Eight Days of Luke

Now this one is a favourite! I think Eight Days of Luke might be the first Diana Wynne Jones novel I read, I definitely remember reading it at school and feeling smug because I figured out the characters were Norse gods before we were told. I have a feeling Eight Days of Luke might have been a favourite of JK Rowling as well, because David's situation at the beginning of the book is strikingly similar to Harry Potter's at the beginning of Philosopher's Stone -- living with horrible suburban relatives and his life being made a misery by them (though the stories diverge considerably from there).

Cricket plays a part in this book too, which coincided with me watching the Test Matches between Australia and Pakistan -- it would have been even more perfect if it had been the Ashes, which are going on during the novel. Eight Days of Luke is a perfectly constructed book, and Luke (Loki) is a charismatic but also clearly rather dangerous character. David is a resourceful and loyal ally who faces the various trials and tests bravely, and Cousin Astrid starts out as just another dislikeable relative but gradually thaws into an appealing friend.

Thoroughly enjoyable.