Howl's Moving Castle

Howl's Moving Castle is an absolute charmer.  The book - by Diana Wynne Jones - was written in 1986, and tells the story of a sassy, spirited, old, young, fearful, fearless heroine.  Confused?  Excellent...read the book to find out all about this deliciously addicting cast of characters and get hooked on the whole series.  On the other hand, if you want to skip all that nasty reading, you can also enjoy the anime, whose Americanized version came out in 2005 and touted the vocal talents of Christian Bale, Billy Crystal and Lauren Bacal!  Both are a delight, but to really savor the characters, I recommend grabbing the old school paper version!