You are a servant of Destiny, not its agent. Get over yourself

Have I mentioned before how much I love Christopher Moore? Because it is a lot.* So of course I picked up Secondhand Souls, the sequel to A Dirty Job, which is one of my favorite Moore books. More Charlie, more Minty, more Lilly and Sohpie and the hellhounds and the Emperor and all of those other fun characters? SIGN ME UP.

But here's the thing, I felt like the book was lacking a bit of...soul

HA, I'm hilarious. But seriously though, there was a lot of stuff going on here, with a bunch of subplots and set up and it just felt like there was so much it was trying to do that it didn't get a chance to really spend much time in any area so things weren't as developed as I hoped. A Dirty Job focused a lot on the idea of death and loss and was really moving in between the funny and, yeah, sophmoric humor. There was a depth to the story. Here it seemed that he was setting things up so more would be at stake but ultimately I cared less about everyone this time around.

I was going to say there are some spoilers here for the first book, but I'm not giving away anything the back of Secondhand Souls doesn't already tell you, so I guess mild spoiler warning.
In A Dirty Job, beta-male Charlie Asher is dealing with the death of his wife Rachel, who died giving birth to their daughter Sophie. As if that wasn't enough to throw at a guy, it turns out he's a "little death". He's not the Grim Reaper but he's sort of like a mall Santa, collecting souls and helping people pass on. His daughter, it turns out, is Big Death (the Luminatus) and there are a group of creatures looking to take over San Francisco and Charlie saves the day but gives his life in the process (again, spoilers all revealed on the back of this book so).

This time around, Charlie is back, his soul being housed in one of the creatures his girlfriend Audrey, a Buddist nun, managed to create. He's hidden away while they try to find a body to move his soul into. But in the meantime, it seems that souls in San Francisco aren't being collected and something bad is brewing in the city's underbelly.

While that sounds simple enough, there are a lot of subplots jammed in (Audrey's creatures deciding maybe they could have something better, the Morrigan are back, a big black guy dressed all in yellow seems to know something is going on, souls aren't being collected, a bridge painter at the Golden Gate Bridge starts talking to ghosts, Sophie has lost her hellhounds, Charlie trying to get a body, Lilly and Minty break up but is there still something between them) and while these do tie together, none of them really get a chance to breath.

There was actually one subplot that I think if it was more the focus of the book, it would have been more successful. A painter for the Golden Gate Bridge is strapped into his harness when he's visited by a ghost. She tells him her story about her life and how she died and she believes there's a reason he can hear her and wants him to listen to the stories of other souls who seem to be trapped in the bridge. I'm still not 100% sure how the stories of each of the ghosts he talks to tie into this main story, but I would have liked more of that and maybe less of the other subplots going on.

In the end, it's still Christopher Moore and I still enjoyed it. It was just not a favorite. Perhaps I'll go read A Dirty Job again.

Gif rating:

*What are some of his other books that I've reviewed? Oh well I'm glad you asked: Bite Me: A Love Story, Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story, Coyote Blue, Fool, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, Practical Demonkeeping, Sacre Bleu, The Serpent of Venice, The Stupidest Angel, You Suck: A Love Story

Title quote from page 2.

Moore, Christopher. Secondhand Souls. William Morrow, 2015.

That there's a besmirchin'

As I may have mentioned once or twice (or a million) times before, I like Christopher Moore. A lot. So when Emily sent me an emailing saying she'd procured me a copy of Christopher Moore's latest book The Serpent of Venice AND got it signed for me, I may have done a stupid dance.  She's pretty awesome, if you hadn't already guessed.

I have been super excited for this book ever since Moore mentioned it while promoting his (at the time) latest book Sacre Bleu. Enough so when it was my turn to get my book signed and talk to him I mumbled some version of "yeah yeah, this current book I'm holding in my hand sounds good and all, but please tell me more about this Serpent of Venice you have in the works." And once I spoke up enough for him to hear, he was very nice and talked about how he had planned to write a bunch of it in iambic pentameter but do you know how hard that shit is? Very, is the answer.

Serpent is the sequel to Fool which is one of my most favorite Moore books*. Fool is, essentially, King Lear but told from the Fool's point of view, with a little Macbeth thrown in. Serpent takes Pocket (aka the Fool) and sends him to Venice in a story that is basically a mash-up of The Merchant of Venice and Othello: The Moore of Venice, with a dash of Poe's "The Count of Amontillado". Now King Lear is not my favorite Shakespeare play, despite the number of times I've been forced to read it,** but you know what I do love? Fool. And while Merchant is also not a favorite of mine, Othello is, so the fact that Serpent is both is just peachy.

Antonio, Brabantio, and Iago decide they need to get rid of the fool Pocket who seems to know too much and of course is just kind of annoying. Of course Pocket hasn't made it so long without a few attempts on his life, so he's pretty good at getting out of tight spots. Not to give too much away, but Pocket ends up on the doorstep of Shylock and his daughter Jessica, ready to begin his plan for revenge.

Of course we have all of the elements of Merchant: the loan, the pound of flesh, Jessica running off with Shylock's jewels and turquoise ring to be with Antonio's buddy Lorenzo, Portia and her 3 caskets, "the quality of mercy" speech and the courtroom. And then there are the elements of Othello: Desdemona marrying Othello, Iago's manipulation, the Egyptian handkerchief, Cassio the light-weight. But if you haven't guessed, since we have lots of plays smooshed together, that things don't go quite as Shakespeare wrote. It all works out beautifully. And hilariously. The scenes between Iago and the Chorus are some of the best. And an explanation for why Iago always seems to be talking to himself.

I always find writing about books I loved to be so much harder than books I hated. Or even just sorta "meh"-ed. And I loved this one. I had to force myself to read my Bleak House chapters/homework because I knew this was waiting for me. I tried to spread out the reading a little bit over the weekend, knowing I had a couple long train rides. And I failed because I NEEDED TO KEEP READING. And in terms of "escape books" (as in "books that let me forget I'm on a crowded subway") this one is way up there. I would look up and suddenly realize I was almost at my stop.

Now I really want to re(re)read Fool. And then probably re-read this one.

*Other favorite Moore books, because this post doesn't have enough links yet, Lamb (my most favoritest of my favorite books) and A Dirty Job.
**And which I can't help but think every time "Dammit, Cordelia. You can't just placate your dad for 2 minutes and exaggerate your love for him the tiniest bit? No? Fine, when everyone dies, it's kind of on your head."

Title quote from page 10

Moore, Christopher. The Serpent of Venice. William Morrow/Harper Collins, 2014.

[Joshua] needs a friend to teach him to be human.

This review is going to be a mess. I need to warn you about this ahead of time. Because you see, I LOVE this book. Love it.
There's no way this is going to be a coherent post. I'm going to try to make it coherent. I am. But there's going to be a lot of gushing.

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore is my most favoritest book. It's hilarious. It's touching. It's though provoking. It literally makes me laugh out loud and ugly cry. (Not the same scenes. That'd be schizophrenic.) An old co-worker of mine tried to get me to read the book for months and I don't know why I didn't listen to her at once. I'm stupid like that. But I finally did read it and I loved it.

The book is about the life of Joshua (aka Jesus, which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Yeshua and not like a fake name for the guy) focusing on the parts the Bible missed. And who better to tell that story than his BFF Biff (aka Levi, Biff is his nickname and the sound of someone smacking him upside the head)? The majority of the tale follows Josh and Biff as they travel to the east to meet with the three Magi and learn what Josh needs to know to become the Messiah.

I feel like with that description I need to add two different disclaimers. On the one hand, it sounds like a religious story. I mean it is about Jesus and the Magi and the end of the book deals with the Jesus's teachings in its own ways. I wouldn't say I'm particularly religious. I am technically Catholic, though I haven't been to church in a long time. I know the times to stand up, sit down, kneel; I know what to say at the appropriate times; I know some of the bigger Bible stories, and that's about it. So what I'm saying is you don't need to be particularly religious to love this book.

On the other hand, if you are very religious, you also shouldn't worry about this book being blasphemous and anger inducing. When I went to a book signing for Moore's Sacre Bleu he was talking about Lamb and how worried he was that people would be so mad at this book at him for defiling Jesus. And how surprised he was that he never got any of that backlash. Not only that, but the book is being taught at Harvard Divinity School. So even if you are religious, you should read this book. Cos you'll probably love it.

What I'm saying is everyone should read this and love it.

Like other Moore books, this one has sex and creative cursing and all that good stuff. And things like the origin of Judo (or Jew-do, a form of kung-fu taught to Joshua by the Shaolin monks because "what if Jesus knew kung-fu" is an important question that needs answered). And if Josh is really to understand sin, who better than Biff to explain it to him? It even has characters from other books, like Catch from Practical Demonkeeping and Raziel from The Stupidest Angel. See, hilarious.

It's Biff and Josh's relationship that is the best. Biff is sarcastic (he did invent it after all), a quick thinker, and fiercely loyal to Josh. Besides, who else is willing to hang out with all those hookers, just so he can describe sin to Josh? Josh needs someone to help him learn to be the Messiah, but he also needs someone to help him be human. He needs a friend.

There are a lot of scenes I like. Pretty much all of them. But I went back and re-read this passage a few times. I don't remember it standing out the first time around, but something about this was so touching this time.

I don't know, having lived and died the life of a man, I can write about little-boy love, but remembering it now, it seems the cleanest pain I've know. Love without desire, or conditions, or limits - a pure and radiant glow in the heart that could make me giddy and sad and glorious all at once. Where does it go? Why, in all their experiments, did the Magi never try to capture that purity in a bottle? Perhaps they couldn't. Perhaps it is lost to us when we become sexual creatures, and no magic can bring it back. Perhaps I only remember it because I spent so long trying to understand the love that Joshua felt for everyone. (26)

I'm sorry this review is rambling and gushing. But I warned you when I started this it was going to be a mess. Cos I can't put into words everything I love about the book. I was actually afraid when I started re-reading this that I wasn't going to love it as much as I remembered. How could it live up to those expectations? What if I built it up too much? But it met those expectations. I loved it just as much this time around (and cried just as hard during the end) as I did the first time.

All the stars and moons and whatever other book rating measurement I could go with, even though I don't actually use them. But ALL OF THEM!

Title quote from page 17

Moore, Christopher. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. Harper, 2002.

He realized, with no little sense of irony, that until he became Death, he'd never felt so alive

Boyfriend was going on a last minute work trip and was looking for something to read so I started pulling books off the shelf. I suggested A Dirty Job to him but he decided to go with Domestic Violets. However, since A Dirty Job was already off the shelf I decided I may as well read this. Besides it's one of the top Moore books I recommend so I may as well re-read it and make sure it's as good as I remember.

Guess what, it is! I wasn't really too worried about not liking it because Moore tends to stand up when I re-read him. But still, one can never be sure that first impression will hold up under multiple readings.

A Dirty Job is about Charlie Asher, who has just lost his wife while at the same time gaining a daughter. And it seems a new-life calling in addition to his career as proprietor of Asher's Secondhand. He's a death merchant (think like Santa's Little Helpers, but for Death, capital D) Certain items in his show start glowing red, although only he can see. Then a copy of The Great Big Book of Death shows up. And forces of darkness seem to be mocking Charlie from the sewers. And things just continue to get weirder and weirder. I would like to point out here that when I saw Moore talk he said he wanted to combine horror and whimsy, because he was told those two things could never mix. I wouldn't consider this a scary book, but a combination of horror and whimsy sounds just about right.

I haven't come across a Moore book that I dislike, but this is definitely one of the best ones. It takes place in his favorite city, San Francisco and features a couple characters from his vampire series*. And even with all the forces of evil and death merchants, it features Moore's signature humor. Especially about Beta Males (as opposed to Alpha Males). For example

While Alpha Males are often gifted with superior physical attributes--size, strength, speed, good looks--selected by evolution over the eons by the strongest surviving and, essentially, getting all the girls, the Beta Male gene has survived not by meeting and overcoming adversity, but by anticipating and avoiding it. That is, when the Alpha Males were out charging after mastadons, the Beta Males could imagine in advance that attacking what was essentially an angry, woolly bulldozer with a pointy stick might be  losing proposition, so they hung back at camp to console the grieving widows. (31)

It's not just a hilarious book, but a touching one. The main character is Death so naturally he often sees people during their last moments. But please don't think of Charlie as Death (or at least a death merchant) anything like Death being the narrator of The Book Thief. Charlie is first and foremost a worried father, fretting over his daughter losing her mother and then having to deal with a father who has an...odd job.

Writing about books I love always seems harder than books I hate or I liked but don't get gushy about. Hence the big quote up there because how better to convince you that this writing is awesome than by just showing you Moore? So yeah, read Moore. This one is excellent AND stands up to re-reads.

*Bloodsucking Fiends, You Suck, and Bite Me

Title quote from page 103

Moore, Christopher. A Dirty Job. Harper, 2006.

An artist can't let madness stop him from making art

Sacre Bleu: A Comedy D'Art by Christopher Moore is a beautiful book. Normally I don't like hardback books. They're so cumbersome. Even this one I didn't bring with me on my commute because I like my back in the not hunched over position. But still I'm happy I have the hardback of this and not just because I got it signed. (Although SIGNED!!) This is a really pretty book. The rough cut pages, the dark blue text, and most importantly, the artwork.

Sacre Bleu is a book about art, if you couldn't figure that out from the subtitle. But it of course has a little of the supernatural woven in because it's Christopher Moore. The story opens with the death of Van Gogh. One day he goes out to paint in a field, shoots himself in the chest and the drags himself a mile to the door of a doctor while raving about a Colorman. But why would he shoot himself and then walk a mile to a doctor? And who is this Colorman Van Gogh said has been following him around France?

Toulouse's The Laundress*

Unfortunately, we don't get to spend a lot of time with Van Gogh, what with the whole bullet through the chest thing in the first few pages.That's OK though. Well I mean, not OK for Van Gogh but we get two hilarious narrators: Lucien Lessard, a young baker and painter, and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. I love Henri and he is just the type of character Moore excels at writing: a kind person with a healthy taste for debauchery. Sure, he spends a good portion of the book in night clubs (Moulin Rouge, Chat Noir), whore houses and bars, but he's a true friend to Lucien and to the other Impressionists. There's a wonderful scene near the end of the novel that captures the spirit of Toulouse-Lautrec. Lucien woke up on the floor, having just come out of a trance and sees Henri lying there with him: "'Why are you lying on the floor?' Lucien asks. 'Solidarity,' Toulouse-Lautrec says. 'And we ran out of cognac. This is my preferred out of cognac posture.'"

Now, I mentioned the whole "trance" thing. And that mysterious Colorman character. This strange little man keeps showing up the artists and offering them paint, especially ultramarine, the Sacre Bleu. This is the color used to paint the Virgin Mary and is extremely rare. The Colorman never accepts money from the artists, who indeed are never really sure they want to buy color from him, although they always seem to end up with some. The artists seem to lose time while painting with it. There are paintings they remember working on but don't seem to be anywhere. And of course there's the matter of Van Gogh's letters to his brother Theo about a Colorman following him to Arles.

The Colorman isn't the only mystery character here. Lucien's love, Juliette, broke his heart years before by just disappearing. Suddenly she's returned, with no explanation for where she's been and why she's back. No one trusts Juliette, except Lucien, who can't stay away.

This is, no doubt, a Christopher Moore book. It is his style, his voice, his humor. And yet, it's different than his other works. It's funny but it doesn't have the same laugh-out-loud moments like A Dirty Job and Lamb. But this isn't a bad thing. This may be a more serious comedy, but it's a comedy nonetheless. And it's a story I have a feeling will stick with me.

*This is one of the images included in the book and one I found myself turning back to often.

Title quote from page 241

Moore, Christopher. Sacre Bleu: A Comedy D'Art. HarperCollins, 2012.

Book signings or There will be bragging

Look what I did!

*Happy dance! Happy dance!*

A friend of mine noticed Jenny Lawson, aka The Bloggess, was doing a book signing for her first book Let's Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir) in NYC and we're in NYC so we should do something about this. And so we had plans for April 17th.

A few days later I realized Christopher Moore is also on tour, promoting his new book Sacre Bleu: Comedy D'Art, so I decided to look up his tour schedule. And what do you know, but he's in NYC on April 18th. Excitement!

Naturally I went to both of them, much to my wallet's chagrin. Also the part of me that likes sleep's chagrin, because each night I didn't get home till late. Not that the book signings went that long, but I had to get back to LI after each and that was a struggle.

Both were amazing and different. Lawson's event was slightly smaller (certainly had a smaller space*) but packed. Moore's space was larger and there were definitely more people there, but it wasn't quite so cramped. B&N at 86th underestimated the crowd Lawson would draw while B&N Union Sq knew the crowd Moore would bring and had the room. Lawson talked a little bit about writing the book and read a (hilarious) chapter. Moore talked a little bit about writing/researching the book and about random shit like the idea of a Rastafarian Princess Disney movie. During Q&A, the people at Lawson's event asked simple, to-the-point questions. People at Moore's event rambled on to show how clever they were and how much of a fan they were and OMG get to your stupid question already. While getting the book signed Lawson seemed as nervous as I was while Moore clearly has experience with meeting lots of fans. Both different and both so much fun.

Now that I've gone from having never attended a book signing to going to 2 in 2 days, I've decided I'm both a newbie AND a veteran of this. Because that's how this works in my head. And obviously because I have the fresh experience on both sides, I'm going to start giving tips that I learned that are probably crap if you've been to more than 2 book signings, so please feel free to correct me in the comments.

1. Don't ask long rambling questions to try to prove to the author how smart you are or how much of a devoted fan you are because you're annoying everyone. No really, everyone. B&N even (nicely) told people not to do that before the program started. After someone asked Moore a question he would repeat it back so everyone could hear. The fact that he could condense these long questions into a couple quick sentences means those people should have done that to begin with.

2. Get there early! Or at least get as close as you can if you're planning on getting your book signed. For Lawson's event my friend picked out awesome seats and we were the 3rd and 4th people to get our books signed. At Moore's event I was about mid-way through the audience and waited an hour. I believe the signature was worth the time but Boyfriend, who was waiting for me with food, was less thrilled.

3. Going up and actually getting your book signed is awkward. Maybe if you're a SUPER VETERAN it gets easier. Or maybe if you're naturally suave and/or charismatic. While I sounded exceedingly witty in my head, I'm fairly certain what came out when I got my Moore book signed was along the lines of "You write good I like sign please!" I sort of accepted the awkwardness ahead of time so at least I wasn't disappointed with how things went walking away from the table.

OK so I only came up with 3 tips. But those are gems, I tell you.

Exciting news for Moore fans! He's currently working on a new book (yay!) and it's going to be another Shakespeare one, like Fool (YAY!!!) I actually mumbled something about how stupid excited I was to hear he was working on another Shakespeare book and then he talked about the opening to Henry V and how hard iambic pentameter was to write and I'm sure I smiled like an idiot, but it was still awesome.

And exciting news for Lawson fans AND people who've made it this far. I'm giving away a copy of Let's Pretend This Never Happened! See when I heard her book was coming out, I got all excited and pre-ordered a copy. And then she announced her book tour w/ NYC being the first stop. Which is nifty but that was also the day my book was shipping so I didn't have it for the book signing and it's not like she has other books out I wanted her to sign. So obviously I bought another copy, which means I have a copy coming to me and I don't actually need 2 of them. My impatience is your gain! So just leave a comment with why you want this book and your email address and I'll randomly select one of you to win it. And while I would super love to open this to international readers, I looked up the rates to do that and they are just awful. Like 3 times the value of the book awful.

*If you want to see pics of the space and try to find me in the crowd** Lawson posted some pics to her blog
**I can't find me in the crowd. I was sitting front row left and I think I'm blocked by some people. So I just asked you do something I knew you couldn't do, because I'm an ass.***
***Why yes, I do have a footnote off of a footnote. And then another footnote to explain that. There's magic happening here.

Blessed are the minimarshmallows

I'm getting into the spirit* for this post about Christopher Moore's Christmas tale The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror. I'm watching my new DVD copy of A Muppet Christmas Carol** which just came in the mail. I used to watch this movie every holiday but I only owned a VHS copy and while I do still own a VCR, it's currently being used as a mirror stand. So I know the holidays are done and whatnot but here's one more for you.

I wasn't going to read any more Moore in 2011. I had already read 5 of his books this past year alone. But then HarperCollins put this ebook on sale along with a preview of his upcoming book Sacre Bleu and how could I turn that down?

The Stupidest Angel takes place back in Pine Cove, the same location for Practical Demonkeeping and The Lust-Lizard of Melancholy Cove. There are a lot of characters from these two works, as well as Tucker Case and his fruit bat Roberto from The Island of the Sequined Love Nun and the titular stupidest angel Raziel from my favoritest Moore book Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. Seeing familiar faces was probably my favorite part of the book. Which is too bad because I wish it had been the story.

It's a typical Moore story with typical Moore humor: irreverent, dark(ish) and absurd. I mean, zombies make an appearance so I think that pretty much covers all of those adjectives. It's funny and I found myself chuckling a number of times. But ultimately, the story didn't have the same heart as some of Moore's better books (Lamb, Fool, A Dirty Job). There's a lot going on, and you never feel like you get into the meat of any of the story lines. Plus Raziel has a much smaller part than I assumed, although in his short time he manages to cause a lot of chaos. I had more fun watching him in Lamb where he spent most of the story sitting in a hotel room watching WWE.

A lot of my complaints with the novel are that I know Moore can do better. Hell, I see him do better here, in the bonus chapters from Sacre Bleu. They are excellent. The Stupidest Angel is still funny, still Moore, and I'm still glad I read it, but this won't be one I regularly re-read. I do want to share one quote, too long for the title, that I enjoyed, to end this on a happier note

"Christmas Amnesty. You can fall out of contact with a friend, fail to return calls, ignore e-mails, avoid eye contact at the Thrifty-Mart, forget birthdays, anniversaries, and reunions, and if you show up at their house during the holidays (with a gift) they are socially bound to forgive you - act like nothing happened. Decorum dictates that the friendship move forward from that point, without guilt or recrimination."

*This is actually just the excuse I'm using. I got super excited when the Muppet movie came and wanted to watch it right away. Then I realized I should probably write a review instead of continuing to let them back up. And when I checked which one is next I saw it was this Christmas one. So everything is coming up Milhouse.

**The best version of A Christmas Carol. Don't bother trying to convince me otherwise. And it's surprisingly faithful to the Dickens original. You know, when you look past the frogs and pigs and whatnot.

Title quote from location 2802

Moore, Christopher. The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror. HarperCollins, 2004. Kindle copy.

Pine Cove was a decorative town...only one degree more functional than a Disneyland attraction

After a few slow reading months I decided I needed something quick and fun to read next. You know, so I could bolster those total pages read each month that no one but me cares about. But lucky for me, I had an unread Christopher Moore book sitting on my shelf.

The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove takes place in the same fictional town of Pine Cove that his first novel, Practical Demonkeeping, was set. And like PD, it also involves a supernatural monster, although this time it's the Sea Beast Steve instead of the supernatural demon Catch terrorizing the tiny resort town. On top of this there's a suspicious suicide, a ranch no one's allowed to step foot on and the local psychiatrist has just changed everyone's anti-depressants to placebos. Moore's skill is creating colorful characters and once again his cast is a lot of fun to watch. There's the pot-head constable Theo, the guilt ridden psychiatrist Val, the nerdy biologist Gabe (or Food Guy as he's known by his dog Skinner), the local crazy lady and ruined B-movie star Molly and of course the bartender of the local bar, who is now more machine than person (what with the replacement hips, pacemakers, etc), Mavis. How can you not want to read whatever they get into?

I was surprised after I finished reading The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove to find out that this wasn't the second novel he wrote. It's not only that it has the same setting and several same characters as his first novel, but it feels like an early novel. The book is funny but it doesn't have the heart of some of his other novels, like Lamb or Fool. There is a lot going on and the different story-lines feel like they're rushed at the end. The book constantly jumps from one point of view to another, which I actually like, but it means that there is a lot going on and it's easy to lose focus. And because there are so many characters (I didn't even mention Estelle the artist or Catfish the blues singer. Except now I did.) no one gets the attention they deserve and they feel unfinished.

It was still fun and certainly a quick read but I know he can do so much better.

Title quote from page 129

Moore, Christopher. The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove. Harper Collins, 1999.

Are you saying...that the human race was created to irritate Satan?

Practical Demonkeeping is Christopher Moore's first novel and it shows. All of Moore's humor and quirkiness are there but the story itself is rough. Rough as in "could be improved upon to make a more polished finished product" and not "deals with difficult topics".

Practical Demonkeeping tells the story of Travis who accidentally said an incantation to call up the demon Catch. Travis is supposedly Catch's master but controlling a hell demon is a lot of work. Travis and Catch travel to the little town of Pine Cove which is filled with the typical off-beat collection of Moore characters, "winos, neo-pagans and deadbeat Lotharios" as the back cover describes. The Pine Cove-ians have to work together with the djinn (genie) Gian Hen Gian to send Catch back to hell, given his propensity for eating people. Those of you who are Moore fans may remember Catch from his appearance in my favorite Moore book (and favorite book overall) Lamb, and officer Alphonse Rivera from the Bloodsucking Fiends books and Coyote Blue. A few of the other characters and the locations show up elsewhere, but I haven't read those yet.

This has all of the makings of a typical Moore offering and yet it fell short for me. There are great moments, the characters are colorful but not caricatures (at least not all of them) and the plot is unique and funny, but I felt like I was reading something that was unfinished. Maybe it only felt unfinished because I've read other Moore and I know what he can do. It's interesting to see how he's grown as an author, but I'm glad this wasn't the first book of his that I read because I don't know that I would have gone for his others.

If you like Moore and you've read all his other stuff, check this out. If you haven't read him before, start with Lamb or Fool or A Dirty Job first.

Title quote from page 43

Moore, Christopher. Practical Demonkeeping. Harper Collins, 1992.

Saying "rawr" is not a vampyre thing

I spent this weekend visiting my mom, which meant I had lots of train time to catch up on reading. Before I get into a book, I would like to make a request to both the LIRR and NJ Transit to put up a sign or something telling you which direction the train is going to go. I'm always convinced I've picked the right way, until the train starts moving and I'm going backwards. I need to also learn that if I'm positive I'm facing the right direction I need to get up and switch seats, because I'm never right. Anyway, the book.

I just finished Christopher Moore's Bite Me: A Love Story, the third part of his vampire trilogy, consisting of  Bloodsucking Fiends and You Suck. The city of San Francisco is in danger again, this time from a giant vampire cat named Chet that is taking down the homeless and the hookers. We have the same cast of characters from the previous books trying to clean up the mess: Jody and Tommy (lover vampires); Abby Normal, Foo Dog and Jared (Goth high schooler and minion to J&T, her "manga-haired loved monkey" and best friend); the Emperor and his brave men (a golden retriever and Boston terrier); the stoner Animals; and detectives Rivera and Cavuto. We also have a couple new characters: an elderly samurai print-maker, a set of ancient vampires come to clean up the mess Elijah (he who turned Jody and Chet) left; and their Renfield Kona, a white Hawaiian Rastafarian making an appearance after showing up in Moore's Fluke or I Know Why The Winged Whale Sings.

Abby Normal is one of my favorite characters and Moore has her narrate that majority of Bite Me via her blog entries, which she totally has to keep up to date so she doesn't leave her fans (1 subscriber) waiting. I know I couldn't stand being in the same room as her if she were a real person, but as a character she is fantastic. I love reading how she describes a scene, a conversation, anything really. I know I included a few lines from her in my last Moore post, but she deserves another example:

And Flood's like, "You don't have any confrontation issues, do you?" And I'm all, "No, I'm very insecure actually, but I have found that if you roll up screaming like a madwoman, hair on fire, guns blazing, no one is going to mention the zit on your forehead." Which is totally true. (224) 

I think, out of the three books, this is my least favorite. I love the characters and still found this to be a great and hilarious read, but the plot itself felt a bit weak and rushed. There are pretty much the same amount of characters as the previous installments, but since each group seemed to be doing their own thing so there was less time for each plot line. There's so much going on that you kind of get whip-lash following the story around. That said, this book does contain a few of my favorite scenes from the series that are so touching they remind me that Moore's tone doesn't always have to be this absurd, mad-cap humor.

*This part is kind of spoiler-y, so heads up*
Jody was caught at outside at sun-up and unlike Meyer's creations, these vampires fry in sunlight. She was saved by Katusumi Okata, Samurai of Jackson Street, who had previously shown up to save the Emperor and his men from destruction from the demon kitties. He is an elderly artist, a print-maker that has lived in a basement apartment in Chinatown for years, though he never learned English or Cantonese. He pulls Jody into his dark apartment before the sun can reduce her to ash and feeds her his blood to help her heal. In all of the excitement and action that take place on the other pages, these scenes are an island of silence and calm. There's less humor here and more both kindness and sadness as Jody slowly heals and Okata quietly sketches her. Their scenes alone almost make up for some of the weaknesses elsewhere in the book.
*Spoilers contained. You're safe now*

I know I've rambled a bit, but I do have one other thing to mention. I've said on a couple occasions that I hate eye-dialect, which is when an author writes out phonetically how a character sounds. It's usually too difficult to understand so instead of being more fully immersed in the story by now hearing what the character should sound like, I'm completely taken out of the moment trying to figure out what the hell is being said. Moore manages to create a dialect I can understand. It's not nearly as impenetrable as what you can find in Shaw's Pygmalion which is probably why I can read what Kona is saying and understand him, at least as well as the other characters. Here's some of his speech: "Oh, Jah's sweet love sistah, dat smoky biscuit givin' me da rippin' stiffy like dis fellah need to poke squid with that silver sistah on de Roll-Royce, don't you know?" (203).* From this I feel like I have an idea what a white Rastafarian with a bad Hawaiian accent might sound like and thus have a richer understand of the story. Or at least I can laugh at someone actually talking like that, especially when the other characters have such trouble understanding what the hell he's talking about.

I didn't mean to read quite so much Moore at once, but I had to finish the trilogy. I can't say I'm disappointed or upset with this latest book, I just know Moore can do better. But I'd still recommend this one if you've read the rest of the series. It's an entertaining read and contains the absurdities you can come to expect in his writing.

*Context does help so if you're curious what he said, know that one of the vampires was "stretched, naked, her arms wide like Winged Victory" (202).

Title quote from page 221

Moore, Christopher. Bite Me: A Love Story. Harper, 2010.

Authors who deserve more recognition

It's Tuesday, which means the group over at The Broke and the Bookish have a new top ten list for us: what are the top ten authors that deserve more recognition.

I went back and forth about whether or not to take part in this. I know I won't come close to listing out 10 authors. And the authors I'll list are ones I've talked about and talked about almost ad nauseum. I don't want to include authors if I'm not familiar with a few of their books. A single book isn't enough for me to recommend an author. A book yes, but the author, no.

On the other hand, I do love these authors and want more people to check them out. And I figure I'll be hopping around to see what other authors are out there people want to spread the word on, so I may as well take part. If you are a regular reader, you already know who I'll say so feel free to skip over this.

Jasper Fforde - I have a post about his book Shades of Grey planned for tomorrow, so you'll see some fawning then. Fforde writes absurd, literary humor that doesn't easily fall into any genre without sticking a toe into several other pools. He has 3 series: Thursday Next, Nursery Crime and Shades of Grey. Thursday Next is about a Literatec agent who spends time policing literature in both the real world and the book world. My favorite series which has my favorite book (The Well of Lost Plots) and stars my favorite character (Thursday Next). Nursery Crime is a spin off of TN, and is a hardboiled detective working in a Nursery Rhyme world. And then there's the latest series Shades of Grey, which I'll go into in tomorrow's post.

Christopher Moore - He seems to have a fairly substantial following so he might be on the fence as to an author that needs more recognition but I figure I'll include him anyway since I've yet to read a book of his and not enjoy it. Another author with an absurd sense of humor though without the literary aspect of Fforde. Don't think that means the stories aren't smart, it just means there are less allusions to classic literature and scenes with jerking off.

Octavia E. Butler - I've only read one series of hers, Xenogenesis/Lilith's Brood,  but it was 3 books so I'm counting it for these purposes. She was an African-American female (obviously) science fiction author. A minority within a minority and she turned out some fantastic, literary science fiction. Writing literary science fiction pretty much adds another level to that minority status.  She should not be over-looked.

Alright so that's really all I've got. There are other books I've enjoyed, but I can't recommend an author based on a single book. Then there are the other authors I love, but I'm pretty sure Stephen King and even Bill Bryson don't need that much extra push from me.

So what are some authors you think need to get more recognition?

If you're curious to see some posts I've written about the above authors, check out the links below!
Jasper Fforde
The Eyre Affair
They keep an eye on...overtly thespian interpretations.
We try to make art perfect because we never manage it in real life.
You're Upsetting The Wo'rms! They're Starting to hy-phe-nate!

Christopher Moore
Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story
It was as if vampirism carried with it a crampless case of rattlesnake PMS

Coyote Blue

For a guy that maintains a low profile, you've built quite a little snowball of resentment
You can't just go around breaking people's legs like some Mafioso fairy godmother

Fool

We're all Fate's bastards

You Suck: A Love Story

You shouldn't kill a guy without asking. It's inconsiderate.

Octavia E. Butler

Lilith's Brood trilogy

A cancer growing in someone's body will go on growing in spite of denial.
Humans persecute their different ones, yet they need them to give themselves definition and status
Helpless lust and unreasoning anxiety were just part of growing up

You shouldn't just kill a guy without asking. It's inconsiderate.

After reading Moore's Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story I had to continue through the series, so it was onto You Suck: A Love Story. I'm pretty sure I've said this 100 times so apologies for the repetition but I've read this one before. However, I didn't know who Christopher Moore was at the time or that this was the second in a series. I was drawn to the title and the description on the back cover, as well as the fact that it was in the clearance section of a bookstore and I was on vacation and out of books. I wasn't hindered by the fact that I hadn't read the first part of the story, but it was much funnier this second time around.

*You Suck picks up right where Bloodsucking Fiends left off, so if you haven't read that and are particularly worried about BF spoilers, you should probably just skip down to the quotes at the bottom of the post. Now that I think about it, there will probably be some spoilers about You Suck as well, so you're probably safest just ignoring this whole part. Why did I bother writing it then? Excellent question. Well, off we go then*


I was going to write the typical review of the book, but I thought that wouldn't be all that fun. I will, as way of intro, tell you I enjoyed this book even more than BF. It was published over 10 years later, and right between 2 other Moore books I love (A Dirty Job and Fool) and it feels like one of those latter works. The story is more focused on the characters and their development and less on the evil-vampire plot, which the first book focused on. The characters are really Moore's forte so instead of going on anymore about how much I enjoyed this, I figured I'd give you a description of the characters and let you decide if you think these guys would populate a book you would enjoy.

First, our returning cast
Jody - Our red-headed fledging vampire from the first book. She's learning to love her new sense of power, especially now that she can walk the streets at night without the fear she had grown so used to. Not only does she have someone to share the sound of shapes with, but she also has someone who figured out a way for her to get her (blood-laced) coffee.
C. Thomas Flood - The aspiring writer who has a lot more time to write now that Jody turned him into a fellow bloodsucker, with the body and mind of a nineteen year old. It's taking him some time to get used to his new condition, but he did find them a new minion using his knowledge of Byron, so that's something.
Elijah Ben Sapir - The vampire who originally turned Jody is encased in bronze as we last left him in BF and is making a killing both as the statue performance artist and of course, in the literal sense. Going from owning a million-plus dollar yacht to killing people for their track suits will make some people a bit annoyed.
The Animals - Tommy's old crew at the grocery store who helped catch Elijah in the first place. Stoners, slackers and in general good guys, though they don't have the best financial sense.
The Emperor and his men, Lazarus and Bummer - My favorite characters from the last book are back and helping to capture the vampires slowly taking over the Emperor's city of San Francisco. Unfortunately, these guys are not in the story nearly as much as BF but otherwise they're fun.
Rivera and Cavuto - The two detectives from the previous story are back to solve more suspicious murders happening around town as they watch their dreams of owning a rare bookstore and golf fly out the window. Why couldn't the vampires have just left the city?
Steve - A minor character in the first book, he shows up with more oomph this time. He's a biotech student that not only figures out a possible to solution to Tommy and Jody's condition, but also deduces a way to bring down the vampires, sun or no sun.

And our new editions
Blue - She's an escort the Animals picked up while in Vegas, spending the money that they got selling Elijah's extensive art collection. Why's she called Blue, you're asking? To distinguish herself from other hookers, she dyed her skin blue. Why'd the guys pick her up and give her the better part of $600k? Well, they decided they all wanted to bone a Smurf. She sees herself more as Snow White and now she just needs her seven dwarfs.
Abby Normal - Now that Tommy can no longer be Jody's bitch and do her daytime bidding (that whole bursting into flames when in sunlight is causing some trouble), the vampires have picked up a new minion. A goth teenager with regrettable moments of perkiness, her PoV make up chapters here and there. She would annoy the hell out of me in real life, but her chapters are hilarious.

*I kept that pretty You Suck spoiler free, so if you want to go back and read it, you're safe. Why didn't I just go back and amend what I wrote above? Another excellent question! Now onto some quotes to keep giving you the flavor of the book. I will keep these spoiler free!*

"I was going to be an awesome hunk of muscular man-meat."
"No, you weren't. You wanted to be a writer. You were going to have little stick arms and get winded when you hit the back-space key more than three times consecutively." (8)

"It turned out that superhuman strength came in handy when shaving a thirty-five pound cat." (29)

from the Abby Chonicles
"Even as I sit here at the Metreon Starbucks, writing this, the froth slaves seem to move like silver-eyed zombies and my nonfat, soy Amaretto Mochaccino has gone as bitter as snake bile. (Which is like the most bitterest bile you can get.)" (164)

"I am like the poor cabron in that book The Pearl, where by simply trying to take advantage of some good fortune, I have lost all that I care about. Okay, I did get drunk for a week and my pearl was a blue whore who fucked the chimichangas out of me, but still, pretty sad. He thought these things in Spanish, so they sounded infinitely more tragic and romantic." (208-209)

"unless Ninjas are also Japanese, in which case I will have to look some shit up for metaphors because the only thing Chinese I can think of right now is Dim Sum, and I believe it's disrespectful to refer to your soul mate in terms of finger food" (276)

I've already gone ahead and picked up the third book, Bite Me: A Love Story so this won't be the end of Moore's vampire tales.

Title quote from page 2

Moore, Christopher. You Suck: A Love Story. Harper, 2008.

It was as if vampirism carried with it a crampless case of rattlesnake PMS

It's been awhile since I read some Christopher Moore. OK, well that's not entirely true, since the last Moore book I read was Fool back in August. But that was a re-read. Before that...well, that wasn't that long ago either. I read Coyote Blue back in June. What can I say, I need a regular fix of the guy. So to feed that fix* I read Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story.

I had a couple reasons for picking up this particular book: I hadn't picked up any new Moore in awhile and I've read the sequel already. You Suck was actually the first Moore book I read and I didn't realize it was a sequel until I mentioned reading it in front of another Moore fan who was surprised (and I think a bit annoyed**) that I hadn't read the first book in the trilogy. Moore wrote this back in '95 but I like reading it now, during the Twilight frenzy, to see a new way vampires can be represented. Moore mostly sticks to traditional vampire lore (they can't go in the sunlight, can turn to mist) but the story is told with his expected humor.

The plot itself is fairly straight forward and predictable: a girl is transformed into a vampire and begins to learn the ropes of her new condition. She meets a human boy to help her out since she can't go out during the day (no sparkling!) and the 2 enter into a relationship. The vampire who turned her has been killing people around San Francisco and frames the murders on the couple. Evil must be vanquished, love prevails, etc, etc. The plot isn't the important part, the characters are. And they're wonderful. Jody, the newly turned vampire, is sweet, confused, cunning and vain. C. Thomas Flood, the aspiring author from Indiana as her boy toy is witty,  lovelorn and loyal. The Animals, the group Flood works with stocking groceries at a local market, are a riot. Cavuto and Rivera are the cops assigned to the string of murders who end up trying to figure out how to make sense of the supernatural things around them. (Open a rare book store and take up golfing are a couple options.) And of course there's my favorite character the "Emperor of San Francisco and Protector of Mexico". He's a homeless man who, along with his trusty Crusaders, Lazarus the golden retriever and Bummer the Boston terrier, who is truly concerned with the well-being of "his subjects" and is actually respected among many of the city's citizens.

Moore's humor is absurd, subversive, witty, sarcastic and dark, and if you're anything like me you got more excited with each adjective I listed out there. This isn't my favorite Moore book, it lacks some of the deeper themes that are present in some of his other books (Lamb, A Dirty Job, Fool), but it is a lot of fun. I plan on picking up a new copy of You Suck very soon and the third part of the trilogy Bite Me. This may not be my favorite of his works but I really want to see where the rest of the story goes. I don't remember much of You Suck but knowing there was a sequel meant I already knew how a lot of this book was going to turn out, which hurt some of the thrill in reading the ending. The story was still fantastic but I didn't spend the last chapters on the end of my seat wondering what was going to happen. So if you do read the series you may as well read it in order.   

Title quote from page 104

*Get it? Feed, fix, vampires. I slay me. Oh hey, there's another pun. I'm on a roll
**His annoyance was forgiven once he recommend Moore's Island of the Sequined Love Nun, which I will inevitably re-read and post on.

Moore, Christopher. Bloodsucking Fiends. Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 1995.

We're all Fate's bastards

 I know my last few posts have been about Shakespeare* but the next couple are going to be about him as well.  Sorry!  Slog through a few more (or just ignore me for the next couple posts) and I'll be onto a new topic in no time.  Promises. I'm also skipping a fellow bloggers post this week because I recently listed out a bunch of my favorite blogs in my last post.  If you're at a loss for other blogs to check out and want, nay need, my wisdom check out that list.

For now I'm re-reading Fool by Christopher Moore.  It's a retelling of King Lear from the Fool's point of view, with some changes here and there to Shakespeare's play.  I'm not sure if it makes any difference if you're familiar or not with Lear before reading this.  I think the story is well told and funny enough that you don't even need to know there is a different version of King Lear but seeing how I already know the story of Lear I can't really say for sure.  That was a rambling way to say I've read Lear before and cannot time travel to see if Fool makes any sense without knowing it.  So there you go.

Moore's writing is satirical, humorous and absurd, which is exactly how I like my books.  If you're not yet familiar with his humor, here's the warning he put in the beginning of the book:

This is a bawdy tale.  Herein you will find gratuitous shagging, murder, spanking, maiming, treason, and heretofore unexplored heights of vulgarity and profanity, as well as non-traditional grammar, split infinitives, and the odd wank.  If that sort of thing bothers you, then gentle reader pass by, for we endeavor only to entertain, not to offend.  That said, if that's the sort of thing you think you might enjoy, then you have happened upon the perfect story!

For me, Moore has absolutely provided me a perfect story.  Or at least a very entertaining one.   The story doesn't just strictly follow the King Lear plot but also includes back stories for the fool, Pocket, as well as the pasts of Lear, Cordelia, Goneril and Regan. Pocket has a greater influence over the events of the story than the original play suggests, though it's pulled off in such a way you could see the truth-speaking fool actually having a hand in the action.

As is typical of Moore's characters, Pocket is a generally good guy but he certainly engages in some morally questionable plots, usually to suit his own ends or the ends of those he cares about.  He's not all good, which would make him boring and he's not all bad, which would make him unsympathetic.  The gray area is a more interesting mire to wade through.  Just as in the play, Pocket's wit allows him to say and do things that are unsavory when coming from others.  Humor softens the blow.  I've yet to find a Moore book that completely lacks wit, but it works especially well here, where quick wit is a central part to the fool's character.

Fool is one of my favorite Moore books, just barely behind Lamb.  I'm sure the fact that it's Shakespeare based plays a good part in making this one of my favorites but the story itself is so well-told and so funny that even if this had been just a generic court jester it still would have been good.  By the way, the book was originally going to just be  about a generic court jester, but his editor told him he should do Lear.  I love that this book includes a little explanation from Moore about his intentions.  And if you want to see an excellent post about author's intentions check out the post about just that over a Dead White Guys.  I can't say I think that author's intention is the be-all-end-all to a book and coming up with your own interpretation separate from the author's is pointless and a waste of time, Jane Doe makes a very convincing argument.  I can't think of a good way to counter it, so I'll just agree with The Reading Ape's comment.

I'm still debating if I'll have a second post about this book, so there may be one more Shakespeare entry you'll have to read (assuming you'll read the next one if you've made it this far).  I'm about 1/2 way done with the book as is, but because I have read it before I'm confident in the above review.  Don't worry, it won't be a second review of the book or anything entirely redundant, though I'm sure I'll make mention of the humor again.  If I find an aspect that particularly catches my eye, you'll see another entry.  If not, I'll be off on some other topic.

Title quote page 29

*Other Shakespeare posts:
I think you showed a lot of heart!  A lot of courage!  A lot of  -- as Shakespeare would say -- 'chutzpah'  - The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (abridged)
The law of transitives and...Othello?
"[Maybe] I'll find the meaning of life in a sonnet" - My Name is Will

Moore, Christopher.  Fool.  Harper, New York.  2009

Book Blogger Hop II

I enjoyed last week's hop so I figured I would give it a go this week as well.

This Friday's Book Blogger Hop question is who are some of your favorite authors and why?  I have 3 favorite authors, at the moment anyway.

Bill Bryson: A friend of mine (the same one that recommended Kitchen Confidential and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell) lent me Bryson's book Made in America: A Brief History of the English Language in the United States and I have been hooked since.  I'm pretty sure he could write about paint drying and it would be funny.  He mostly writes travel books but he has a few language books, a memoir and even a science book.  I constantly re-read his work.  It's my go to book when I'm in the mood to laugh.

Jasper Fforde: Another author I was introduced to do via a lent book.  It's my favorite way to learn about new works.  Anyway, his works are generally a mix of satire, dark humor, fantasy, lots of literary allusions and overall hilarious.  One of the first books I re-read for this blog is The Eyre Affair the first book in the Thursday Next series, which I'm pretty sure I've read at least 5 times.  I anxiously await his latest work Shades of Grey to come out in paperback.

Christopher Moore: This is a relatively new favorite author, for me anyway.  A co-worker had been bugging me to read Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal for months before I finally got around to it and I don't know what I was waiting for.  I loved that book.  I've since read 6 of his other works and have had to hold myself back from buying more each time I go to the bookstore.  I'm taking a little break to read someone else's work, at least for a little while.  I wrote a couple entries about his book Coyote Blue for this blog.

One other thing I love about these authors is they all reference Shakespeare and I love Shakespeare.  Bryson wrote a biography on him, Shakespeare: The World as Stage.  Fforde references Shakespeare in at least some small way in all of his books I've read so far and Hamlet is even a character in Something Rotten (see, there's one of those references).  And Moore retells the story of King Lear from the point of view of the Fool in his book Fool.  Fool is a close second to Lamb as my favorite Moore book.

If you are looking for a book, I recommend anything by the author's above.  I'm yet to be let down.

For a guy that maintains a low profile, you've built quite a litle snowball of resentment

Sorry for the delay in postings.  I'm out of town so it's a bit harder to get to a computer with enough time to make an update, so this will probably be a quick one.

I just started my next book, Coyote Blue by Christopher Moore.  So far for this blog this is the first book I'm reading for the first time while blogging about it.  All of the others have been re-reads and to be honest, the next few after this will be re-reads as well.

As with all of the other Moore books I've read, this one has pulled me in right away.  I find myself thinking "I'll just read to the end of this chapter and then I'll put it down" for 3 or 4 chapters before I finally listen to myself.  It has Moore's typical wit and humor and I found myself laughing aloud while reading, which was a bit awkward as I was in public.  Luckily my boyfriend was reading another Moore book at the time, Lamb, so he was laughing just as much.  If I'm going to look crazy, at least I have another lunatic with me.

Early in the book Sam, the salesmen without an identity of his own, going through his morning routine and "congratulating himself for single-handedly saving the planet just by getting up in the morning" (67).  His list of morning good deeds includes:

- Washing his hair with shampoo never put in a bunny's eyes & 10% of the profits go to saving the whales
-Lathered with shaving cream free of CFCs
-Ate fertile eggs laid by sexually satisfied chickens
-Ate muffins made with pesticide-free grain, so no eagle-egg shells were weakened
-Cooked in margarine free of tropical oils, thus preserving the rain forest
-Milk comes in a carton made of recycled paper and from a small family farm
-Coffee went to help educate the children of a poor peasant farmer named Juan Valdez

Even with all the earth saving and good deeds he's completed before 10am, he hasn't set foot on unpaved ground in the last 2 years.  (67)

Sam has been hiding his true identity as a Native American from the Crow tribe for the last 20 years and I like this exaggeration of how in touch he still is with the earth and keeping it safe and yet is so far removed from it he doesn't realize he's hardly seen anything natural in his trips from his office to his condo.  He's completely removed from who he was yet he doesn't, at this point, have any remorse for this. Until his spirit guide, Coyote Blue starts showing up.  As the trickster coyote he simultaneously helps Sam and causes trouble at every turn. Moore's humor leads you into a story that is much deeper than you may initially assume, and by the time you realize it, you're hooked. 

I'll probably look at the trickster more in a different entry when I've read a little more of the book and maybe when I have some more time to write. 

Title quote from page 68

Moore, Christopher,  Coyote Blue. Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, New York.  1994.

Excuses for not writing more

Don't worry, I haven't given up on this blog. Not yet anyway. I have been reading Brave New World and marking all these pages with torn Post-It pieces so I know what I want to write about but I haven't had the chance to actually sit down and write any of this down. You might be saying (or would if anyone was reading this) "But you're typing now, so clearly you have time." Well smarty-pants, I'm at work right now so while I can be on the computer giving you this brief update, I can't really have the book out in front of me while I reference it for all those nuggest of gold I generally write. And because I am on a computer roughly 8 hours a day, getting on one when I get home isn't number 1 on my want list. But I will post an update soon. Maybe even later today.

I'm also looking for the next book to read/write about since I'm almost done with BNW. The last couple months financially kicked my ass a bit, so I may be re-reading a few more books before I cave and buy something new. And I know the library is an option but I'm a bit OCD when it comes to my books and would rather just own them instead of borrowing them. I'm thinking The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde, even though I've read it 100 times. I love it and not enough people read him.

Another note! I'll probably have a single post about Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore. I'm in a book club with some friends, though it's much more of a drink wine and talk club. Anyway, I recommended that book so that will be the topic of the next book club. I've already read it but it became one of my fav books instantly. I'll probably have a whole separate set of posts about it sometime down the road when I re-read it, but a quick post will probably come up after book club.

Foreward

With much prodding, I'm finally starting a blog and hopefully I'll stick with this.

I love reading, have for as long as I can remember and I'll read most anything put in front of me. It was the reason I decided to major in English in college, even though I never really had a clue what I would do with the degree after graduating. That date passed years ago and while my day to day work doesn't require me to read and analyze literature, I still read with the same enthusiasm as before. I've considered, with much loving badgering from my mother, going back to school for a Masters in English but so far I haven't found a career I would want that requires such a degree and paying tens of thousands of dollars for a very advanced book club seems like a waste of time and money. Don't get me wrong, I would love to go back and if money wasn't a problem or I found a career that requires it I would be there. But right now it seems like a lot to pay for a hobby.

So, my plan for this blog is to write about the books as I'm reading them, random thoughts, questions and probably whatever else pops into my head. I was originally going to start this writing about a book I'd never read before Fluke or I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings by Christoper Moore. But then I finished it before I got around to starting this. Then I started reading Animal Farm by George Orwell for the first time and thought I'd write about that. But I finished that before I got my stuff together. So the first book will be Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, which I last read in high school. Ideally I wanted to start with a book I hadn't read before or even one that isn't quite as well known, but I've bought a lot of books recently and figured I should read (or re-read as it were) a couple books currently on my shelves. I also have a habit of picking up other books so I may randomly have entries about different books or just certain scenes from a different book.

As I mentioned, I'll read almost anything. No really, I've read the entire Twilight series. But my favorite authors are Jasper Fforde, Christopher Moore and Bill Bryson and I read lots of books about Shakespeare as well as the plays themselves. My friends and I also meet for a book club every couple of months and while that club tends to be more focused on drinking wine than discussing books, it gives me a chance to read some books I wouldn't necessarily pick up on my own.

The next entry will actually be about a book