Gossamer

Gossamer
by: Lois Lowry

Amazing. This is the 2nd fastest I've ever read a book, which means it is pretty darn good. It is so much better than the preview summary makes it out to be.

Stephenie Meyer said that there are two ways of writing, about Extraordinary characters in Ordinary circumstances or Ordinary characters in Extraordinary circumstances. That is like this book, the characters are so very extraordinary and the circumstances are so very common.
Another way one could look at this book is to say it is superb writing paired with a not-so-fantastical event, whileas I've read books with huge, fantastical events combined with poor writing.

Anyway, I'm trying to say that the writing was superb. The whole book felt like a dream. Littlest One was vividly described, and she was also the most dynamic character in the book.

The word 'gossamer' intrigued me and I decided to look up more about it. This according to Curious Word Origins:
gossamer - the slender cobweb-like threads floating in the air in calm weather, produced by small spiders
This comes directly from 'goose-summer' (gossomer, in Middle English), an unusually warm period or Indian summer occurring in mid-November. This is the time of year when spiders are wont to spread their delicate webs across lawns and bushes and when St Martin's Day is traditionally celebrated with a goose dinner.
By the beginning of the 14th century gossamer came to be applied to filmy spiders webs and similar material, such as fine gauze. The rationale for the transference of meaning is unclear. Most probably it was simply that the webs were most often seen during goose- summer, but an association with the fuzzy down plucked from geese and the delicate webs drifting through the autumn air may also have played a part.

But, as with (seemingly) all books, the end came too soon, and I wished the book went on forever.



Also, while searching for a picture of the Gossamer book cover, I stumbled upon this cover, which strikingly reminds me of the other book.
The Faeries of Gossamer Glen