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thebitterguy ([personal profile] thebitterguy) wrote2009-04-16 03:47 pm
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Practical Demonkeeping

For some reason I've never read a Christopher Moore book. I've had lots of friends recommend them to me; as a guy who's fond of absurdist reads, it seems like a good fit.

This weekend, when we were visiting with some friends in Waterloo to watch the new Futurama movie (report: More cohesive than Bender's Game, funnier than Beast with a Billion Backs & Bender's Big Score), Valerie introduced me to Moore's Christmas novel over R4TG. Since I found it amusing, she agreed to lend me a copy, but warned me that it was very referential to his previous books. So I borrowed this one.

Practical Demonkeeping is about a small California tourist town which gets visited by a demon and his master, who are being pursued by the king of the Djinn under orders from King Solomon. They get involved with the various townsfolk, who include a down and out wedding photographer, his soon to be ex-wife, the laconic owner of the local general store/bait shop, and a restauranteur who bears no small resemblance to an obscure early 20th century fantasy writer.

It's everything that was promised, which includes being funny and a pretty quick read. Valerie had told me that I would finish it in an afternoon, and if it were possible for me to get an uninterrupted afternoon I'm sure I could put that to the test.

Thankfully, I have a couple more of his books that [livejournal.com profile] redeem147 has loaned me in the past, so I'll be able to dig deeper into his oeuvre. She also loaned me the Christmas book, which

[identity profile] jkahane.livejournal.com 2009-04-16 11:03 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm actually quite surprised that you've never read any of Christopher Moore's books, J, as they always seemed to me to be the type of books that would appeal to your sense of humour.

His second book, Bloodsucking Fiends is vampires do Hollywood, and The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove is set in Pine Cove again, and is a take on Godzilla Meets The Bridges of Madison County. Funny stuff, the man writes, although I loved Fluke and the Christmas book. His current book, Fool, is just as witty and is his pastiche on Shakespeare! <g> Moore is one of the few authors I still buy in hardcover.

[identity profile] jkahane.livejournal.com 2009-04-17 02:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Another of Moore's books that gets short shifted is Coyote Blue, with an interesting take on North American Indian stuff. I'm also rather fond of Island of the Sequined Love Nun, which is a pastiche about cargo cults and all sorts of other stuff.

And I don't care what other folks say about Bloodsucking Fiends; it was a funny book, and it was his second novel, BS being his third, and it cemented my love of Moore's writing.