"Coyote Blue" by Christopher Moore

I needed something silly and quick after that last book. Nothing better for silly and quick than Christopher Moore. This is Moore's second novel (from 1994) and I think it's a better story than the first of his that I read (which was his third, Bloodsucking Fiends, from 1995).

It was fun to find the appearance of an "old friend" from A Dirty Job. Never thought I would meet Minty Fresh again. I was impressed that Moore was able to make his main character, Sam, into a likable and sympathetic character, especially since Sam doesn't have many likable qualities. I also wondered if Moore was looking at a photo of Britney Spears (pre-head-shaving-meltdown, of course) when he first described Calliope. (The similarities soon dropped by the wayside, though. Calliope had more of Jessica Simpson's airheadedness and Shirley MacLaine's weird spirituality).

I find I don't have much to say about this book, other than that it was a fun diversion. It hasn't helped that I didn't post about it right away. I guess I thought maybe something profound would come to me, but this isn't the sort of book that induces much introspection. That's fine, though. Everybody can't be Kafka. (See, now I sound all literary, right? I actually have never read anything by Kafka. I should probably put him on my list but I'm kind of scared to. I don't know, maybe I can handle Metamorphosis. Guy turns into giant bug, and it's just a novella? Yeah, I need to put it on my list. That way I can stop saying "I actually have never read anything by Kafka.")

"A Dirty Job" by Christopher Moore

I have come to the conclusion that Christopher Moore is an acquired taste. I have gone from not especially caring about Moore's books after reading my first of his (Bloodsucking Fiends) to being grudgingly sucked in (no pun intended) and driven to continue reading just to see what happens. And maybe to catch a few laughs on the way.

This book is not a sequel to Moore's vampire books, but is instead a sort of spin-off of a minor character, Charlie Asher, introduced in Moore's second vampire book, You Suck. (Actually A Dirty Job was published before You Suck, but I read Suck first, so Dirty seems like a spin-off to me.)

The first thing I noticed when I got this book is that the cover is glow-in-the-dark! I love stuff like that. (But wouldn't it have been something if they could have managed to infuse it with a pulsating red glow!) Although really, I suppose that the "don't judge a book by its cover" adage applies to covers you like as well as covers you don't. So it was nice to find out that I enjoyed the book's content as much as I enjoyed the cover. In fact, of the 3 Moore books I have read so far, I'm pretty sure this one is my favorite. Whether this is because it's the best of the three, or if it's because I have come to appreciate Moore's writing, I can't say. I do think this book has a little more depth of feeling than the other two, while somehow still maintaining that air of general hilarity, along with more than a few eye-rolls (one example being the name of Charlie's co-"Death Merchant": Minty Fresh).

None of the one-liners stuck in my mind like the neon fart one from Bloodsucking Fiends, but this book certainly had its fair share of giggles. One of my favorite lines was when Charlie's sister Jane, after first meeting Sophie's hellhounds, said, "I'm going to go call in freaked out to work." I'll have to try that sometime. Although maybe that only works if you live in San Francisco.

To me, the biggest flaw in the book is Charlie's second-hand-store employee, Lily. I mean, I liked her a lot, but she constantly reminded me of Abby from the related vampire books. At first I thought Lily was pretty much just Abby remade (and not quite making the grade) and I wished somehow the real Abby could have fit into that slot instead, but then I found out that Abby and Lily were friends. (Was Lily mentioned in the other books? I can't remember.) Anyway, I thought Lily either needed to be Abby, or be someone entirely different.

If nothing else, I'm thankful for the reminder to experience all the glorious cheese of life.

"You Suck: A Love Story" by Christopher Moore

Here's the sequel to Bloodsucking Fiends. Before starting to read, I figured I was better prepared for what to expect, so I thought maybe I'd appreciate this book moore than the first. (Just checking to see if you're paying attention).

Either I was right, or this book was better than the first one. It seemed less cartoonish, but still funny; less silly, but still lighthearted and tongue-in-cheek; still completely unrealistic, but acceptably so. Once again, almost every sentence was a joke, but this time around I was down with it. (In case you were wondering, I put that in italics because that sort of hip-hop phrase is pretty much a foreign language to me).

The star of this book (in my opinion) was definitely Abby Normal. Without her, I'm sure I would not have enjoyed the read. Just imagining the book with her Chronicles excised makes me sad. I loved her naive wisdom, her observations that are at once clueless and astute, and her complete irreverance (disguising, of course, an indelible perkiness). She totally reminds me of Abby from the TV show NCIS who, in the words of my mother-in-law, is "just cute as a button." Keep in mind that my mother-in-law is danged near blind.

After finishing this book, I made the mistake of reading the excerpt from Moore's A Dirty Job, a book which explains the odd scene where Jody meets Charlie Asher. I'm embarrassed to admit that I did not even remember that loose thread until I read the excerpt. But now that I've been reminded, I've just gotta know what the deal is with Charlie. Guess I have to read "Dirty" now. And, of course, having been sucked in (no pun intended), I'll have to read Bite Me, too, which is Moore's upcoming third volume in the Jody the Vampire series. And if YOU are interested in reading the first two chapters of Bite Me, you may do so here, with the warnings that #1, chapter 1 is basically just a rehashing of the entire You Suck book (but you get it all from Abby's point of view, so you know that's OK with me!), and #2, there are a fair number of typos in the text, which is not OK with me, but I managed to grit my teeth and bear it with the assumption that corrections will be made before publication.

"Bloodsucking Fiends" by Christopher Moore

Reading this book felt like reading a comic book without any pictures. This is not because there was excessive dialogue (although on the other hand it's certainly not filled with deep thoughts), and it wasn't the unrealistic premise (vampires running amok in San Francisco), because the unrealistic premises of The Time Traveler's Wife and The Amnesiac gave me absolutely no problem. The thing that made me feel like I was reading a two-dimensional book of action and humor is because the book is entirely peopled, not with characters, but with caricatures.

I must admit I might have been more impressed with this book if I hadn't just read The Time Traveler's Wife (a hard act to follow) and if I weren't so eager to dive into The Girl Who Could Fly (which promises to be Little Mutants on the Prairie... how can you beat that?) The silliness level reminds me of Catch-22, although this book is not THAT ridiculous. In this book you find marginally intelligent people being funny, rather than so-dumb-as-to-defy-belief people being humorously stupid.

I was pretty annoyed that Jody spent the entire book trying to figure out (among other things) how exactly she was changed into a vampire. It was so obvious, from the very scene where it occurred, that it was because she drank some of the vampire's blood. She wasn't described as a stupid character, but it certainly seemed dumb of her to overlook that important point for so long. In fact, she never did figure it out on her own--the other vampire had to tell her. I was also surprised that Jody killed off Simon. That seemed like a waste of a promising character.

There is a sequel to this book (looking at the author's list of titles, I'd have to guess it's the one called You Suck) and even though I don't really want to, I feel compelled to read it, if only to find out whether Jody turns Tommy into a vampire, or Steve turns Jody back into a human, and whether Jody and Tommy remain safe from Elijah encased in bronze.

At least this book was fun and funny. My favorite line, at which I actually laughed out loud, was, "Simon looked at Tommy as if he had farted in neon." I'm not sure what that says about me if I laugh out loud about scatological humor (other than the fact that my true age must be 14). It can say what it wants. I don't mind.