Paula's Take On Fool by Christopher Moore

Title: Fool by Christopher Moore

Publisher: William Morrow 2009

How I got it: Bought it used

Let’s start with a quick synopsis of Fool. The fool of King Lear’s kingdom is visited by a ghost and ultimately brings the downfall of everything. Sound familiar? It should. Moore strove to retell Shakespeare’s tragedy King Lear as a comedy from the fool’s point of view. This should be great right?

First off let me state that I am a huge fan of Christopher Moore. The first novel I read by him, A Dirty Job, had me laughing within a few pages and I don’t think I stopped laughing until the end. While I read Lamb, I made sure that no one was around if I was reading in public because I knew that within a few moments of opening the book I would be laughing out loud. I mean, this guy is funny, really funny. If any one could turn King Lear into a comedy, it’s him. When I heard this book came out I wanted it immediately, but I only just now got it. I had a year or so of anticipation before I read what I thought was going to be my next favorite Moore novel and I was excited!

So let me ask again, this should be great right? Wrong, sadly. As I got into it I was hoping to see some other side of the story like he provided in Lamb. The untold story of Lear’s tragedy, or something along those lines. However, the only thing “new and improved” about it was that the Fool was the master behind the tragedy the entire time, in order to get revenge on Lear for banishing his beloved Cordelia (and well a few more things as the story progresses but I wont spoil them). Unfortunately I felt it was just a shoddy retelling of the story with some extra shagging added in.

And now that I think about it, I am not sure I laughed once throughout the entire book. The whole story felt like a joke that fell flat in the first few chapters and then got dragged out continuously. Actually I can summarize the majority of the humor now: boob jokes.

Maybe if I reread King Lear, I will discover the subtle genius that Moore used to write this book that I did not see before. In fact, I hope that is what happens. I would recommend this book to hardcore Moore fans, hopefully you can find something I missed, if you do, let me know. If you have never read Moore before, don’t start here, I’m afraid you would also stop here.

The reason that this book is getting three stars instead of two: 1. Moore used a few author inside jokes from previous books that made me get the warm fuzzies as a fan of his.2. It was a quick read, which was nice because it allows me to move past it quickly.

Top Ten Tuesday - Kelly Tackles Hilarious Book Titles

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. Everyone is welcome to join in. Please be kind and link back to us. Sign the Linky widget so that you can peruse other top ten lists from fellow bloggers and comment on others lists!

This weeks top ten is:

Top ten most hilarious book titles you have come across

I had so much fun creating this list. It's been awhile since I've laughed this much.

1. Don't Bend Over in the Garden, Granny, You Know Them Taters Got Eyes by Lewis Grizzard – I think this is hilarious simply because the usage of ‘taters.’
   
   
2. When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? by George Carlin – Silly me, here I was thinking that Jesus was Jewish! I am still baffled as to what this book is even about.
   
   
3. Still Life With Psychotic Squirrel by C.B. Smith – This is an autobiography. I hope one day to become cool enough to have an equally as awesome autobiography title.
   
   
4. Even God Is Single, So Stop Giving Me a Hard Time by Karen Salmansohn – Ahh, celebrating singlehood. I just may use this phrase in the future (yeah, I'm talking to you Mom!).
   
   
5. The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka – A somewhat sadistic retelling of famous fairy tales. Presents gems such as "Little Red Running Shorts", "The Princess and the Broken Bowling Ball", and "The Really Ugly Duckling."
   
   
6. The Faggiest Vampire by Carlton Mellick III – I’m going to let the official description stand for itself:
   
   

   “Deep in The Land of Broodsarrow, just outside the village of Gneirwil, and high on a cliff overlooking the Everbleed Sea, there stands the faggiest gothic castle that any mortal being has ever seen. Living in this ancient faggy castle is none other than the well-renowned vampire, Dargoth Van Gloomfang. The citizenry of Broodsarrow sure has its share of faggy vampires, but old Dargoth has always been by far the faggiest of them all. That is, until a new vampire came to town. A younger, hippper vampire. One that emits such a grand amount of fagginess that one cannot help but be completely overwhelmed by his presence. Now Dargoth Van Gloomfang must figure out a way to out-shine this young newcomer if he wishes to ever reclaim his throne as . . . the faggiest vampire.”

   He also wrote books called The Haunted Vagina, Satan Burger, and other colorful creations. What else can I possibly say?
   
   
7. The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler - Basic plot: teen angst. I might read this just to find out what other big round things are in the book.
   
   
8. Dance Lessons for Zombies by Peter Hiett – This is actually a book about Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Who knew? (Did he bring pork chops?)
   
   
9. In Me Own Words: The Autobiography of Bigfoot by Graham Roumieu – Apparently, Bigfoot struggles with eating disorders, casual cannibalism, pop culture, and philosophical quandaries (and basic grammar). And yes, this is going onto my to-read list. Don’t judge me.
   
   
10. Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Ben H. Winters - While Pride and Prejudice and Zombies would seem more popular for this list, Sense and Sensibility is my favorite Jane Austen novel, thus, this made me chuckle more (or because I pictured Alan Rickman with tentacles).

How about an entirely separate list just focusing on hilariously titled children’s books? Walter the Farting Dog: Trouble at the Yard Sale by William Kotzwinkle would top that list.

HELLO TO EVERYONE COMING FROM RADIANT REVIEWS AT CHRISSIE'S CORNER.

Please post the link to your own Top Ten Tuesday list!

Daisy's review of A Game of Thrones

Title/Author: A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
Publisher/Year Published: Voyager Books, first published in 1996
How I got it: I couldn't resist the shiny cover, so I bought it
Why I read this book: I'd heard great things about it on GoodReads

Synopsis: As warden of the north, Lord Eddard Stark counts it a curse when King Robert bestows on him the office of the Hand (chief counsillor to the king, rules when the king is not available). His honour weighs him down at court where a true man does what he will, now what he must... and a dead enemy is a thing of beauty. The old gods have no power in the south, Stark's family is split and there is treachery at court. Worse, a vengeance-mad boy has grown to maturity in exile in the Free Cities beyond the sea. Heir of the mad Dragon King deposed by Robert, he claims the Iron Throne.

"When you play a game of thrones, you win or you die."

Martin paints a world in which on one side you have Eddard Stark, man of extreme honor, and his family and on the other side the courtiers and their intrigue. The family is thrown right into the middle and noone comes out unscathed, not even the children.

King Robert has taken his throne by force, slaying the whole family of the former king except one boy (a prince) and a pregnant woman, who dies giving birth to the last princess of that line. Eddard finds Robert has changed over the years, a substantial part due to the influence of his conniving wife and her family, and doesn't recognize his friend from the past in the decisions he makes. His acception of the position of Hand of the King breaks up his family and we follow them in their different struggles, while also seeing everything through the eyes of the 'enemy' princess, who was raised outside the Seven Kingdoms.

With everyone fighting for the crown, it's no surprise people get hurt.

If you are a fan of epic fantasy, or any kind of fantasy for that matter, I'd strongly recommend this book to you. It blew me away with its amazing wordlbuilding. It had just the right pace for me. First Martin takes the time to introduce the characters to you and then he starts weaving his epic plot. It changes point of view each chapter, which made me connect with all the characters and come to love them. As the plot progresses, we see not only strong men, but also strong women who truly make a difference, definitely a winning point to me.

Martin made me laugh, he made me cry, he made me gasp in horror and astonished me at unexpected turns. In other words: this books goes on my all-time favourites list and I am definitely reading the rest of the series.
I give it 5+ bright shiny stars.

In which Snickers tackles short stories and Breakfast at Tiffany's.

The Book
Title/Author: Breakfast at Tiffany's: A Short Novel and Three Stories (Modern Library) by Truman Capote.
Published: The copy I read was published January 13, 1994 by Modern Library (first published 1958)
How I Got It: Oh, library, how I do adore you.
Why I Read It: I read it for the Goodreads College Students group. It was one of two books selected for June.
My Rating: 3 stars.


The Review

There's something freaky about short stories. They have the nagging tendency to haunt you - you get the feeling that the characters are looming ominously over your shoulder as you read.

Breakfast at Tiffany's was much the same. The actual "Breakfast at Tiffany's" story was delightful. It was different in lots of ways from the movie, the first being that Holly was generally more of a brat. I don't think that Audrey Hepburn, fantastic actress though she is, has the capability to really bring out what a childish and selfish and fashionably bratty character Holly is. Audrey's just too classy, and Holly's too brash - the two don't mix. Secondly, while the plots were more or less the same, the beginning and ending were COMPLETELY DIFFERENT from the movie. I won't go into details (since that would spoil the fun), but don't expect the happy ending you've swooned over in the movie. Still, the story is excellent in its own right - especially considering we would have never met the infamous character known as Holiday Golightly without it.

That was the enjoyable part, the part I would have given 4 stars.

The other three stories, "House of Flowers", "Diamond Guitar", and "A Christmas Memory", are what makes this edition of Breakfast at Tiffany's freaky. I found myself reading them with a cautious eye, waiting, just WAITING for an axe murderer to leap out from the pages and split my skull in two. I'm sure that this is in part due to the first collection of short stories I remember reading: Stephen King's Four Past Midnight. As a child, I vaguely remember reading some generally terrifying collection of horror stories that gave me nightmares. I can't even remember the title of the collection, only the cover image - a tree, looming ominously in faint sunlight. It doesn't help that my most recent short story read was A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories, by Flannery O'Connor - talk about spine-chilling!

So there's nothing wrong with the stories themselves; it was mainly just my reaction to them. "A Christmas Memory" left me gnawing on my hangnails - I was just WAITING for the grandmother to die some horrible violent death, thus scarring the little boy for life. "House of Flowers" was the same. I didn't react quite as negatively to "Diamond Guitar" for some odd reason - I think maybe it had something to do with the fact that these characters were already in prison. It was all upfront from the get-go, and I appreciated this ease in my anxiety.

The catch here is that they're not supposed to be scary stories. I was able to perceive this through my haze of paranoia, which only served to frustrate me. I wasn't able to enjoy the stories as just that - stories.

Breakfast at Tiffany's is certainly worth more than 3 stars, and not just for the title story, either - the others are just as good. In my case, though, it was my deeply instilled auto-reaction to the short story what caused me to give it three stars. Short stories truly are an acquired taste.


Respond:
For those of you who've read Breakfast at Tiffany's before, go ahead. Admit that you only read it for the Holly Golightly goodness, or for the Goodreads College Students group. You and I both know it's true. Do you disagree with my assumption? Please comment, and include why you read it, and what you thought of the OTHER stories, as well.

Stephany Read: Not My Daughter by Barbara Delinsky

Book Title/Author: Not My Daughter by Barbara Delinsky
Publisher/Year Published: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group/January 2010
How I Got This Book: From the public library.
Why I read this book: Once I read one book by an author, and if I like it a lot, I try to read ALL of his/her books. So, as I said, I heard this one was going to be great, so I decided to read it!
Rating: 3 stars-- It was an OKAY book, not great.

Basically the book is following "trends" that actually do happen with the world nowadays. It's about three teenage girls who make a pregnancy pact while in their senior year of high school.

When I first started reading the book, I was bored. I don't know if any of you have seen the lifetime movie called The Pregnancy Pact, but I felt as if Barbara (the author) watched the movie, and/or heard about this event that actually happened and decided to do a story on it. I felt as if her book wasn't original enough. It just seemed too planned or maybe too played out.

So, these three girls decide to do a pregnancy pact while in their senior year of high school, and their parents are totally against it. The book is about trial and error, loving unconditionally, and working as a family through the rough times, rather than just the good times. I felt as if the Mothers in the book were being very selfish about the whole situation, as well as the town the book takes place in. One of the teenage girls mom, is the High School Principal and her fellow staff, school board and faculty members, as well as town members are pointing fingers and saying she could prevent it.

Honestly, I would recommend this book to either other Barbara Delinsky fans because it is an okay book. But, it's definitely not a favorite that I've ever read. As I said, it seems too played out, too planned, too much like the actual story that happened not too long ago. I feel like this particular author and/or story shows that they (the author) couldn't find anything better to write.

Maybe I'm being too honest, or too outspoken, or too harsh, but I'm not really sure how else to explain.. basically, the book was just too stereotype-ish and dry.

R holds forth on The 2 1/2 Pillars of Wisdom by Alexander McCall Smith

The 2 1/2 Pillars of Wisdom by Alexander McCall Smith
Abacus, 2004
How I got this book: Borrowed it from the library.
Why I read this book: I was playing tennis with a friend when she recommended it to me. She said she felt like she was trapped in the opening story. You might understand my reluctance to go on with the anecdote if you've read the story in question.

The 2 1/2 Pillars of Wisdom consists of a trilogy of comic short novels – Portuguese Irregular Verbs, The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs, and At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances – featuring the bungling German professor of Romance Philology Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld, his duo of equally bungling friends, and a cast of characters who either join in with the bungling or end up victims of it.

This is the first I’ve read of the intimidatingly prolific Alexander McCall Smith (How does the man sleep?), and having read these stories – for this trilogy is really a volume of short stories rather than three full-length novels – I must say that I’m very keen to delve into some of his more well-known series.

This tome is simply charming. I can’t think of any adjective that better encapsulates everything I feel about it. I was charmed from the get-go by those quaint titles that McCall Smith tends to give his books, and then found myself successively charmed by everything else: the charmingly awkward characters; the charmingly light-hearted plots; the charmingly pleasant prose...

It probably ought to be mentioned that, on a very basic and obvious level, the humour of these stories is often derived from the heavy use of stereotypes. The Italians are boisterous and tend to gesticulate wildly; the Irish drink a lot; the Indians are either psychic holy men or casual law-breakers; the English are alarmingly eccentric; the Colombians are obsessed with bringing about the revolution; and, of course, the Germans are proper, logical and utterly horrified by lack of decorum.

Additionally, with the stereotype of bumbling brainbox professors being played out for laughs, there is a strong element of Schadenfreude, as it were. Basically, we’re encouraged to laugh at poor von Igelfeld as he traps himself in corners with his ineptitude.

Despite all that has been said, however, none of this stereotyping is overtly mocking or mean-spirited in the least. Trust me on this one: I’m the sort of person who can’t watch The Office because it gives me such a serious case of second-hand embarrassment that I want to defenestrate myself on the characters’ behalves. If it gets too sneery, my overdeveloped embarrassment gland means that I will avoid it like the plague.

That said, as a student, I've been in contact with academics for the better part of two years now, and part of the reason these stories are as charming as they are is that they genuinely manage to capture some truth in the whimsically awkward situations described. Trust me on this one, too: I’ve witnessed situations involving professors that were so horrifically awkward I wanted to defenestrate myself on their behalves... Yet somehow, these events have been unbelievably hilarious in retrospect – and these stories are perfectly spot-on in evoking that sensation.

I’d recommend this to anyone looking for a light, humorous read. In fact, I’d also recommend that anybody who thinks they may get stranded on an island anytime soon slip a copy of this into a water-tight bag and carry it around on their person. This is the sort of read whose gentle frivolities you can easily lose yourself in – even when stranded on an island with no food, no water, and no hope of rescue. Yes, The 2 1/2 Pillars of Wisdom may just have become one of my Desert Island Books, and it gets 5 stars from me.

Regarding Jana and "Austenland"

Title and Author: Austenland by Shannon Hale

Publishing Info : Published by Bloomsbury USA, 2007.

How I got this book: It was under the tree Christmas of 2009.

Why I read this book: A very good friend recommended this book to me when she learned that I'm that hopeless romantic who wishes she lived in the good old days of Jane Austen's romances.

Stars: I give this book 5 heart-shaped stars because it was so cute and I got to live vicariously through the main character!

Austenland is like Disneyland for women who secretly wish they had a Mr. Darcy of their own. I think BBC’s version of Pride and Prejudice instilled a little bit of that longing in all of us. This problem is exactly what Jane Hayes suffers with. After dating a ton of losers, this single, 33-year-old, New Yorker has come to the conclusion that no man can compare to the sexy, debonair, and utterly romantic Mr. Darcy. She has given up on the male gender completely. One day when her mother and great-aunt Carolyn come over for a visit, they inadvertently discover her copy of the movie as it shifts and falls from its hiding place in Jane’s potted plant. Jane, of course, was mortified—as if they had discovered her drawer of scandalous underwear.

Six months later, Great-Aunt Carolyn passes away and leaves one thing for Jane in her will: a non-refundable, all-inclusive, three-week vacation to Pembrook Park in England where she will strip herself of modern conveniences and live just as Elizabeth Bennett did. After some panicked girl talk with her friend, she decides to humor her late aunt and go on the trip as one last fling before giving up on ever finding her Mr. Darcy. She’ll play out her fantasy and then throw her DVDs away.

She arrives at Pembrook Park and is given a new name, a new age (in Regency times, a woman her age would be considered a spinster and unmarriageable), a pamphlet on how to speak and act, a regency wardrobe (even her purple bra is confiscated and replaced with Regency undies), and is scurried off to teatime with her cell phone hidden illegally in the bottom of her trunk. She feels a little silly at first, but soon embraces this new way of life. She even enjoys it a little! Even though it’s all a game, her confidence improves and she’s convinced she can finally kick this Mr. Darcy obsession to the curb. However, these dreams of hers seem to be more attainable than she thought. With all the humor, charm, and sweet romance you could expect from a Jane Austen novel, Jane Hayes is well on her way to finding everything she hoped for.

This book had me before it even started when I read the dedication page: “For Colin Firth: You’re a really great guy, but I’m married, so I think we should just be friends.” I knew I was in for a fun read. I think part of the reason I enjoyed this book so much is because I identify so much with Jane Hayes. I’ve had my share of frogs in the proverbial dating pond, and understand her frustrations. However… I don’t hide my Pride and Prejudice DVD in a flowerpot. Hahaha. This was a fun, light-hearted read. It was very clean, obviously (since it’s modeled after a clean book), and I enjoyed watching the romance unfold. Jane got herself into some funny situations and was a bit rebellious at times—sneaking out to enjoy modern technology (sounds like something I’d do). I also love that each chapter started out with a story of one of Jane's romances-gone-bad. They were very humorous and made me feel a little better about my experiences! I enjoyed the characters, the detailed descriptions, and the storyline. I laughed, I got annoyed, I chewed characters out when they were being dumb, I turned the pages in anticipation, and I closed the book with a smile on my face. Most importantly, this book helped me remember that sometimes what you need is much different than what you want or what you’re looking for.

Happy reading! I’m off to pop some popcorn and watch Pride and Prejudice! (Colin, feel free to join me. I’m not married.)