Fluke by Christopher Moore

Humor

Nate and his crew work out of Hawaii, studying whales and trying to figure out why they sing. While out studying, he notices some odd markings on the tale of one whale. When the whale surfaces again, he notices that it says 'bite me'. From there, things get weirder and weirder as Nate gets closer to breaking the mystery.

Moore is known for his humor novels. Sometimes they can be a bit odd, but Moore takes this one way beyond odd. I didn't find it overly humorous and it was too over the top to enjoy. By the end of the novel, I was skimming it to get to the end.

Despite the overall weirdness, there is a good message to preserve our sea and the creatures within it.

First Line: "Amy called the whale punkin."

Rating:
(3/5)

Lamb by Christopher Moore

Humour

We know a lot about Jesus's birth and his 30s when he starts to spread the word of God. But what about his time as a kid and teenager? What was he like? Enter Biff, Jesus' (or Joshua) childhood friend. Biff follows Josh around as he searches for what it means to be the Messiah. Biff invent sarcasm, the two make a tradition of eating Chinese food as Jews on Jesus' birthday, and they figure out that coffee tastes much better with milk.

This isn't an easy book to write a review for. I enjoyed how smart this book was. Moore did a good job of coming up with things that Biff and Josh discovered, created, or were part of starting traditions for. His descriptions of these events made complete sense in the context he wrote them and were entertaining.

I've read quite a few Moore books now and think this ranks up there in the top 3.

First Line: "The angel was cleaning out his closet when the call came."

Rating:
(4/5)

Fool by Christopher Moore

Fool by Christopher Moore
Humour

Based loosely on Shakespeare's King Lear, Pocket is Lear's fool, hired for the purpose of keeping youngest daughter Cornelia entertained. Pocket falls in love with her and is sad when she is sent away because she won't profess her love for her father like her two older sisters. The fortune is split between the older sisters and with the help of a ghost, Pocket devises a way to destroy them. With the help of a big oaf Drool and his puppet Jones, Pocket sets in motion the King Lear tale, told from a completely different and at time hilarious angle.

I had originally read The Serpent of Venice which is the follow up to this book. It was nice to go back for this book and learn about Pocket's background and his relationship with Cordelia. Moore has an incredible imagination. Inserting a new character in to an existing story and figuring out how to get that character to mastermind everything takes a bit of work. Even having not ever read King Lear before, I had no trouble following and enjoying this story. It was lots of fun and I'm looking forward to a third book (if there will be one) about Pocket!

First Line: "'Tosser!' cried the raven."

Rating:
(4.5/5)

The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore

The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore
Fiction/Fantasy

The small town of Pine Cove, California is back for a second Christopher Moore book, this time close to the Christmas holiday. The town, quirky as ever, is preparing to celebrate Christmas when a stranger with glowing blonde hair appears, as police officer Theo Crowe runs over him. Being an angel, no harm comes to this stranger, though Theo doesn't know that's why he isn't hurt. The angel is in town to provide a Christmas miracle, though he'd really much rather use his sword and kill some people.

True to Moore's style, these characters are completely off the wall. Molly is off her meds, thinking she's a Warrior Princess again, Gabe is studying the effects of lust on rats, Theo is back to smoking pot, and the town is just generally off its rocker.

I enjoyed this book more than its predecessor, Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove. It still wasn't laugh-out-loud funny, though there was a part at the beginning at the book that had me smiling to myself on the train, however it was still an enjoyable read.

There's an additional chapter added to the end of this book and I'm not sure why it's there. It seemed unnecessary to tell the story.

First Line: "Christmas crept in to Pine Cove like a Creeping Christmas thing: dragging garland, ribbon, and sleigh bells, oozing eggnog, reeking of pine, and threatening festive doom like a cold sore under a mistletoe."

Rating:
(3.5/5)

The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove

The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove by Christopher Moore
Fiction/Literature

When one of psychiatrist's Dr. Val Riordan patients commits suicide, she decides to switch everyone on anti-depressants to placebos and do more talk therapy than drug therapy. This increases business in the local bar and the bar owner brings in a blues singer. This blues singer happened to have killed some sea monster's family and Steve the monster in question comes calling looking for the blues singer and food and sex.

This is a bizarre horror story. A horror story that is quirky and funny. Typical Christopher Moore with Pardon Me moments and just plain silliness, I found it to be very entertaining and off the wall funny

First Line: "September in Pine Cove is a sigh of relief, a nightcap, a long-deserved nap."

Rating:
(4.0/5)

The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove by Christopher Moore

The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove by Christopher Moore
Literature/Fiction

Most of the residents of Pine Cove are on anti-depressants, as prescribed by the local psychiatrist Dr. Val Riordan. But when one of her patients allegedly commits suicide, Dr. Val thinks that maybe it's a better idea for none of her patients to be on medicine and forces them to take placebos. But a sudden, very weird, event causes a few people to go missing and seems to cause the entire city to become horny. The event turns out to be a giant sea-dragon coming out of the sea to seek revenge on a man that killed one of his family members.

Typical to all Christopher Moore books, this quirky tale is completely off the wall but still incredibly entertaining. I found that there were a bit too many characters to keep track of in this novel. I don't think Mavis, the bar owner, was a necessary character and things could have been cut out to reduce the confusion to the reader. There's usually a laugh-out-loud point of all Moore books but I didn't find that with this book.

First Line: "September in Pine Cove is a sigh of relief, a nightcap, a long-deserved nap."

Rating:
(4/5)

You Suck

You Suck by Christopher Moore
Paranormal

This book is the sequel to Bloodsucking Fiends. Jody has turned Tommy into a vampire and he must now learn some new habits. First they must find a new minion to do their daytime chores. They find a way to drink coffee without vomiting and they have to decide what to do about a bronzed old vampire.

Tommy's old night crew friends blow all their money on a Vegas hooker and now the hooker wants Tommy's money too. I loved the way the minion took care of Jody and Tommy in the end

This book was very similar to the first but it was still entertaining.

First Line: "You bitch, you killed me"

Rating:

(4.0/5)

Island of the Sequined Love Nun

Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore
Fantasy

Tucker Case is a screw-up. When he destroys his company's jet while accompanied by a prostitute who wants to join the mile high club, he has to leave the United States and quickly.

He ends up in Micronesia hired to fly a brand new Lear jet for some Missionaries. How did he figure they could ever afford a jet? To get to the job, he misses the boat and ends up in a small boat with a cross-dressing navigator and a pet fruit bat. The navigator does not even consider checking weather forecasts and they are in a typhoon. By good luck, Tuck lands on the correct island but is almost dinner for an elderly member of the natives who inhabit the island.


I loved the book. It was outrageously funny and completely off the wall. A very entertaining read

First Line: "Tucker Case awoke to find himself hanging from a breadfruit tree by a coconut fiber rope."

Rating:

(4.0/5)

You Suck by Christopher Moore

You Suck by Christopher Moore
Fantasy?

This book is round two of Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore brings us up to date on what is going on with Jody and Tommy and their vampire-filled world. Jody has recently turned Tommy and, unlike last novel where Jody was trying to get used to being a vampire, we now have Tommy trying to get used to being a vampire.

The two try to find a minion to do their daytime bidding, try to determine how to drink coffee without throwing it up, figure out what to do with their bronzed statue of an evil vampire, and deal with the animals and their drinking and smurf-ish hooker problems. Yes, if you haven't read this book it sounds a bit ridiculous. Even having read the book, it is a bit ridiculous.

My understanding is that Moore only wrote this book to shut up his fans who kept asking for a sequel. It didn't seem as well planned out as the first one, and was a little too similar. Moore reused plot lines and solutions that the characters from the first novel had come up with again in the second novel. While it was fun and light, it's not one of Moore's better works.

First Line: "You bitch, you killed me!"

Rating:

(3.5/5)

Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore

Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore
Fiction/Literature

Tuck blows it when he takes a prostitute up in the pink Mary Jean jet while drunk and crashes it into SeaTac airport. Mary Jean wants him not only out of her company, but off of the continent immediately so its easier to deal with the media backlash. Tuck gets a letter from an island in Micronesia called Alualu, where they are looking for a pilot to fly their brand new Learjet. Tuck doesn't even think about how missionaries could afford to purchase a brand new jet before he accepts and heads off down to start a new life.

The book follows Tuck's journey where it's hard to tell if he has very bad luck, or very good luck. For example, in trying to get to this island, Tuck misses a boat that is going to take him so he commissions out a boat from a cross dresser, and they get stuck in a typhoon. But Tuck survives. Tuck learns about the island folktales and the local's Gods while trying to figure exactly what is going on and why so much money is being made. Of course, he can't help but get himself into some trouble along the way.

This novel was lots of fun. Tuck was an enjoyable character: a geek in a non-geek body, a little naive, and sometimes a little stupid. I didn't laugh out loud during this book but some parts were quite funny. I found this to be one of Moore's better novels.

First Line: "Tucker Case awoke to find himself hanging from a breadfruit tree by a coconut fiber rope."

Rating:

(4/5)