A childhood book that I found myself re-reading in my ongoing quest to avoid finishing "loftier" works by David Foster Wallace and Ann Pancake, The Gammage Cup was more subversive then I remembered, although I wasn't quite sure why the enemy was wiped out in such a blood bath. So little was known about then, except that they smelled like mushrooms (and you would think that would be a good thing) and said "kindeth" a lot. I guess they also had a bunch of poison spears that they didn't hesitate to use. A clever, satisfying fantasy. If you read only one book this year, it should be about watercress farmers, right?