Making it Up As I Go

About a week ago I got a call from my dad. “On July 29,” he said, “you posted that you were starting to read Magic Street by Orson Scott Card. And then on August 3 you post about all these other books, but not that one! What happened?” As often happens, my attention had wandered, and mainly due to the trip to the library (and the fact that Card’s books tend to be intense and therefore make me nervous), I’d left Magic Street by the wayside, expecting to stop by later and pick it up. My sweet husband, who’d already read it, kept assuring me that there was no reason to be nervous about this one, and that I really would enjoy it, and really should finish it.

So, I did.

Magic Street is really a beautiful book. It tells the story of Mack Street, a young boy found in a garbage bag as a baby after a quite abnormal birth. As he is raised by a sweet nurse and the 15 year old boy that found him, it quicklybecomes evident that he’s no ordinary kid, and that strange things are afoot. Mack has the ability to see into people’s dreams to see their deepest wish. When he lets the dream end, when he allows himself to also wish for whatever they wish, their wishes come true in horrible, and often tragic ways. (Think of the story The Monkey’s Paw, where each of the wishes comes out perverted.) The book follows him as he finds out the truth behind who he is, and what’s going on in his neighborhood. There’s magic, there’s Shakespeare references, there’s love, there’s redemption. I really can’t say more or I’d ruin the suprise of what the whole underlying concept is, but I can highly recommend it. Dad, you would love it, and should read it.

PS. For those keeping track, I also finished Constant Reader. I was tempted momentarily to change the name of this blog to be a reference to Mrs. Parker, but then there would be a standard of wittiness to which I’d have to aspire, and that’s just too much pressure. 100 Books we will stay.

Current total: 61
Just Finished: Magic Street by Orson Scott Card
Next Up: Fleur de Leigh’s Life of Crime by Diana Leslie