Christopher Moore, humorist and author, must have some sort-of death wish - writing about Jesus' first 30 years - the years after his miraculous birth but before the Bible picks up again through to his untimely death. Either way, this book was well worth the damnation of his eternal soul.

The central character, Levi, but his friends call him Biff, is raised from the dead by the not-so swift Angel Raziel, in order to write a new testament to the bible discussing Joshua's, or Jesus as he is known to most, early years. Biff meets and consequently becomes the "messiah's" best friend when Biff comes across Josh "resurrecting" a frog that his little brother keeps bashing in the head with a rock.

Lamb covers the many trials and tribulations of Biff and Josh's escapades - they meet (and subsequently fall in love with) Mary Magdalene (or Maggie), they go on a quest to find the three magi who came to see Jesus' birth and learn some interesting and different things from these wise men and the reader learns how Josh recruits his disciples all while flashing back to Biff in current times trying to sneak a look at the bible (to learn what has happened to his friends) hidden in the hotel's bedside table without arousing the arch-angel Raziel's wrath.

Moore takes pleasure in relating the "human-ness" of Josh - he acts like a boy not a savior while trying to accept his fate as the savior of mankind and teach others "the way". The interesting thing that Moore does with this book is show the boys learning about other religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism and yoga and to see how these fit into Christianity as it is taught today - it is interesting to see that the religion is made up of parts of each of the other main religions at the time of Jesus.

This book is very well written - in a style that only Moore could get away with - his trademark wit and wisdom can be found sprinkled throughout Lamb. After reading this book, one wonders why no one thought to write something like this before.

No less an authority than Ralph Waldo Emerson said one of the chief failings of contemporary Christianity was that it emphasized the myth of Christ over the actual historical figure of Jesus. Fortunately, Christopher Moore has decided to present us with his own vision of Jesus's human side, as told by his resurrected best friend, Levi bar Alphaeus who is called Biff.

Moore has a well-earned reputation as a silly writer, but with "Lamb" he manages to apply his bizarre sense of humor to some more serious subject matter. "Lamb" is a sort of strange combination of adventure, religious satire, screwball comedy, and heavy philosophy. At turns it's funny, at other turns it's plaintive, and sometimes it's just odd, but it's always a fun read. After meeting as kids in Galilee, Biff and Jesus (or Joshua, as he's known in this narrative) embark on an epic journey that takes them all over Asia and back again. Joshua struggles to figure out how to fill his role as the Messiah, learning along the way from wise men and Buddhist monks.
Moore, as one could imagine from a writer with his imagination, has a lot of fun constructing his own version of Jesus's world as it existed two thousand years ago. He fills his narrative with innumerable humorous details of everyday life (the kids playing a game of "stone the adulteress" is one especially hilarious moment), and it's amusing to hear Biff tell how he and Joshua brought the world such inventions as sarcasm, cafe latte, and Judo.

Silly as it can be, "Lamb" is surprisingly thoughtful, even touching, at some moments. Even though he's the son of God, it's still easy to symphathize with Joshua's struggle to find his way in life. Moore also makes "Lamb" a tale of friendship, capturing the complexities of the relationship between Joshua, Biff, and Mary Magdalene (Biff loves Mary, Mary loves Joshua, Joshua can't know woman, so you get the idea). Really, though, it's the philosophy and theology that make this book. As presented by Moore, Joshua has a completely inclusive view of religion, heavily indebted to Eastern thought (especially Buddhism). Against the skepticism of those who know him, even the Apostles, Joshua sets out to save the souls of all people, not just the Jews who have been "chosen" by God. I was a history major in college, and I can say with reasonable certainty that the world would've been a better place if more people subscribed to the tolerant view of religion set forth in "Lamb." It's too bad that many of those who call themselves religious don't know or care enough about the teachings of Jesus, but "Lamb" is a good reminder of what he stood for, especially if you want a laugh.

This is the first book I've read by Christopher Moore, but it certainly won't be the last. His style of writing is so down to earth that you can relate to everything he says instantly. You'll laugh out loud numerous times and repeat passages to friends, family, or anyone who has an ear.

The basis of the book is that Levi (Who is called Biff) was Christ's best friend growing up. With orders from God, the angel Raziel has resurrected Biff in modern day Egypt, travels with him to NYC, and locks him in a hotel room. Raziel, who is addicted to pro wrestling, MTV, and soap operas, is locked in the room with Biff and charges him with the task of writing his own gospel of Christ to fill in the gaps that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John left out which was pretty much everything from the wise men to the age of 33. Biff recounts his time with Joshua (Joshua is his Hebrew name, Jesus is his Greek name) and their adventures to teach Josh how to be the Messiah. Along the way, you'll learn about Biff's experiences with the Kama Sutra, Josh's schooling in meditation and knack for getting stuck in wine bottles, what bunnies have to do with Easter, what the "H" stands for in Jesus H. Christ, and most of all, the bond between two best friends.

Is it satire? Of course. Is it blasphemous? That's for the reader to decide. Is it the funniest book I've ever read? Without a doubt.

Without doubt, this is one of the best accounts of military history that I have ever read.

'We Were Soldiers' describes two separate engagements between the NVA and American forces in the Ia Drang valley in Vietnam. This battle, fought in 1965, was one of the first 'real' encounters between US and NVA forces, and it changed the Vietnam War from a political exercise to full fledged conflict.

Essentially, the book is divided into two stories, that of the soldiers that fought at Landing Zone (LZ) X-Ray, and that of the soldiers that fought at LZ Albany, two locations in the Ia Drang valley.

The book is frighteningly honest about the harsh realities of war, and does an excellent job at showing the human cost of war. Lt. General Harold 'Hal' Moore writes in a very forthright and honest manner, and it is obvious he is someone that does not mince words, and I believe that every word in this book is truth.

The book isn't easy to read, and it certainly isn't a light, entertaining story. If anything, the book is closer to a history text, rich in detail and thoroughly referenced, but that doesn't mean it isn't a fascinating read.

But overall, what I admired so much about this book was the honesty of it. Nothing is withheld, all is told, typical of 'Hal' Moore. After reading this book, it is obvious to me that Hal is a man of the highest integrity and earned every star on his shoulder.

I am an Australian, and although the men at Ia Drang weren't from my country, I was still deeply moved after reading this book. Every man that served in that valley was a hero, and I admire them greatly. I recommend all Americans read this book, young and old.

I read this book in 1993, right after it first came out. It was the marine commandant's choice for Marines who wished to read in their field of concentration. Joe Galloway, a war correspondent and Col. Hal Moore, the commanding officer in this horrific battle in the Ia Drang valley in Vietnam, co-wrote this superb depiction of one of the first set piece battles of the Vietnamese war. That these men survived this battle at all is mute testimony to their irrepressible fierceness, to their dogged determination, and to the fearless efforts of their air and artillery support. They fought a courageous enemy who was bent on one purpose, the annihilation of their American foe. It's a brilliantly told tale of military heroism and perseverance. The recent death in the WTC bombing of one of the primary participants in the battle, Rick Rescorla, and the articles dedicated to his selfless display of bravery as he made certain that his charges were evacuated from the WTC, caused me to review this book once again.

Most Americans are sadly deficient when it comes to any knowledge of military history and its impact on the course of civilization. It seems too often that we are a nation of full stomachs and empty heads. However, the emotional trauma of the recent Taliban attacks on our soil has shaken us loose from our stupor and an interest in affairs military has been thusly ignited. As one who remembers WWII, and whose family is filled with men who went to every war this country has ever fought, my fervent wish is that our citizens will one day wake up to what actually happened in SE Asia in the mid to latter part of the 20th century. My second wish is that people will grow to understand that terrorists are not patriots, and that they are not leaders of their people. Cromwell, Bolivar, George Washington, all of whom refused the crown, they were leaders of their people. Mao, Lenin, Stalin, Ho Chi Minh, Castro, they were and are killers of their people. America fought a cold war, rebuilt Western Europe and Japan, and liberated South Korea from the Communists like the aforementioned. Vietnam was a battle in that Cold War.

The Taliban, who have taken many lives to further a fanatical agenda, are merely the latest iteration of terrorists who seek to do what our constitution was written to prevent. This book is a great story about men who fought and died for principles that too many know too little about to understand. Perhaps now that the country is on high alert we'll gain back some ground form the empty heads that have presided over the media and academia in America. Buy this book and read it, you'll be very glad you did.

Oh, what an extraordinary book. This book satisfies on so many levels. First, it provides an accurate historical account of the most important battle of the Vietnam War -- the first one. From this examination, the reader can understand why the U.S. reached strategic failure in Vietnam. Until its publication, there has never been an accurate accounting of this savage, enigmatic battle, only partial analysis and limited oral histories. This book presents the battle from the battalion commander view and integrates it into the goals of the war. Second, the book presents, in unsparingly frank terms, the sacrifices and courage exuded by average American boys in combat with an ardent foe in a foreign land. After reading this book, I dare anyone, ANYONE, to question the scope and magnitude of the sacrifices made by those who served in Vietnam. The depictions of combat and its accompanying loss will stay with the reader for a very long time. Lastly, for all military buffs, it's a great read and allows you to engage in some healthy hero-worship. In honor of those who served and died on this tragic battlefield and all those of Vietnam, a paraphrase of the inscription at Thermopylae is in order: "Go tell the Americans, stranger passing by, Here, obedient to their laws we lie."

Christopher Moore ranks among the freshest, hippest, inventively comic literary voices around today. In this, his 4th novel, we follow the trvails of Tucker Chase, reprobate pilot whose penchant for strong drink and exotic women leads him into involuntary employment in Micronesia for a doctor whose "practice" involves the harvesting of human organs from umwitting "donars". Tucker's road to ruin, realization and redemption is an entertaining whirlwind involving Moore's usual cast of memorable, zany characters. This book is somewhat less reliant on the supernatural as a mainstay of the plot mechanism (though this might seem an untenable statement to those not familiar with Moore's books as this story includes the presence of a talking fruitbat and the ghost of a WWII bomber pilot as central characters)while providing a broader cast of significan't, meaty characters to enjoy getting to know. On the whole I'd rate this effort just behind "Bloodsucking Fiends" but solidly ahead of his other two books. This represents the perfect vacation and/or beach read so long as you don't mind people looking at you while you laugh out loud while reading!

I love to laugh and learn. There's nothing better when it comes to reading a great book. And Chris Moore has done it here. I'd recently read 'Blood Sucking Fiends' also (by Mr. Moore), but found this book even more enjoyable than that novel.

The story of 'Island of the Sequined Love Nun' surrounds a man named Tucker Case. He's a pilot for a successful cosmetic guru lady who believes that image is everything. So when Tucker, one of her employees, crashes one of her planes while having sex with a prostitute in the cockpit (no pun intended), she has to do something.

What happens is that Tucker is sent to a far away island to fly 'supplies' on and off this remote tropical paradise. Trouble is, he soon finds out that he's NOT transporting supplies, but something far more hideous...and profitable.

From talking fruit bats with sunglasses, to impaled male sexual organs, this book is a laugh a minute. I had snot blowing out of my nose (because I was just getting over a cold) every time I turned a page and started laughing.

Pick up a copy and check out how true comedy comes alive on the page. Fun stuff!

I really enjoyed this book. I read Practical Demonkeeping last month which was the first of Christopher's books I had ever purchased on a whim by an author I'd hadn't read before and found I couldn't put it down. I went out and picked up all of his other novels. I love his writing! Each of his novels held my attention from start to finish. He is so very creative, imaginative and so very funny. I had picked up Coyote Blue on a number of occasions but put it back because I didn't think I'd like it (little did I know). He's definitely a keeper, so I'll be waiting & watching for anything that he may publish. I may have been a little late finding out about this author but I'm definitely not sorry. For those of you who haven't read his work, check it out cause you're missing something exciting. Keep up the good work Christopher!

There are books that everyone 'knows' but hardly anybody reads any more. Reading these classics can be quite illuminating; they are not what you think. For example, do you really know how Dracula was killed? Or why The Virginian said "Smile when you call me that"? Read the originals; you'll be surprised.

"Tarzan of the Apes", the first of 23 Tarzan adventures by Edgar Rice Burroughs, is full of surprises. The Tarzan of this book is not the Johnny Weissmuller or Ron Ely that you might know. He is not raised by gorillas (as I had thought) but by mythical 'anthropoids', a sort of missing link between man and gorilla, with rudimentary speech and a social structure that includes ritual and dance. This is a science fiction tale, a sort of "Lost World" meets "Jungle Book". Tarzan befriends and converses with (and kills and eats) a variety of beasts.

There are aspects of the story that modern readers will find as hard to swallow as some of Tarzan's raw meat dinners. For example, this jungle is populated with lions, hyenas and elephants, creatures that in reality never go near rain forests. We are also asked to believe that Tarzan teaches himself to read and write from books that he finds.

Many modern readers will also find the racialism difficult to take. He boasts of being "Tarzan, killer of beasts and many black men". Coming on a village deep in the jungle, he immediately readies his bow and poisoned arrows. When his European companion admonishes him that it is wrong to kill humans, the hero protests "But these are black men". (Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't believe that scene was included in the Disney version). This is a 1914 American novel, with all the prejudices intact.

It's quite well written; Burroughs is very readable. The plotting is a strange mixture of ingenuity and clumsiness. There is a very clever device that involves Jane thinking there are two ape-men, one an admirer, the other her rescuer. But the plot also requires three separate mutinies, two of which just happen to involve cousins, to take place off the same remote African beach. This is beyond coincidence.

So is this genre classic still worth reading? I think so, for the same reason "Dracula" and "The Virginian" are still worth reading; this is the book that started it all.

This is a great book for youngsters. It is a classic adventure story. Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote a great tale of adventure. I read this book in junior high school and then again in high school. I recently reread it again now in my thirties. It is still a compelling read. One grows to care for Tarzan of the Apes. The movies do not do it justice. The original is the best. A lot of the subsequent Tarzan novels do not measure up to this one. It is a bona fide classic of adventure fiction. It deserves a place next to works by Rider Haggard and Zane Grey. I find myself waxing nostalgic for youth gone by and Tarzan of the Apes is right there. A fun read at any age.

Listed in Cawthorn's and Moorcock's "Fantasy: The 100 Best Books".

The Weissmuller movies didn't get him right. The TV series haven't got him right. And the Disney movie CERTAINLY won't get him right. Burrough's original narration of the story of Tarzan is a mix of bloodthirsty savagery and unrestrained suspension of disbelief that few would attempt to capture these days.

The Tarzan series is unique among his author's body of work. Where the Barsoom, Pellucidar and Caspak series concern modern men travelling to exotic lands and falling in love with native women, this time around it is a modern woman who comes to the wilderness and steals the heart of the savage protagonist, who must now step up to her civilized ways.

The tale is laced with bloody scenes of man-against-man and man-against-beast rampage. The great apes among which Tarzan grows are a cannibal species, who eat the prisioners of raids against other simian clans. The king ape kills Tarzan's father in a moment where he is caught off guard, mourning the recent death of his wife. When Tarzan first encounters men (an African tribe), he hunts and kills one of them to steal his arrows (killing being the way of the jungle, since Tarzan knows nothing of human behavior). Also, these men turn out to be cannibals too. And when the white men finally arrive, they raid their village and kill almost every one in an attempt to rescue a captured comrade.

After growing wild among beasts, Tarzan (whose name menas White Skin) realizes that he is different from his ape family. And through a series of inventions of his own (like making a rope) and fortunate coincides (like the use of a found hunting knife), he steps up the evolutionary ladder by himself. The moment he learns to read and write from illustrated primers and a dictionary is among the most improbable in the whole book. But if we have kept up with it until now, allowing ourselves to accept that a human child can be raised by apes, then his ascension to superiority isn't that hard to embrace.

Tarzan turns out to be the primeveal lovesick nerd. After the first time he sees Jane Porter (the first white woman he ever casts his eyes on), his heart is all for her. He writes her a love letter, which smacks of the most pityful puppy love ("I want you. I am yours. You are mine... When you see this you will know that it is for you and that Tarzan of the Apes loves you"). Yet our hero is true and noble, and he holds the upper hand in his homeland. The girl can't do anything but be carried away by her primeveal pretender.

I recommend you get this edition I'm reviewing, the one by Penguin. Besides the introduction which gives a valuable background to the place of Tarzan among popular literature and some details on the life of Edgar Rice Burroughs, it contains a series of notes that signal where he took some liberties with his story's setting (like placing American plants in the African jungle).

The English is a little bit archaic, the characterization tends to cartoon and stereotype, but the story is powerful and nothing captures the beauty of the original like the original itself. Read Tarzan of the Apes, and meet again for the first time an archetypical hero of timeless charm.

Charmingly naive young man meets, falls in love with, and then finds it's not easy living with a gorgeous vampire. Improvisation is called for in the form of window shades, freeazer chest, and ... snapping turtles??? Angered and menacing vampire gent adds another level of challenge. Wow! This energetically hilarious story passed the ultimate test: my wife became suspicious when she heard me laughing out loud (something I do every 25,000 books or so). Then she read it and understood. Christopher Moore delivers fast-paced supernatual hijinks, with a peppering of pinpoint jabs at the inanity of modern urban living. The dialog must be among the wittiest of any American author today. It's one thing to chuckle over a funny quote; a real treat to laugh anew when deadpan rejoinders add a whole new twist to the humor. Add a host of imaginative complications, and the reader had better hang on for this wild jaunt. Like Moore's other novels (_Coyote Blue_ Practical Demonkeeping_) the satire is decidedly upbeat. He manages to let the redemptive qualities of his characters sneak through all the farcical shenanigans. As a result, you'll cheer for these night-shift kids as they stumble all over themselves (and a few bodies) to find true happiness. A book easily finished before sunrise!

This is another boonie dog book review from Wolfie and Kansas. "Bloodsucking Fiends" is another funny, well-plotted ofbeat book by Christopher Moore, full of entertaining characters. The basic story is living boy meets undead girl, and subjects her to very weird bondage.

We admit to being a little tired of vampire books. Perhaps human writers should stop overdoing the vampire bit, and produce a few good books about what they call "werewolves". (We call them "werehumans".) "Bloodsucking Fiends" is saved from vampire triteness by Moore's humor and, from our perspective, the inclusion of dogs. The Van Helsing role in "Bloodsucking Fiends" is played by an Emperor Norton character, who leads an army consisting of a Boston terrier and a golden retriever.

Finally, we hope we have not offended Christopher Moore's fans by giving this book a 9 rather than 10. We tend to save our tens for recognized classics of world literature, like "Waiting for Godot" and "Island of the Sequined Love Nun".

After reading "Coyote Blue", I thought there might be a letdown with another Moore book. Could he possibly be as funny? Well, let me tell you, he's even funnier in this wonderful tale of vampires. His cast of characters, which include the Emperor, dogs in pie-tin helmets, the Animals (a gang of after hours stock boys), a naive young would-be writer from Indiana, snapping turtles, a gay cop-straight cop pair, and a couple of irreverent bronze-plating artists, make for a wild romp. My one problem is that only people who are familiar with Christopher Moore would contact this site. With all these 10's as reviews, how do we get others to become as in love with Moore as we are? Is there a rave review section (all l0's) that people can contact? If not, there should be. Enough! I must go to start reading "Island of the Sequined Love Nun." Is that a title, or what?

This book suffers from the same problem as most superhero graphic novels: It won't mean much to you unless you are already familiar with the character and his/her history. If you are not familiar with Batman and his history, or are only interested in Alan Moore because of such works as the Watchmen or From Hell, this only gets 2 stars as it is the weakest work I have ever read from the otherwise amazing Alan Moore (the Bolland artwork is fantastic, but not enough to save the story otherwise). Other than its insights into the two characters (Batman and Joker) it has nothing interesting to say. However, if you are familiar with Batman, this is an interesting and entertaining look at the eternal battle between Batman and the Joker and its underlying psychology, and is one of the first works to note that such characters as the Joker would not have arisen in the Batman universe if Batman himself did not exist (a sort of yin/yang thing). And seeing Batman and Joker sharing a laugh over a joke is a wonderful moment, but only if you are familiar with the two.

This book is also interesting for its rare retelling of Joker's origin (again, only of real interest to Batman fans). The only other one I am aware of is from the 1930s or 40s. It is also the story in which Batgirl gets raped and becomes handicapped. Much better than other Bat-crap like Knightsfall.

Batman: The Killing Joke is simply the finest superhero story ever told. Although the concept looks traditional (Joker escaping and Batman trying to capture him), it focuses very little on action and more on the tortured psychological profile of this famous villain. The Joker here is perhaps in his vilest appearance, but later on, as the story unfolds, the reader almost feels pity for him, as his tragic origin is revealled. The book also contains some very controversial aspects that make it have a really very adult feel. And the art is equally brilliant with the story. This guy (sorry I don't remember his name) drew one of the best Batmans I have seen in comic form. All in all, I strongly believe that this book should be listed in the top-10 of the best comics of all time.

The Killing Joke is, without a doubt, the finest work that involves Batman.

The story goes like this - The Joker, in a desperate attempt to get someone to see things from his point of view, shoots Barbara Gordon (daughter of police Commissioner Gordon), paralyzing her. Then, he takes the Commisstioner and tries to turn him insane. And, as usual, it's up to the Batman to stop him.

Maybe the most entertaining aspect of the book is the backstory it weaves. It shows the Joker, pre-accident, as a stuggling comedian unwittingly brought into a robbery. Using elements from the famous 1950's Joker origin story, 'The Man behind the Red Hood', Moore and Bolland make the Joker seem tragic, in a maniacal sort of way.

The dark story Moore writes meshes well with Brian Bolland's detailed, linear artwork. Bolland makes every character look remarkable, and his rendition of the Joker on the cover has become one of the most famous Joker images in history.

You can't call yourself a Batman fan if you don't own this. Heck, you aren't much of a comics fan at all if you haven't at least read the story. This is ESSENTIAL for EVERYONE'S collection.

While I haven't been a fan of every "Oprah Book Club" selection (I respect her, but how many "poor, sexually abused" child stories can one person read?) I continue to read many of the queen of talk show's recommendations because she has led me to some of my favorite books, and introduced to me authors, for example Wally Lamb, whom I probably wouldn't have discovered without Ms. Winfrey's encouragement. "Cane River" is another one of those "Oprah Books" I can easily recommend. It's a great read which is also great history. An intriguing "based on a true story" novel, this story details the struggle of a Southern family as they transform from slave, to Negro to Colored. (The tale ends before they hit Black or African-American.) As a non-African American, this book was a real insight for me into the racism that lives within racism. Sure, I knew that the South was hardly a bastion of political correctness, but I was basically ignorant of the social standing based on skin color that lived (and likely still exists to some extent) within the black community. It's not only a story about color, it's also a story about women's place in society. Real women, not the wealthy, privileged elite. "Cane River," written by a former female CEO of a Fortune 500 company, puts into perspective just how far we've come as a society, and how far we have yet to go. It also lends hope that, with each succeeding generation, progress is, in fact, made, even though it's sometimes hard to see until you step back and look at the big picture. And, yeah, the fact that Lalita Tademy, the great-great granddaughter (I think that's right), of a slave can become a corporate bigwig IS the big picture.

My mom loaned me her book and now, I want to own a copy of this excellent book! What a story to tell! It's riveting ~~ from the first page to the last page ~~ a story of four generation of women who fought to keep their family intact during the slavery days and post-Civil War days. It's enough for me to want to do research on my family heritage myself!

Elisabeth, Suzette, Philemon and Emily all have their own stories to share ~~ of those long ago days in the plantations, of being submissive to their masters and mistresses, of dreams born and crushed, loss of life's mates and children through sales or death, facing prejudice just because of their skin color, and so forth. It is a story within stories of voices heard throughout the years. These women are exceptional ~~ simply because they held onto their dreams of keeping their families together. They did what they had to do to survive and they make no apologies in doing so. They are women of courage and bravery ~~ women that all women want to be like.

And not only are their stories riveting, Tademy includes personal items of her research in finding her family's roots ~~ sales bills, letters and pictures. Tademy gives her ancestors the voices to reach out from beyond the grave to share with us what life was like in the 1800s ~~ especially for women of color. They are not your typical mammys or Harriet Tubmans ~~ they are just women struggling to stay alive and living for each day as it comes. Tademy makes each one of her ancestors come alive with voices of their own ~~ something this reader really appreciates! It's one of the best historical fiction/biography she has read in ages ~~ since Roots. It's humbling to read about other women with courage and spirit ~~ it makes one realize just how easy life is nowadays.

I honestly recommend this book to anyone who has a desire to know more about history. It's one of the best books you'll read in a long time ~~ this is not one of Oprah's gloomy picks. No, it's an enlightening and uplifting story ~~ despite all the racial prejudices and truths, these women still kept their heads up high. It's wonderfully written and refreshing as well. I cannot say enough about this book ~~ so read it and see why I enjoyed it so much!

6-27-02

Here's why first-time novelist Lalita Tademy's CANE RIVER is such a worthwhile book...

We have a problem with the very idea of history - keeping track of people and events gone by. Remembering facts, that's all the story of history is to many of us, remembering facts, never mind the issue of truth. "Seeing is believing," the old saying goes, "but touching is God's own truth." CANE RIVER is a historical fiction, a fact-based novel spanning the lives of five generations of Ms. Tademy's ancestors, black and white, in central Louisiana - and it touched me.

Not so long ago I read a historical fiction by novelist Robert Nye where he makes a sharp distinction between "town" history (dry, cynical, exact), ruled by the head, and "country" history (fanciful, mystical, open-ended), ruled by the heart. Town history is recorded in the police blotter, the legal brief, the daily news, a classroom textbook. Country history is campfire tales, nursery rhymes, local gossip, family legends.

CANE RIVER is an artful, skillful blend of town and country history. The book results from Ms. Tademy's years of research, poring through "mounds of documents and family history," interviewing relatives and helpers, coming to her own stereotype-challenging discoveries about race, class, caste and slavery in Louisiana. The text is sprinkled and counterpointed with copies of actual documents, portraits, family photos. That makes these "characters" - whose names we see in such mundane items as bills of sale, receipts, suicide notes; whose eyes betray life within the stiffly-posed pictures - all the more real people to us.

Ms. Tademy animates the lives and times, from pre-Civil War servitude to hard-won, precarious post-World War I independence, of her direct forebears, particularly the "flesh-and-blood women who made hard choices, even in oppression." She's a great storyteller, plain spoken and imaginative, articulating details of scene and personality that engage our interest, perchance even our empathy. Her great accomplishment is to re-create these "characters" - "her people," in the sense that Toni Morrison conveys in SONG OF SOLOMON: her "links" - with such believability, such utter human frailty and dignity, removing them from judgement. She illumines their inner world, their motivations, in such an even-handed, understated way that you find yourself compelled, when confronted by this one's actions (or inactions), or that one's attitude, to admit, "I don't necessarily condone it - but I can understand it."

For it is understanding, not necessarily sympathy, that is the goal of this book, of the effort behind it. We're shown here people, actual people who were much like any of us, caught in the confrontation between the man-made (laws, mores) and the God-given (one's very being; to an extent, one's connection to kin and community), and how they coped. As Malcolm X pointed out, this is the lesson we take from history; being human, we're all in the same boat. What will we learn from others who share the human condition?

FROM HELL is writer Alan Moore's and artist Eddie Campbell's stab (pun intended) at Jack The Ripper. But this isn't your usual story about the Whitechapel murders. Alan Moore doesn't conceal the killer's identity until the very last page, he reveals it in chapter two; FROM HELL is not about who the killer was. FROM HELL is a treaties (worthy of a ph.d) about why the killer did what he did, how he did it, and about all the people who knew about it; Mostly, it's about the latter. Alan Moore is a serious conspiracy theorist (respect...); His conclusion is of Royal connection, police corruption, and Freemason involvement. Everybody has got their hands dirty; London is presented as a decrepid and rotten society. I have not yet seen the filmadaptation of FROM HELL, but I've read that there is a shot in the film which "begins with the London skyline, pans down between towers and steam trains, and plunges into a subterranean crypt where a Masonic lodge is passing judgement on one of their members" (from Roger Ebert's filmreview). This is what the story is about; A society that is ruled by the few; By the men who hides in the shadows; By the true architects of history (as said in FROM HELL).

Alan Moore tells a story that sends you spiraling into madness, into the mind of the killer and the society of the killer; Into Hell. The sketchy black and white drawings of Eddie Campbell conjurs up a world of filth, and not the romantesized version of Victorian England that we have all grown accustomed to; "London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained," (from Sir Arthur C. Doyle's A STUDY IN SCARLET). Both Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell have based their work on an impressive amount of research; FROM HELL is about as accurate as any other non-fiction book about Jack The Ripper. But this implies that FROM HELL demands that you're intrigued by the circumstances surrounding the case, and that you don't mind reading through hundreds of pages with long dialogues that are weighed down with facts; If you're only after a quick scare and a murder mystery, then you'll probably be disappointed with FROM HELL. Its audience are the numerous 'ripperologists'. If you fit into this latter category, then you'll relish FROM HELL.

Prostitutes are at the grimy bottom of the social ladder in almost any society. Their murders are neither uncommon nor usual causes for alarm, but in 1888, a string of slayings of this loathly population in Whitechapel, one of many atrocious slumps of Victorian London, shook England to its core. The vile acts of Jack the Ripper, the sickening surgery he performed on five whores, made proud English society question what kind of a monster could arise from its cracks. Jack's escapes from the police and an entire city searching for him forced London to question its competency. The wild curiosity the killer, the first tabloid star, drew made England question its taste. The savage and sick nature of his act, the boastful letters he sent to the press and police (one letter contains included a human kidney) caused many to question the entire human condition. In 1888, the first serial killer, that disturbing, shocking, sexually motivated type of killer was unleashed on the world.

Over one hundred years after the Ripper killings, Alan Moore, puts the events of autumn 1888 under his literary microscope with a comic book masterpiece, From Hell, and makes them as shocking, stomach-turning and frighteningly thought provoking as they were in 1888, in ever. Moore, a practical Ripper historian who fills forty-two pages of this volume with research notes, analyses the historical, intellectual, societal, psychological and metaphysical importance of the Ripper killings.

Moore, joined by appropriately sketchy art of Eddie Campbell, narrates the theory that the cadavers found laying in pieces in Whitechapel once belonged to a gang of prostitutes who bribed the crown with knowledge of a secret marriage between Queen Victoria's grandson and a Catholic commoner. Royal physician, Sir William Gull, disposed of the women and takes a few creative liberties.

All characters in From Hell are beyond compelling: Gull, a Freemason and Hannibal Lector-type intellectual who reaches the darkest regions of the human mind and spirit, which are revealed to also be the most profane. Mary Kelly, Gull's final victum, who is made brutally aware of the futility of her life's station and the harshness of her world as she watches her friends die one by one and waits for her turn. Frederick Abberline, the Scotland Yard inspector assigned to the Ripper case, whose traditional morals of merit are tested as he wades through the steaming dung of society.

In most comics, traditional morals are seen as a virtue, but From Hell is no ordinary comic book. It travels down the societal ladder in an attempt to step higher on the philosophical. It is a masterpiece, a gracefully narrated epic that splashes in the grime of history and moral netherworlds with a deep sense of poignancy.

The most recent offering from Alan Moore, the author who, alongside Neil Gaiman, was responsible for bringing comic books to their fullest potential as art on par with novels, From Hell is a brilliant, moody, and well-researched re-telling of the Jack the Ripper story. Moore takes an interesting twist on the story - and one he himself admits that he believes is false - but the point of the book isn't so much a whodunit as a treatise on the combining of fact and fiction into myth, and the nature of sensationalism and crime in the 20th century.

From Hell features an amazing cast of characters and the story is told in sixteen chapters - two of which are a prologue and an epilogue. Moore weaves historical facts together to form a cohesive story, and draws on dozens of sources, both Ripper-related and otherwise. From Hell suggests that the Ripper was, in fact, William Gull, Physician Ordinary to the Royal Family and a member of the Freemasons (this fact is revealed very early on in the book, unlike the movie which IS a whodunit). Where high-level criminologists like FBI profiler John Douglas (inspiration for the Crawford character in Silence of the Lambs) seem to think that the crimes were motivated by a fear of women, Moore focuses on the calm, ritualistic nature of the murders, and the important connection between the victims - that they all knew each other.

Although in this book the crime itself was a Masonic ritual, I think it should be noted that Moore isn't trying to smear the Masons, and that should be obvious to anyone reading From Hell. His contention, one that more or less fits the 100-plus years worth of facts, is that William Gull was gradually going insane and had visions about Masonic deities - shreds of old ritual from Freemasonry's past that he blows out of proportion and begins to manifest, at least in his mind. There was nothing anti-Freemason in this book, but I realize people have to find something to get bent out of shape about.

The crowning achievement of this volume isn't the way Moore creates a perfect fit for Gull as the Ripper, but the appendix at the end in which he details the painstaking amount of research that went into this work. He has a reference for nearly every factual detail, and readily admits when he makes things up or dramatizes certain events for the story. It's an excellent resource for Ripperologists and scholars interested in Moore's book, and its inclusion is what makes From Hell such a fascinating read.

I absolutely recommend From Hell, especially if you enjoyed the film - the book is far more detailed, and doesn't sacrifice any historical accuracies to make a better story, as the movie did. If the film is a starting point, this graphic novel is the logical conclusion. Get it today; you will not be sorry you did.

This was my first Christopher Moore book, but it sure won't be my last. Let it be said that there is no socially redeeming value to this book, unless washing away the cares of the day with a fast, enjoyable, FUNNY and even occasionally slightly touching read is redeeming (which I think it is!!).

I won't try to summarize the plot, but among the elements of it, you've got this "lust lizard," which is really more of a horny undersea dinosaur. Then the hero is a town constable with a horrible marijuana habit. There's a washed-up, insane B-movie star living in a trailer. A bar owner who is made up mostly of fake parts. A biologist studying rats. A corrupt sheriff. A pharmacist with unnatural yearnings for sea mammals. A blues musician with a giant catfish in his past. And so on. You begin to get the idea.

What's fun about this book is that aside from the wacky plot, Moore writes with such verve and energy. It zooms along, peppered with lots of little asides and casual observations which in many ways are the funniest parts of the book. And while totally crazy and unlikely, the characters become very endearing as the book goes on, and there are even moments of romance which manage to VERY briefly add a touch of seriousness to the goings-on.

The book is not for kids. It does have some bad language, and while not exactly explicit, the sexuality that is explored is odd, to say the least. But for an adult with a slightly off-kilter sense of humor, I highly recommend it. Now, on to ISLAND OF SEQUINED LOVE NUNS!!

If you've never read a Christopher Moore novel, you just won't believe it--and that's the point! His wacky plots, gonzo characters, ebullient sexuality, and off-the-wall humor will perk up even the most jaded appetite. This novel stars the Lust Lizard, a huge sea creature, awakened from the deep by a slow leak in a nuclear power plant and drawn to shore, where he gobbles up depressed and nasty people (and an oil tanker and a few cars) and has an affair with Molly, aka Kendra, a human female warrior from old B movies. A town full of people whose anti-psychotic drugs have been replaced by placebos, a druggist who is in love with a dolphin, a sheriff who is running a drug processing plant, a constable hooked on pot, a schlock artist in search of new subject matter, and a cult of salvation seekers all contribute to the hyperactive insanity of this plot. This is a no-holds-barred, let-it-all-hang-out free-for-all which gives a whole new meaning to "the willing suspension of disbelief."

It was a difficult decision, do I read the book in one sitting or read it slowly and enjoy every chapter. The small town of Pine Cove has more than its share of interesting characters - Theo Crowe, the pot-smoking constable; Molly Michon, the town's crazy who was the star of B movies; Mavis Sand - the owner of the Head of the Slug Saloon; Catfish Jefferson, a Blues singer; Valerie Riordan, the town shrink who heavily medicates a good portion of the town's population; and Gabe Fenton, an animal bioloist. Add a sea monster named Steve who terrorizes the community, causing an outbreak of horniness among the residents, and you have a rollicking adventure.

I have trouble reading classic literature. I am an avid reader and I want to enjoy the classics, but just find it difficult to understand the meaning in some of the writing.

This, however, was a pleasant surprise. Although written in the early 1700s, the story itself was fairly easy to follow. Even towards the end, I began to see the underlying theme of the satire that Swift has been praised for in this work.

Being someone who reads primarily science fiction and fantasy novels, I thought this might be an opportunity to culture myself while also enjoying a good story. I was correct in my thinking. Even if you can't pick up on the satire, there is still a good classic fantasy story.

Essentially, the book details the travels of Lemuel Gulliver, who by several misfortunes, visits remote and unheard of lands. In each, Gulliver spends enough time to understand the language and culture of each of these land's inhabitants. He also details the difference in culture of his native England to the highest rulers of the visted nations. In his writing of these differences, he is able to show his dislike with the system of government of England. He does this by simply stating how things are in England and then uses the reaction of the strangers as outsiders looking in, showing their lack of respect for what Gulliver describes.

I found it very interesting to see that even as early as the 1700s there was a general dislike of government as well as lawyers.

I would recommend this book to anyone who reads the fantasy genre. Obviously, it's not an epic saga like so many most fantasy readers enjoy, but it's a nice break. I would also recommend this to high school students who are asked to pick a classic piece for a book report. It reads relatively quick and isn't as difficult to read as some of the others that I've tried to read.

Lemuel Gulliver is a surgeon/ship¨ˆs captain who embarks on several intriguing adventures. His first endeavor takes him to Lilliput, where all inhabitants are six inches tall, but resemble normal humans in every other respect. His next voyage lands him on Brobdingnag, where a grown man is sixty feet tall, and even the shortest dwarf stands thirty feet tall. On his third trip, he travels to several locations, including a floating island. During Gulliver¨ˆs final voyage, he is abandoned by his mutinous crew on the island of the Houyhnhnms, which are extremely intelligent horses. No evil or concept of lying exists among these creatures. The island is also inhabited by Yahoos, savage, irrational human-like creatures who are kept as pets by the Houyhnhnms. Gulliver wishes to spend the rest of his life on this peaceful island, but he is banished and forced to return to England.
I really enjoyed this book, and I would recommend it to people 14 or older. Since the novel was written in the 1700¡¯s, the words, grammar and usage are a little confusing. The reader also must have prior knowledge of 18th-century politics to get a full image of what Swift is trying to convey. At some points, the author goes into detail about nautical terms and happenings, and that tends to drag. Overall, the book is well-written, slightly humorous, if not a little confusing.

It's amazing how our perspective changes as we age. What we thought was important as children may now seem completely insignificant, replaced by entirely new priorities, priorities children wouldn't even understand. At the same time, things we used to take for granted, like having dinner on the table, being taken care of when we're ill, or getting toys fixed when they are broken, have become items on adult worry lists.

Your perspective on literature can change, too. Reading a story for a second time can give you a completely different view of it. "Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain, which I enjoyed as a sort of an adventure story when I was a kid, now reads as a harsh criticism of society in general and the institution of slavery in particular.

The same thing is true of "Gulliver's Travels" by Jonathan Swift. The first thing I realized upon opening the cover of this book as a college student was that I probably had never really read it before.

I knew the basic plot of Lemuel Gulliver's first two voyages to Lilliput and Brobdingnag, home of the tiny and giant people, respectively, but he had two other voyages of which I was not even aware: to a land of philosophers who are so lost in thought they can't see the simplest practical details, Laputa, and to a land ruled by wise and gentle horses or Houyhnhnms and peopled by wild, beastly human-like creatures called Yahoos.

While this book has become famous and even beloved by children, Jonathan Swift was certainly not trying to write a children's book.

Swift was well known for his sharp, biting wit, and his bitter criticism of 18th century England and all her ills. This is the man who, to point out how ridiculous English prejudices had become, wrote "A Modest Proposal" which suggested that the Irish raise their children as cattle, to be eaten as meat, and thereby solve the problems of poverty and starvation faced in that country. As horrible as that proposal is, it was only an extension of the kinds of solutions being proposed at the time.

So, although "Gulliver's Travels" is entertaining, entertainment was not Swift's primary purpose. Swift used this tale of a guillable traveler exploring strange lands to point out some of the inane and ridiculous elements of his own society.

For example, in describing the government of Lilliput, Swift explains that officials are selected based on how well they can play two games, Rope-Dancing and Leaping and Creeping. These two games required great skill in balance, entertained the watching public, and placed the politicians in rather ridiculous positions, perhaps not so differently from elections of leaders in the 18th century and even in modern times.

Give this book a look again, or for the first time. Even in cases in which the exact object of Swift's satire has been forgotten, his sweeping social commentary still rings true. Sometimes it really does seem that we are all a bunch of Yahoos.