#18 Fool by Christopher Moore

I finally finished this book after starting it about three weeks ago. The problem was not the book, the problem was that I had some personal stuff get in the way of me finishing this a week and a half ago, but I won't get into that here. Suffice it to say that I finally did get around to finishing it, and I liked it.
The language the Moore uses in his novels is always quite entertaining, one of my favorite phrases of his being "Fuckstockings!" or alternately "Fucksocks!" just because that is a really, really good expletive that I might have to start using on a regular basis. I noticed, this being my second book by Moore, that he likes to have certain lines that he uses throughout an entire novel. One of those in Fool was "Perfect fucking French," which I thought was an excellent use of alliteration, and I always love good usage of alliteration, mostly because it makes a sentence flow so nicely.
He includes an end note in this novel that I actually read before I had finished reading the book. I looked back to see how many pages I had left, and saw the end note. I read the first sentence and decided to read on, as it seemed there might be some funny and useful information in there that I'd want to see: boy was I right!! He talks about the history of the real Leir that I hadn't ever heard before, and he talked about using lines from a lot of different plays, and chastising a reviewer for a comment on an awkward passage of his, that Moore himself took from Thoreau; I just thought it was really funny, but its not really relevant to this review.
All in all I really did like this novel. The twists were great, and unexpected. The language was excellent, and even elegant at times. And I can honestly say that it did not make me want to go back and reread King Lear. I am content to say that I appreciated the funny, and don't need to fact check. I would definitely recommend this, but a word of caution: Moore really likes to have somewhat gratuitous shagging and cursing and the occasional gory moment, so this is not for the faint of constitution. Enjoy

#13 You Suck by Christopher Moore

Hilarious book about vampires and the problems they face in this modern world. I read this book fairly quickly, but it took me a few days cause I didn't sit and read it straight through. This is the book after Bloodsucking Fiends, where Jody and Elijah end up getting bronzed (thanks to Tommy). Jody has turned Tommy so they can be together forever, and now they have to figure out what to do next. The cops are expecting them to leave town, but Jody and Tommy think they can get away with not leaving, just lying low and flying under the radar. They find themselves a minion, Abby Normal, aka Allison Green, a deeply perky 16 year old girl who really wants to not be perky anymore. She desperately wants to not be perky, so she dresses herself in black and fishnet and plasters on the black eye make-up and dark lipstick, and tries to invoke the romantic morbid poetry of the masters (Byron, Shelley, and a few others). This gets her noticed by the newly born vampire, Tommy, who needs to find someone who can take care of his and Jody's daytime needs. Tommy becomes "The Dark Master" and Jody becomes "The Countess" for Abby, and she begins her quest to help the two "vampyres" and tries to convince them to turn her.
The plot speeds up to then include a blue hooker, a group of "Animals" who have given the blue hooker more than half a million dollars in just a few short days, and a homeless man who calls himself "The Emperor," who always has his two "men" with him- Bummer and Lazarus, who are really just a Boston Terrier and Golden Retriever, respectively. Lots of action, ultra violet light, and seriously hilarious diary entries from Abby, that make you think you are really inside the head of a 16 year old wanna-be goth girl. I recommend this to everyone.