a while I'm
on her. Yeah, so she they leave. So if he
goes to the palace and to show him to the
King's room once again, how and Michael Artol get the like,
get the buck out. They're like, you're not invited, just
your mom, Sophy. The palace is fancy as fuck, but
the king's like pretty chill and normal dude, but he

(33:26):
is still a king. So Sophie's nervous and she stared up.
It's just like, hey, haw all asked me to come
talk about him because he doesn't want to have to
look for your brother, and she's like and the fact
that he like even asked me his mom to come
talk to him is signed that my son is a
pathetic loser, so he's a shit person. You shouldn't have
him do this. And then she wants a bunch of

(33:46):
bad stuff about him. She's like, he's like a narcissist,
she's so into his lugs. He's like such a baby.
But then she put deep down, he's such a nice
guy really, And the King loves to hear all this
is like perfect. I want someone who is desperate doing
the one looking for my brother, and a guy who
sends his mom to talk about him to get him
have a job is definitely desperate.

Speaker 1 (34:06):
That's the guy.

Speaker 2 (34:07):
Yeah. So the King is now all in on how
being his personal wizard. And I guess like in this town,
you don't get a choice of what your job is
because apparently if the King says yes, you gotta do it.
So Sephi gets to leave and not looking forward to
telling how that she failed, but she gets like super
fucking lost leaving the palace, and she fought herself back

(34:28):
at the teacher's house and the Witch of the Waste
is also there, and she remembers Sovi from like cursing her.
It's like, hey, how's life is an old lady? And
so he's like not great and then she's like, hy,
by the way, the teacher's dead and so he's like
who what pretend she don't know? And I was just
on my way to see you the king about hat things.
And then she's like, oh, no, father's gonna I'll give

(34:48):
you a ride because so Hey's like, I just got lost.
So Sopah gets back to the palace again is ends
up in the King's room with him. She's like back
in his little thronging room and she's like, hey, you
have a daughter, maybe, like how can marry your daughter?
And the King's like what the fuck? He's like going,
don't you meet my daughter? And out comes a toddler

(35:08):
and so he's like, my bad bro, and did not
know she was that young. And the king is chill
about this, even though she just said, let's marry off
your two year old.

Speaker 1 (35:18):
Yeah, and the daughter's there.

Speaker 2 (35:19):
He's like Valerie or something, so random.

Speaker 1 (35:22):
Yeah, I just don't like.

Speaker 2 (35:24):
The idea of a princessting Valerie. But anyways, how is
pissed what she tells him what happened, And the next
day he goes to Wales to like see the neighbory
lady teacher like his nephew's teacher, and Soobe's mad about
it and fights him when he gets home. But how
has it cold? And it's being dramatic about it, and
he goes to his room to be sad and cold
and sick. Then a dog knocks on the door and

(35:45):
jumps into the house and turns into a man. And
he's like, hey, Sophie, let her send me, and then
becomes a dog again. And I won't turn back into
a man no matter how much Sophie is like, become
a man again. I have questions. Yeah, So she goes
so you guys to check it out. How they are
you of his love life And he's like, honestly, I'm
more worried about the curse, the witch the waste put
on me because my own only have three more things

(36:06):
to come true before it's like done. So and those
three things are Ermaid's man, draik root, and honest winds.
And I will never bring up the wind again. That
one does happen, I don't mention.

Speaker 1 (36:17):
It well maybe talk about it.

Speaker 2 (36:19):
If not whatever, Yeah, so's like okay, whatever, don't care.
And then I was just like his bedroom window looks
out onto his sister's yard and she gets to the
cows and he's playing out there. Uh the dark man
that comes into the room and like makes Sophie leave.
The next day or so or whatever, time moves in
a weird way, and this book is the day I
don't know. Michael goes to market Chipping, which is like

(36:41):
the town that soph he's from. He's in disguise and
he comes back and he's like, hey, I found a
new place for the castle because they're like looking to
move to avoid the witch the waste. So he's like,
it's an old hat shop that's for sale because apparently
sophie stepmom governed to the hat shop and moved away,
and how still sick is like all right, and he
goes out of disguise by shot. Then he says he
wants to go to his teacher's funerals. By the fact

(37:04):
that like, even in disguise, it's a risk, but he
thought was disguised as a dog. He still gets dressed
up because he's respectful. Yeah, she leaves and when he
comes back, he's like, well, the Witch of the Waist
found me because he totally fucked up. So then he
gets into a big old fight with the Witch of
the Waste because he comes in it's like she found me.
Then goes out and they like get in a fight
in front of the whole town, like everybody's out watching.

(37:25):
They're over the ocean. Sophie and Michael go out watch too,
Sofie's and disguis as a redheaded dude. Michael disguised as
a horse.

Speaker 1 (37:35):
Yeah he's Michael's voice comes out of a horse.

Speaker 2 (37:39):
Yea, I love it. That's my favorite part of the
whole book.

Speaker 1 (37:41):
And clopping of a horse that's not there.

Speaker 2 (37:45):
Yeah, She's like, this guy is horse. Anyways, during the fight,
merwaits come up out of the water. They are real
and they are disturbed by this fight, which means shit,
one more curse, like one more thing close.

Speaker 1 (37:58):
To the curse. Yep.

Speaker 2 (38:00):
So if I moves on into the sky and it's
like a ball of fire and everybody's like who lived?
Who won? Is anyone alive? But househ was up later
at the castle in the form of a cat, and
he's like, I don't even know who won and that
was part of that fight. But he needs to move
Calcifer to a new house. That the new house they bought,
which Calsifer is not to all about because like it's
risky to move him. He's a flame.

Speaker 1 (38:22):
They're they're switching all the doors in the house so
that the witch doesn't know their locations anymore.

Speaker 2 (38:29):
Yeah, they like mark the floor, so it just like
pops up into this new spot the castle and yeah,
they're like new color coding system, new doors.

Speaker 1 (38:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (38:39):
Yeah, so Calsper has to be put into a shovel
and like moved so pretty much. They pick up the
like cold embers and move them and like there's like
a little star shaped thing at the bottom. And Sophie
sees this, so during this she realizes Casiper used to
be a shooting star. And he's like, oh my good girl,
finally you got it. She's like, Cal's I far you

(39:01):
were a star and he's like, yeah, I pretty much
told you. Yeah. Anyways, move up. That decided to start
a flower shop in place of the hat shop, and
how shows be like this garden he made he like
had put there to get like all the flowers he
had bought it wowgo with some I don't remember.

Speaker 1 (39:18):
It's on the edge of the wasst, and so I
remember that part because when the wizard sully Man wanted
to get rid of the Witch of the Wasst, he
thought to do so by putting flowers in the wasteland
because the witch thrives on dead stuff or something. So
he planted a bunch of flowers in the waste to
make like a meadow. And then how we'll add it

(39:41):
a lot to it. So that's one of the doors
opens to the meadow so they can get the flowers
every day for the flower shop. Yeah, it's like works,
Sophie said, she liked flowers.

Speaker 2 (39:50):
Yeah. And this flower shop that Sophie and Michael just
start working in full time pops the fuck off. It's
popular's fuck.

Speaker 1 (39:57):
Because it's flowers you can't get anywhere else.

Speaker 2 (39:59):
Yeah, and house and then she like makes special ones.
While later sea there's like blue roses a house fence,
this time trying to get with that woman in whales.
Sophie thinks that's what he's doing. He's just like trying
to hit on that girl. So she starts to the flowers.
She has either like change shape and grow and like
change color and stuff and it works. But then she
finds a weird flower and guess what, it's a man

(40:19):
draid group. Hal hates to hear it, one step closer
to this curse coming true. So when Michael and how
we're at one day, the scarecrow comes ba again, and
So being able to make him move on past without
stopping by just going you don't see me and it's like, no,
I don't and it kept moving. So the dog man
is with her. He turns back into a man, and
it just tells her that he was with the witch

(40:40):
when she was turning to an old woman and that
he had told Letty about it. Then Miss Angorian shows up.
She's the Welsh Lady teacher and she shows up from
the door from Whales. It's like, hey, I think hell
know something about my missing fiancee Ben Sullivan, and so
I was like, oh my god, it must be the
Wizard's Solomon and So is also bitched her though, and

(41:01):
tells her to stop looking around and get the fuck out,
and it's like, damn, im I being such a bitchless
like like.

Speaker 1 (41:06):
Also bitch is pushing as fuck because she's like, let
me look in this house let me see where howel lives.
I want to see like I know my because like
the dude, she's looking forward to her fiance that disappeared,
and she's like, I know he's not coming back. I
want to see what kind of life she's leading and sop.
He's like, no, get the fuck out of this house.
And then she sees the guitar and she's like, my
fiance had a guitar, like tries to take it, like.

Speaker 2 (41:30):
It yeah, she's like touching it and.

Speaker 1 (41:32):
So he's like, no, this is weird. Get out.

Speaker 2 (41:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (41:36):
Valid.

Speaker 2 (41:38):
So when how gets home, so he's stole the bitchy
moon and he's like, what's your deal? But she won't answer,
and he's like, wait a second, is that to have
like under a spell? And so he's like yeah, and
he says nobody told him until now because he just
realized that this dog is like a different breed every
time he sees it. And so he's like, oh, what's
up with this dog? And he goes a couse for
and he's like, how could you not tell me? He's

(41:59):
like bread and ask so how it takes like howld
Casper take the curse? Like dog curse off the guy,
but it's just like a whole bunch of shit going
on with him. And the guy's like, I don't know
who I am a what's going on? And Casper is like,
you did last go by the name Percival, and you
were hanging out with the witch and you are also

(42:19):
made up of multiple people's body parts, which would.

Speaker 1 (42:22):
Suck to hear.

Speaker 2 (42:23):
You're like a friends monster. So Sophie's in a bad
moon still and ends up making some weak killer because
of it.

Speaker 1 (42:31):
The worst part of Perceval is he's like, uh, the
Witch took my head off and I was staring at
my body.

Speaker 2 (42:37):
Yeah, his head was like on a mantle or on
a shelf or whatever. Yeah, that's fine. It's not that
even big of a deal.

Speaker 1 (42:46):
It's fine. It's chill, Okay, I even like.

Speaker 2 (42:49):
A real person in the end, reacting anyway, she made
some crazy weak killer because she's in a bad mood.
So she decides to go to the driveway and just
throw it around, and she started to Percival, and then
she sees someone in the window and goes inside and
finds out that like everyone's been talking about her and
everyone knows about her curse, and like, how's like taking

(43:10):
it off or whatever, but she's like keeping it on herself.

Speaker 1 (43:13):
Yeah. He's like, you have to solve it yourself, and
having you noticed your aches and pains have gone away,
and she's like, eh.

Speaker 2 (43:19):
Yeah, He's like I took that away like immediately, like
you're going keeping yourself old and she's like bitch, what.
So moving on from that, it's Midsummer Day, a day
of where things are supposed to go down, like it's.

Speaker 1 (43:30):
A it's a big flower day.

Speaker 2 (43:33):
Yeah. So how it gets home drunk because he was
out partying with his rugby friends from college for I
want to say, and Sophie's annoyed and has said that
she's just like done with the whole day and she's
just gonna leave. But then she has to ends up
working because she's needed in the shop. It's a very
popular like it's a big flower day, and she has
to make like these decorations. Yeah, and like nobody else

(43:56):
is gonna do it, so she has to do it.

Speaker 1 (43:57):
Boys suck at it.

Speaker 2 (43:59):
Yeah. So she has like works there all morning and
then she's like it's lunchtime and then she's like finally, Okay,
now I'm gonna just dip I'm leaving for good, but
somebody's out the door when she opens it, and it's
her fucking stepmom and she all fancy and Fanny's like,
oh my god, you look awful. You're with a terrible wizard.
How like what happened to you? I thought you like
maybe died, And Sophie tells her that the rooms about

(44:22):
how aren't true, Like he's not a cannibal, he doesn't
eat hearts. He's like kind of is an apple sometimes
a deep down he's like a pretty cool guy. And
then Fanny's like, I got married, I'm rich. Yeah, that's
my whole thing. And then Michael comes in with her
sister Martha, and then her sister Letty shows up with

(44:43):
her wizard teacher and the dog man, and then who's
that man? And then miss Angorian shows up, and Sofie's like, bitch,
we're kind of like in the middle of something because
they're having a whole ex family reunion. But then she
feels bad because she's like I was already bitchy to
this lady before. And he's like fine, e stay because
she's like I just want to see how, So she's
like whatever, stay and she's like can I look in

(45:03):
your garden? And she's like, yeah, fucking go outside, I'll
give a shit. So everyone's having a nice time catching
up when Casiper yells for how and says the witch
found his sister's family and is in their yard. So
Hal runs out and immediately like goes to fight the
witch because she's like trying to lure his knees over
and he's like, bitch what they.

Speaker 1 (45:20):
Start popping off.

Speaker 2 (45:22):
The scarac girl shows up again. This time he's trying
to say something and Casper's like hey, he tries to
say that he like means you no harm, and he
like wants to come in, so sob He's like oh
okay and lets him in, no questions, I think, goes
right to the school that they keep like laying around.
She's like their skull and he shoves it into his
turnip head. And then the witch's talking and she's like, hey,

(45:44):
how I got a singorian. So so he's like, oh, man,
I let that lady get kidnapped by like letting her
out to the waist. So she wants to a help her,
so she goes out to like the waiste to try
to find this lady ends up getting trapped by the
witch who like shows her like your friend's then thinking
of a guy with no head, like made up with
Barney parts of Prince Justin and Wizard Solomon, and she's like,

(46:06):
I ain't House had to complete it. Then it's like
gonna be perfect, and she's.

Speaker 1 (46:09):
Like, gonna be the perfect man and I'm gonna marry
him and then we're gonna rule over the land and stuff.
He's like, ew, yeah.

Speaker 2 (46:15):
Which is how old is this lady compared to these guys? Gross?
I'm the age difference? Is this bother me? Anyways, the
Scarecrow shows up and starts to fight the witch, and
then House shows up and blast the witch and she
becomes like dust and then he's like her fire demon
was pervent to one running and this whole thing in
the first place, like she was barely alive anyways, Then

(46:35):
the Scarecrow explains that Wizard Solomon created him to like
collect his pieces, and that's like what he's been trying
to do, like between personal and like the Frankenstein Monster
and the Skull. He's like got everything together now, so
he's good and soff He's like, shit, where's the Singorion?
And how I was like, oh, she ain't a real person.
She's the witch's fired demon and like, really, we're so

(46:58):
lucky she was never in the castle because I would
be fucked if she was. And so he's like, actually,
she's been there so many times. Literally, she was just
in there and I was like, fuck, she's probably still there.
She was telling him about like he was touching, she
was touched to the guitar and stuff. She was like,
hates to hear it. He So they go back to
the castle and everyone's like just still hanging out, and

(47:21):
then the Sagorian pops up and it's like I'm gonna
take Hal's heart and grabs it, but Sophie makes her
like mocking stick beat her over the head, which causes
her to drop Calcifer, which is like where's Hell's heart is?
And then Sophie freeze Calcifer without killing him, and he's
like I'm free and he stoops.

Speaker 1 (47:38):
Up the children. She's literally like I want you to
live a thousand more years and Calcifer's like dal.

Speaker 2 (47:44):
Yeah, she literal can just tell things what to do,
and they're like okay, So she he's good. He's gone,
and then Percival runs out the door to the Scarecrow. Well,
Sophie like puts Hal's heart back in his chest. She
just like shoving it back in there. How long's up
with the witch's heart in his hand somehow crushes it

(48:05):
to kill the Sangorian. So that fired humans dead. I
guess two dude show up. They're like, hey, we're justin
and Solomon. I'll put back together on our own pieces again.
And then how sad like Housipher's gone, but he's like
I get it, Like dude, wanted to be free. I'll
miss the man. And then wizard Solman like asked let
you to be a student, but also was like maybe

(48:26):
hitting on her, and I'm like, what aren't you like
a thousand? And then howld Sophie are now a thing?
And it's like talking on once. It's like kind of chaotic,
and then Casaber turns and everyone's happy at the end.

Speaker 1 (48:37):
Yeah, that's it. That's the book. And wow, this got
four point two five stars. That's pretty fucking good popular book. Okay,
so here it is left the country due to emergency
and couldn't get back into the book later get back
into the book again. That had no star rating, but like, okay,

(48:58):
I guess.

Speaker 2 (49:01):
The first time the movie is better than the book.
Two stars.

Speaker 1 (49:05):
I could see it. Eh. Okay, if you read a
book at a real low point in life, is it
the book's fault that you don't enjoy reading it? Three
point five stars, good question, honestly.

Speaker 2 (49:18):
Yeah, fine as a magic fantasy book, terrible as a
love story. Whoever picture to me is romantic is very
confused about what love is. Four stars.

Speaker 1 (49:27):
Yeah, that's honestly pretty accurate. I think the cutest thing.
Oh my god, five stars.

Speaker 2 (49:35):
There's more to that one, but that's not mattered. Yeah, okay, questions,
this is all I can think about. So I guess
how from the house from the real world and the
rest of like some from some magic world, those are
like magic in the real world. Are they all real?
Or is he like jumping into like a magic treehouse
story like portals? Okay, so I imagine like they like

(49:58):
living in a Graham's brother like fairy tale situation, and
he's just like often the UK.

Speaker 1 (50:04):
So this did not bother me like it did you.
And I think that's partially because when I was a teenager,
there was this book I read and I can't remember
what the series was called. But it was like essentially
this girl like went to an antique stop shop and
found this like it was like a little horse or something,
and it was like whenever she touches it, she like
goes into this ultimate alternate reality and has like fun adventures,

(50:26):
and it was like this whole thing. So to me,
them being able to go into like a different dimension
where like magic and fairy tales and stuff is real,
that didn't like phase me at all, Like it apparently
phased you. You know, I just figure, yeah, uh, the
wizards can go to the different dimensions. They have the power.
Us mortals cannot do that. No.

Speaker 2 (50:47):
The second piece said, and we're in Whales. I was like,
wait a fucking second, throw real life whales and that
just that just lots of questions never answered. The second
they said they were in the UK and it was
just a normalized little life. It's like sisters watching TV.
I was like, what the fuck?

Speaker 1 (51:05):
See. The thing that's more confusing to me is so
it's it's portrayed that Sullyman, the wizard Sullyman is also
from Wales, which Howell does say is a coincidence they
don't know each other, but like it almost made it
seem like at first, like, oh, wizards are from the
real world and that's why they're magical. But it's like,
no anyone can do magic, it seems because you know Sophie,

(51:29):
she's just like doing it unintentionally.

Speaker 2 (51:31):
Yeah, and your sister's an apprentice to a wizard.

Speaker 1 (51:34):
So like the whole met that kind of did confuse
me because I was like, oh, that's not a thing,
But like the idea of the separate worlds did not
confuse me like it did you.

Speaker 2 (51:45):
I just didn't like it. I was just like, and
it's real world now, okay. Everything else up until that
I was like whatever, fine.

Speaker 1 (51:51):
I was literally just like, Okay, there's magic, Sydney. How
is that weird?

Speaker 2 (51:56):
Don't worry. I'm why it's weird.

Speaker 1 (51:58):
And my next question, all of yours, just go back
to that. Yeah, okay, which sister would you want to be.

Speaker 2 (52:08):
The while working in the bakery?

Speaker 1 (52:09):
That's what I was thinking too. I think the wizard
one would also be fun because you get to learn
magic and spells and stuff and then that's pretty cool.
But I think the bakery one is the most like
normal fun life.

Speaker 2 (52:23):
Yeah, Like it seems like a pretty choked like I said,
cool bakery, you probably get free food, and honestly, magic
stuff seems to be a lot of drama.

Speaker 1 (52:33):
But also she's practically engaged to Michael, so she's gonna
marry into the wizard life.

Speaker 2 (52:38):
Yeah, exactly, So Okay, I know the answer is no,
But like, does his family know he's a wizard? What
do they think?

Speaker 1 (52:47):
I'm like confused about that too, because especially after the
Witch of the Waste comes and like threads his sister.

Speaker 2 (52:52):
There's gotta be questions ask like who's this lady? What
is your job?

Speaker 1 (52:57):
But also she obviously the sister's thing that he's just
like a degenerate that doesn't do anything, So like I
am curious what she thinks.

Speaker 2 (53:05):
Okay, but like if your brother said he's a wizard,
you would also think he's a degenerator. He doesn't do anything,
because wizard's not a real job.

Speaker 1 (53:13):
Okay, here's a story, a family story, Sidney. I have
a cousin who he's in his fifties and he lives
in his parents' house and not in the basement, but
like I guess it's kind of a basement. Anyways, when
he was younger, my grandma asked him because he was
really into wizards, and so Nana was like, hey, what

(53:37):
are you trying to be when you grow up? And
he said he wanted to be a wizard, and Nana
was like, okay, but like, look in the paper would
he see for job offers? Not a lot of people
are looking for wizards.

Speaker 2 (53:49):
Nanna was not letting him have it.

Speaker 1 (53:52):
Damn she was right. I mean, he never became a
wizard from what I've heard.

Speaker 2 (53:57):
So now is this your mom's mom My mom's not
one for real jobs either.

Speaker 1 (54:03):
Yeah, Nana's want to talk, considering she did an astrology
scam at one point.

Speaker 2 (54:09):
Close to a wizard.

Speaker 1 (54:10):
Maybe that's why she told him. She was like, hey,
I've tried this route. It doesn't work.

Speaker 2 (54:16):
You can't just pretend to do shit.

Speaker 1 (54:18):
They put you in jail. Apparently, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (54:22):
I like her judgment, Like, okay.

Speaker 1 (54:24):
We Nana's a crazy bitch, what can I say?

Speaker 2 (54:27):
And her life isn't Do you like her wife? I
think it's fine. I like that she used to do
stuff like that.

Speaker 1 (54:32):
Hey, she also got married like four times. She's quite
the lady. She as one does as one does. But yeah,
I don't think his family knows, which is wild, but
he doesn't seem to visit them very much if possible,
So like, I don't know, man, good question. They must

(54:53):
figure he's at least somewhat nearby since he just drops
in all the time.

Speaker 2 (54:57):
You see them in their yard, Can they see him?

Speaker 1 (55:00):
Yeah, I don't know. Well I don't think so that's
some magic shit, but like I don't know, Yeah, I
don't think they know. Okay, So if you were Sophie,
would you did your life to ramble around with Howell
who was apparently in love with you? Just you know,
when you when a man announces that he's in love
with you after all that noise.

Speaker 2 (55:23):
Now that the whole went to the waist thing is
dumb though with sure, but prior no, too much, too
much drama, couldn't be me?

Speaker 1 (55:31):
Well that chill? Sure, I would like maybe let's give
it a trial period, because it's like I know this
man didn't have his heart forever and that's why he
was like going through bitches left and right. But like
also like you ain't gotta do it like that? How
why you do that? That's pretty fucked up? I don't
how am I supposed to trust this man to want
to settle down with me and ramble.

Speaker 2 (55:51):
Around the world. She does live with him, so kind
of he has no choice.

Speaker 1 (55:55):
But his whole thing is disappearing all the time and
not being rolled.

Speaker 2 (55:59):
But she knows his only friends, so I because I
could tell me he's accepted her, like she's in. But
I think she will just be his maid because he
is a child. Yeah, alorad he acts like a child.
His age we will discuss in a second.

Speaker 1 (56:16):
Yeah, we don't know it. Let's just get right into it.

Speaker 2 (56:19):
Then, Yeah, what's the age gap between Helen Sophie, because like,
isn't she what seventeen? Is the vibe I was getting nineteen?

Speaker 1 (56:26):
Maybe according to the Wikipedia, she's eighteen.

Speaker 2 (56:29):
Eighteen, Okay, leg I guess, and he's like thirty.

Speaker 1 (56:33):
He's like millions of years old. I don't fucking know.

Speaker 2 (56:36):
No, Yeah, he said that. Well they see he they
say stuff like he was super old. But then his
sister is like forty, so so.

Speaker 1 (56:45):
I guess we know from the sister that he's at
least a reasonable age. But I mean, yeah, he's definitely
older than her. Well, she does say it's one of
my two quotes that I have that he looks like
and like he's in his mid to late twenties and
that's like super old to her, so maybe it's ten years.

Speaker 2 (57:08):
I guess I just don't love it, you know.

Speaker 1 (57:13):
Yeah, I also don't love it. I didn't think about
it though, But it's a very good point.

Speaker 2 (57:18):
Because i'bout this guy's what middle age maybe and she
fully child? So I don't like how old Michael. I
get Michael's younger, but her sister.

Speaker 1 (57:28):
Michael's like fifteen, She asks him, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (57:31):
So why is this guy hanging out with teenagers only?

Speaker 1 (57:34):
Well, Michael does just like show up doorstep until he's accepted.

Speaker 2 (57:40):
His only friends has a flame and it's an orphans
strange loves.

Speaker 1 (57:48):
Not ideal, Okay, not ideal? Okay? Would you want to
be a witch like Sophie? And by that I mean
just like manifestation, because I fucking would.

Speaker 2 (57:58):
Yeah, it'd be the easiest way to be a witch,
No learning, just saying what you want and you get it.
Love that.

Speaker 1 (58:04):
I do think that's like more limited than like traditional magic,
but like also that's fine by me.

Speaker 2 (58:10):
Yeah, I like the low key. I just like, let
my bank account have enough money in for this purchase
every time, so I could just buy what I wanted.

Speaker 1 (58:18):
Let me find a bunch of money on the street, Like,
whatever you know can be the work. Let this person
want to give me free things. I don't know. You
can work with it, you can figure it out.

Speaker 2 (58:27):
You can make it work. Yeah, let my fridge have
this one thing in it that I'm looking for.

Speaker 1 (58:32):
Or just create a bunch of crazy new flowers and
sell them for crazy and same prices. I don't know.
There's plenty of options either one. The answers. Yes, yeah, I.

Speaker 2 (58:43):
Mean, like, of course I want to be a witch
almost in any sense, because cool.

Speaker 1 (58:47):
This just geems like a really easy way to become
a witch.

Speaker 2 (58:50):
Yeah. She literally didn't even try.

Speaker 1 (58:52):
You didn't even know.

Speaker 2 (58:54):
She just talked out loud, And like I do that already.

Speaker 1 (58:56):
All the time. I'd be talking to shit all the
time the time. Yeah, okay, So for fave quotes, like
I said, I have two, maybe three if I can
find it, because I just kind of was busting through
this book.

Speaker 2 (59:12):
I have a lot of pages marked, but I don't
know what my quotes are on them. So how like twiny,
I don't know, Oh.

Speaker 1 (59:20):
My god, how fun? Well, my first one that I
didn't ever written down but I remembered and was able
to find is on page three, So I'm gonna start
because you're figuring it out. I just thought was funny.
This is just Letty and Martha bickering, essentially, so it's

(59:41):
not fair. Letty would shout, why should Martha have the
best of it just because she was born the youngest,
I shall marry a prince so there, to which Martha
always retorted that she would end up disgustingly rich without
having to marry anybody. And that's just funny, like ya
for her, for you.

Speaker 2 (59:58):
Martha, here is just you know, something that shows like
maybe this guy's a little mature, but I appreciate it. Yeah,
this is page ninety seven. You must admit I have
a right to live in a pig sty if I want,
and he does. He does have a right to live
in my sea room.

Speaker 1 (01:00:18):
He does. And I don't know if you have the
quotes about it, but I think his thing with the
spiders is hilarious because he's like, don't you kill those spiders?
And she's like, okay, I won't kill the fucking spiders.
I might have spiders anyways. Yeah, I agree my expos
on page nineteen, this is how we know how old

(01:00:40):
Powell is, because this is Sophie's first impression of him.
He was such a dashing specimen too, with a bony,
sophisticated face, really quite old, well into his twenties, and
elaborate blonde hair. That's how well her first.

Speaker 2 (01:00:54):
Jee is in his twenties. I was thinking thirties, but twenties. Okay,
I still.

Speaker 1 (01:01:01):
Don't love it, Still don't love it.

Speaker 2 (01:01:04):
Okay, you'll see instantly why I picked this quote. There's
only one lits. Plus I'm gonna read a whole paragraph
so long as quote, but this sentence for it. But
you'll see. You'll see in the beginning, there's a man
or so a helter skelter chase in which the dog
ran hither and thither, winding in a disturbed way, and

(01:01:24):
Miss Fairfax and Sophie ran after the dog, jumping on
flower beds, getting in one another's way, and mich will
wind after Sophie, crying stop. You'll make yourself ill. Just
the helter skelter.

Speaker 1 (01:01:34):
Out skelter, but also hither and dither is pretty fun.

Speaker 2 (01:01:38):
Yeah, it's a fun sentence.

Speaker 1 (01:01:39):
It's a good sentence. Okay, my last marked quote and
I don't know if I'll be able to find anymore.
Is on page one to eleven. This is Michael complaining
about how will breaking hearts all the time. If you
knew the trouble we've had because Howell will keep fun

(01:02:00):
in love like this, We've had lawsuits and suitors with swords,
and mothers with rolling pins, and fathers and uncles with cudgels,
and aunts. Ants are terrible. They go for you with
hat pins. But the worst is when the girl herself
finds out where Howell lives and turns up at the
door crying and miserable. Howell goes out through the back
door and calspher and I have to deal with them all.

(01:02:21):
You gotta fel bad for him a little bit?

Speaker 2 (01:02:23):
Yeah, that would say he is making a teen whoy
to deal with the girls he dumps. Yeah, dump girls
for him.

Speaker 1 (01:02:29):
Essentially, not good lessons for you.

Speaker 2 (01:02:32):
So he's going after a teenager specifically, because if he
was going after Luddy, she's what.

Speaker 1 (01:02:36):
Sixteen, right, So she's the middle herby all I'm saying, yeah, creepy.

Speaker 2 (01:02:45):
Okay, here's how being just fun. I felt ill and
he announced I'm going to bed where I may die.

Speaker 1 (01:02:54):
That I thought was so funny because then also he's
like I think he's like no one even cares him
die or something. I might have that one too, it's iconic.
I get it. Same.

Speaker 2 (01:03:08):
Oh here, page three twenty four. I'm gonna see if
you get why I picked this one. He picked the
skull out of the sink and held it in one hand, mournfully,
alas poor yorick. He said, do you know I picked
that one?

Speaker 1 (01:03:24):
Yeah, that's Shakespeare.

Speaker 2 (01:03:26):
Yes, I figured you would get that Whereverdence. But I
was like Shakespeare, he's.

Speaker 1 (01:03:29):
British or I know the school. I know that guy.

Speaker 2 (01:03:32):
Yeah Hamlet. Okay, I'm guessing you're done with your quotes.

Speaker 1 (01:03:36):
Yeah, those are all my quotes.

Speaker 2 (01:03:37):
I have one more, moube. Let's see.

Speaker 1 (01:03:39):
Let's see.

Speaker 2 (01:03:42):
Oh this is describing the dog man. Apart from this
anxious look it's face it almost totally lacking a personality.
Just rude, so rude, and like I know again it's
because he's like not a real guy and he's just
made them for multiple people.

Speaker 1 (01:03:57):
But like mean, very mean. I have I like have
to sneeze, but I'm not sneezing, so fuck that. I guess.

Speaker 2 (01:04:09):
Wow. Well, just tells you findal thoughts and maybe I'll.

Speaker 1 (01:04:11):
Sneeze, maybe I'll sneeze in these final thoughts. So I
chose this book because I like the movie, and I
heard that the book was like really good and hard
to find. So I don't know the book. Here's that.
Oh God, this sneeze is gonna annoy the shit out
of me. Man. Anyways, it's definitely different than the movie.
I don't know if you've seen the movie. It's it's

(01:04:33):
it's a it's a Studio Ghibli, So like anime, I.

Speaker 2 (01:04:36):
Haven't seen it. Studio Ghibli. I get it, but I
also I just don't watch them.

Speaker 1 (01:04:40):
I think it's on Prime. Maybe I don't know. Anyways,
I get why it's different than the movie. This is
also part of a series, so like, I'm sure more
of it is explained there. They can't do all the
book stuff in the movie. The book was fun. When
we were first gonna cover it, I listened to most
of it as an audiobook and like that, basically I

(01:05:01):
learned that's a terrible way for me to cover a
book because I processed none of it. So like I
reread it essentially today to like, you know, get it.
All back and couldn't remember half the plot. I'll tell
you what. So that was interesting. It's fun. Though I
like this book. I am curious about the series. I
might look into it. That's it.

Speaker 2 (01:05:23):
I was not a fan because at first I was bored,
and then I felt like everything happened at the end
and it seemed really rushed.

Speaker 1 (01:05:31):
I may disagree, we like it just seems like so
much was going on after it all kind of like
wraps up and you're like, I guess, but yeah, I
like wrapped up.

Speaker 2 (01:05:41):
In like two chapters and the rest of the book
was just heart cleaning his place and fighting with him,
which it wasn't bad. It was funny at times, Like
it wasn't bad, just wasn't for me. Really bothered me
about the fact that he's from Wales and she's like
from my fairytale Land and everyone else is from fairytale Land,
but also people aren't. But like then this whole fire

(01:06:03):
it eman was living in Wales is a teacher, what's
up with that? Nobody can imagine the fact that his
nephew needs a new teacher.

Speaker 1 (01:06:09):
Now, yeah, I didn't even think about that part. That's
a good point. I think. In the in the movie,
they don't do the whole whales bit, so that's a
little simpler. I forget how they the Witch of the
Waist like goes with her to meet the queen the king,
so and it's like a whole thing. It's different, But

(01:06:30):
I think you should watch it. It's fun.

Speaker 2 (01:06:31):
I don't know if it's not probam, we can do
a movie night.

Speaker 1 (01:06:35):
Yeah whatever. But yeah, if you like this book, uh,
you know, we got a lot of others that you
could look into, because why not? What? Uh? You can
go and give us a five star review while you're there,
also because we deserve it. I guess I'm.

Speaker 2 (01:06:51):
A checter of eithern why we might have more.

Speaker 1 (01:06:54):
Maybe maybe not?

Speaker 2 (01:06:55):
Probably not, so I stopped medium wrong. Anyways. You can
find us online at book called podcast Nope, yeah, it's
serious book cult podcast. It takes off book called pod
and online book cup podewordpress dot com. Are you doing
a book next or am I doing a book next?

Speaker 1 (01:07:16):
That's a very good question. Uh, whoever, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:07:21):
How far are you into a book? Oh?

Speaker 1 (01:07:23):
I haven't started mine, but that doesn't mean anything.

Speaker 2 (01:07:26):
Well, next might be the book how to Sell Haunted
House by Gary.

Speaker 1 (01:07:31):
Hendrix, and if it's not, then Grady Hendrix. Sorry Grady,
it's it's gonna be a Cowboy movie, but I don't
or Cowboy book. It'll be a sexy Cowboy book, but
I don't know which one because it's not right next
to me. But who cares.

Speaker 2 (01:07:46):
Yeah, I'm like a third of the way into this book,
not even.

Speaker 1 (01:07:50):
But Cowboy books are not much plot, so they're pretty
easy to bust you. So whoever finishes their book first,
that's what we're going to cover.

Speaker 2 (01:07:59):
So it'll be a surprise. You have one or two options.

Speaker 1 (01:08:03):
Yeah, be there be square. I don't know. Thanks for listening.

Speaker 2 (01:08:07):
You're now magic girl. Daniel Rando Welsh jud who played rugby,
so I guess he's like was hot at one point.
You know, they have to be ripped to play rugby.

Speaker 1 (01:08:15):
That's true, so like no takes these backseats, but like
maybe that's fine for you. I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:08:20):
No, still aging appropriate. I don't like it.

Speaker 1 (01:08:22):
Three