Tagged

thenotoriousphd tagged me to write every day for a week about what makes me happy. I'm pretty irascible today, so that sounds like a useful exercise.

My favorite irascible character of all time is the fairy Crustacea, of M.M. Kaye's "The Ordinary Princess." Crustacea gets stuck in traffic on her way to the christening of the seventh and loveliest princess born to the King and Queen of Phantasmorania (Amethyst Alexandra Augusta Araminta Adelaide Aurelia Anne). Upon her delayed arrival, she pours a bowl of seawater over her head, scans the list of virtues already bestowed upon the infant princess with dismay, and gives her the gift that will make them all bearable: she shall be ordinary.

I did not know it when I first read the book, but Kaye's treatment of Crustacea so flawlessly captures the mood that traffic puts me in. Also, it's a delightful book. (The cover art on the recent reissue is atrocious, but you can put brown paper on it.) So that's one thing that makes me happy.