Chrestomanci, Chrestomanci! Come quickly!

A character calls Chrestomanci with the above words in Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones. I did pretty much the same thing last night.

I had just started reading an adult novel that began with a stampede of circus animals. Way to go! But chapter two suddenly took us to a nursing home where an elderly man is living. I was reading along, feeling just a bit stunned, because we've just been through that situation. But I figured the character is going to be recalling the story for us, and if I can just grit my teeth and control my post- traumatic stress syndrome, he'll move into his past very soon.

Indeed, he did. In chapter three he is a college student who learns that his parents have both been killed.

At that point, I thought, first, This cannot possibly be good for me, and second, Chrestomanci, where are you?

He was on the stack of books on the floor next to the bed. I'm at the climactic point in Charmed Life and will finish that tonight before trying a Terry Pratchett novel. But I will keep my comfort books nearby, just in case.