PIRATES!

My favorite books leave me shaking my head. In a good way. Mostly my head waggles when I am awed by talented authors' ability to arrange words and ideas in ways I couldn't conceive myself. Cinnamon and Gunpowder is one such book by one such author.

Here's what I liked about the novel:

1 An ingenious conceit: A pampered gourmet chef is kidnapped by a fearsome female pirate. WHAT?!? (Trust me, it works.)

2 A first person narrator who begins as a stereotypical person "of his age" but develops complexities as his worldview changes, all the while speaking clever, but always clear, 19th century English.

3 A classic quest -- with our hero finding not what he seeks (freedom), but knowledge of himself and his world (a different sort of freedom).

4 Attention to language. What I especially love is the way Wedge unerringly sees the world through his culinary eyes and nose. Each simile, metaphor, judgment, and proverbial summing up is based on shopping for, preparing, or enjoying foodstuffs. Here's a taste (pun intended):

"I had once seen a fox trot up to a picnic on the grounds of Asford Manner and, despite the crowd of revelers, make off, more or less unnoticed, with a string of sausage. Such are the rewards of brazenness. With the sentinals of the Royal Navy searching for the Flying Rose in the Indian Ocean, here she was, quietly anchored not a mile from English grass."

And another:

"I will spare myself the needles of remembrance. My survival depends on being present, focusing all of my energies on dodging the captain's threat. I must not linger on the sweet memories of my beloved Elizabeth, rest her, laughing with a jasmine candy in her cheek, nor of good men sharing a glass of port; not will I linger on the softness of my down pillow back in London, nor on clean undergarments, nor on the view of the orchard from my kitchen window, not on eggs--oh, eggs!"

When I began SPOTD, this was my goal as well. I wanted my narrator to see the world through a clever youngster's eyes. I consciously attempted to use analogies that a 12-year-old boy (not a 40-year-old woman) would use. Alas, these are sprinkled more sparsely than I intended. Perhaps as I continue to revise and edit this week I'll be able to add a flavorful phrase or two along these lines. So to speak.

But wait.

There's another fantastic feature of Cinnamon and Gunpowder.

5 PIRATES!

I think this will be the Summer of Pirates, in fact. I've already polished off Peter Pan and Wendy, in anticipation of a fall production.

While in Florida last week, I purchased a Jolly Roger flag and several pirate-y belts. And I intend to hit up as many garage sales as possible this summer looking for pirate-worthy striped clothes.

So...

I'm currently scrounging for great pirate reads to continue the Summer of Pirates, 2013. I've read the four book graphic series Hook. 

And I've checked out Michael Crichton's Pirate Latitudes.

Any more suggestions? They don't have to be particularly literary. It is summer, after all.