Screenshot from The Dark Is Rising on Kindle: "and he glanced up again, smiling suddenly, an almost childish smile of relief and delight. "That did the work, didn't it? The cross. Not of the church, but a Christian cross, nonetheless." "Very old, them crosses are, Rector," said Old George unexpectedly, firm and clear. "Made a long time before Christianity. Long before Christ." The rectory beamed at him. "But not before God," he said simply. The Old Ones looked at him. There was no answer that would not have offended him, so no one tried to give one. Except, after a moment, Will."

I love how firm Susan Cooper is that the Light isn't Christianity/the Christian idea of god. #TheDarkIsReading #TheDarkIsRising

A well worn copy of The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper

“Tonight will be bad but tomorrow will be beyond imagining” (not many doing #TheDarkIsReading this year?)

It's dark. It's cold. It's that time of year again. #thedarkisreading

Cover of the book The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper. A man wearing a black cape is riding a rearing black horse and looking down on a boy holding up his arm to protect himself in front of a pair of open wood doors with bright light coming through. Snow sits on trees and the ground around the doors.

4/20 really failing on the every day thing, but seasonally appropriate read for the win!
💙📚
#booksky
#bookchallenge
#thedarkisreading

So, #TheDarkIsReading peeps:

Miss Greythorne: same person and/or Old One, yes or no?

Pen and marker drawing of 2 large rounded wooden doors opening into a hall in which an older lady with grey hair in a bun sits on a tall wooden chair. There is a red rug on the floor. In the foreground, to the left, is an older man in profile with grey hair and a burgundy suit with a long tailcoat. To the right, are three boys with brown hair wearing jackets and scarves. The tallest boy is wearing glasses and playing a flute. There is a sprig of holly over the doorway.

#TheDarkIsReading - an attempt to illustrate Christmas Eve at the manor, with Will, his brothers James and Paul, Miss Greythorne, and Merriman (here, working as a butler). As per usual - not high art, but I think it’s good for humans to draw. Not AI. 😸

It is Christmas Eve, and Will Stanton’s family are ONLY JUST putting up their Christmas tree, the heathens.

#theDarkIsReading

#thedarkisreading - Midwinter Day Pencil sketch illustrating the scene described in the quoted text: “Great showers of sparks were spraying out from an anvil where a man was hammering. Beside the anvil stood a tall black horse, a beautiful gleaming animal.” My drawing also shows Will, an 11 year old boy wearing a jacket, from the back, looking in on the blacksmith’s forge.

#TheDarkIsReading - here’s my attempt to draw the blacksmith’s forge scene from Will’s first magical Midwinter Day. I should have made the smith’s arms a lot beefier, and why are that horse’s legs so long?! But hopefully I at least caught the vibe.

Charcoal sketch of a rook (the bird) in profile, accompanied by the text: “It was impossible, in a snowstorm, for anything living to have made that soft, unmistakable thud against the glass that he had heard just before the skylight fell. But buried in the heap of snow, he had found the fresh black wing feather of a гоок. #thedarkisreading

One of my own December traditions has long been a re-read of Susan Cooper’s “The Dark is Rising”. A couple years ago I started trying to do rough illustrations for the story, just for fun. #TheDarkIsReading

It's so interesting how much these two have in common - a magical white horse that takes the boy hero away from trouble, the old lady and her rose ring, the echoes of Arthurian legends. Will's born to this, Kay wanders into it. #TheDarkIsReading

I have two episodes of The Box of Delights left, and am about to read today's #TheDarkIsReading chapter. Fictionally, my Christmas preparation's going well.

Thanks and ❤️ to @darkoutside.co.uk for keeping the faith and ushering in #DarkIsRisingDay with a mention of my album, while I was chucking stuff into boxes. If you're observing the yearly read-along, #TheDarkIsReading style, today is time for track 2. Cassette decks and record players at the ready!

Having a bit of a rant over on Another Hellsite about a certain author claiming only the Dark characters are queer coded. As though Will doesn't exist.

If you're going to be that wrong, I will not be reading any more of your books.
#thedarkisreading

Watercolour painting with the words The Dark Is Rising in white in the middle The background is indigo, dark at the bottom and fading to light at the top The words are surrounded by six symbols, each is a circle with a cross X in the middle They are painted to look like Iron, Bronze, Wood, Stone, Fire and Water respectively

I decided to paint the Signs

#thedarkisreading
#thedarkisrising
#watercolour
#watercolor
#ampainting

So who is doing #thedarkisreading over here?

Just about to start tonight

Iron for the birthday,
Bronze carried long
Wood from the burning
Stone out of song
Fire in the candle-ring
Water from the thaw
Six signs the circle
And the grail gone before

And it's time to dig out yer Susan Cooper!
The first part of "The Dark Is Rising" is set tonight, on Midwinter's Eve
#TheDarkIsRising #TDIRReadathon #TheDarkIsReading

"Tonight will be bad, and tomorrow will be beyond imagining." Few phrases to start off a novel are quite so evocative. Time for the annual re-read of The Dark is Rising.
#TheDarkIsReading

You're absolutely cracking through this! Great stuff, I think - so many echoes of myths, that leave lots of space for exactly the kind of things you're thinking about how these characters relate to Arthur etc. #TheDarkisReading

There's an entire global group dedicated to reading The Dark is Rising, bit by bit on the days events happen in the book. Welcome to #TheDarkIsReading

#TheDarkisReading Midwinter's Eve read; very spooky and atmospheric. Interesting how much a Will on the eve of his 11th birthday reads differently now I know a 10 year-old.

The story starts on Midwinter's Eve (tomorrow) so lots of us do a readathon in real(ish) time with the hashtag #TheDarkIsReading. But any time over the xmas period is perfect. It's such a good series of books.

BBC Sounds - The Dark Is Rising - Available Episodes Listen to the latest episodes of The Dark Is Rising on BBC Sounds.

This is a great time to start The Dark is Rising, for anyone who wants to read it when it's set. The BBC audio version is available and great: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand... #TheDarkIsReading

A battered old paperback copy of the book The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper sits on a white desk.

Are you sitting comfortably? Then let’s begin. #TheDarkIsReading

Time to get started, anyone who wants to! The BBC audio is also available and excellent. #TheDarkIsReading

Looking forward to this vicarious readalong.
Robert Macfarlane did a twitter readalong back in the day which was called #TheDarkIsReading - probably still searchable.

The Dark Is Rising - Introducing The Dark Is Rising - BBC Sounds Fighting against evil in a time-travelling midwinter family drama.

This used to be a fun pre-Christmas tradition - a chapter a day of Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising, from 19 December. I'm a big fan of the whole sequence; classic #KidLit that isn't just for kids. You can also listen along, with the BBC audio version. #TheDarkIsReading

26 days until I can start the annual re-read. #thedarkisrising #susancooper #re-reading #thedarkisreading #thewalkerisabroad

#TheDarkIsRising #TheDarkIsReading

Book cover The dark is rising

Starting today...
#thedarkisreading

Finishing my Christmas Day by falling asleep over The Dark is Rising #TheDarkIsReading The symbolism (of a past childhood) of doing this in my nephew’s borrowed bedroom is not lost on me #DuvetKnowItsChristmas