Saturday, January 23, 2010

Reading Magic!


From the moment Meggy Swann wabbles on scene with a terse assessment of her new living situation with her long-absent father ("Ye toads and vipers!), I was swept up in this robustius book. Cushman transported me to smelly, raucous and mysterious London in Elizabethan times with a deft hand and a exuberant use of deliciously old-fashioned words (gallimaufry! belike! laboratorium!). And she piles trouble upon trouble on dear Meggy -- " her legs did not sit right in her hips;" her alchemist father can neither remember her name nor remember to feed her; she's blamed for a neighbor's fire and her best friend, a goose named Louise, is banished from the house for getting her head stuck in a beaker. Meggy's struggle to transform from a country girl to a city girl, from loner to friend, parallels her father's struggle to complete the ultimate transformation: turning liquid into gold and gold into an elixir for eternal life. Meggy is none too fond of Master Peevish, as she calls her father, but she does not want to see his head among those impaled on London Bridge. So what is she to do when she learns he may be involved in a murder plot? She engages in a little alchemy of her own, using words rather than elements.

In addition to being one of the best books I've read in a good long while, it is also very educational and has provided me with ample ammunition the next time someone cuts in front of me in traffic -- I might call out, "Begone, you carbuncled toad!" or "A pestilence take you, you rump-faced knave," or even perhaps my favorite, "Go then, you writhled, beetle-brained knave!"

(Disclaimer: I read this book in ARC form, sent to me by the author's publisher)

5 comments:

  1. I can't wait to read that book. I love those kinds of insults, people just don't know how to respond to them.
    You will love the insults on http://www.cloudnet.com/~renfest/insults.htm. I found this list a while ago when I dressed in 'garb' and joined my lords and ladies at a local renaissance festival. It was so fun to make believe for a day. I even went across a "troll bridge" guarded by – you guessed it – a troll!

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  2. Oh, I'm jealous. They were out of ARCs of this at ALA but said they would mail me one.

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  3. Barbara,

    I'll pop this in the mail to you, if you like, as I'm going to want a copy of the finished book. Then, if you happen to get another, you'll have two to share, instead of one!

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  4. Gramercy, fairest Kirby, for the review of Meggy, which is wondrous in sooth and far surpasseth my humble deservings. I wish you good fortune with your own scribblings and bid you farewell until we meet anon (or in February) for a hullaballoo.

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  5. Sounds like an intriguing story; thanks for the recommendation, Kirby . . . :)

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