Tag Archives: Christopher Moore

Pollyanna’s Desert Island Choices

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Howdy, y’all, Anna-Liza here. Music has been on my mind a lot, lately. I had the opportunity last week to attend an eTown taping which featured Reed Foehl and Arlo Guthrie, which was a real treat. Mr. Guthrie has last none of his musical or storytelling ability. He also has the most beautiful hair EVAH! I had not heard of Mr. Foehl previously to this show, although I had heard of Acoustic Junction, but I am now a CD-owning fan.

This particular music-centric post is in response to a Facebook note from a friend and the “Desert Island Discs” BBC radio show premise – if you were stranded on the proverbial desert island, had what you needed for survival and a way to listen to your choices, what eight pieces of music would you want to have with you, plus which one book and one luxury item. (The original was “gramophone records”).

If I chose albums, the list would be different, but it appears as if the tradition is to choose single pieces. Also, if I thought about this again a month from now, or even a week, my list would be at least a bit different, but here goes:

“Busy Being Blue” – k.d. lang

“Love Lies” – S. J. Tucker

“Small Change” – Tom Waits

“Pablo Picasso” – David Bowie

“In These Shoes?” – Kirsty MacColl

“Rattlebone” – Robbie Robertson

“Panic in Detroit” – David Bowie

“Coventry Carol” – Mediaeval Baebes

It’s a lot harder for me to narrow it down to just one book, but this one stands much rereading – Lamb: the Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore.

Luxury item? I liked my friend’s idea of a solar powered iPad loaded with books. Also, Rita Dove’s choice of a ballroom with robotic dance instructor sounds appealing. Then again, P.D. James went the ascetic route, and asked only for pencils and paper.

For me, a fully furnished and supplied, solar powered craft room. Then again, if by “luxury item” they mean something more realistic, a large trunk full of knitting supplies and equipment, including graph paper and colored pencils, would do.

So, what’s on your list?

Pollyanna Reads Amok

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Lyda here. Y’all know I read a lot. I read myself to sleep at night. I read myself awake many mornings. I read while I brush my teeth. I read in the bathtub. Hey, I’d happily read in the shower if I could figure out how to keep the book dry.

Gorgeous and Available Engineer Brother, get to work on that, will you? Here’s a thought:  shower magazines. Magazines coated so that you can read them in the shower. 

But maybe this way madness lies. After shower magazines would come shower knitting. And that could be dangerous if the soap slips…

But I digress…

So far this month, I’ve bought three books and two magazines for myself. And four books for the Sith Master.

This wouldn’t be so bad, but today is only the fourth of the month and I already finished both magazines and two of the books. Must find the local library so I can indulge my addiction for free.

One of the books – which I devoured in practically one sitting – was Crazy Aunt Purl’s second book, “Home is Where the Wine Is.” Funny and insightful, with enough wine, yarn, and cat hair for all. Y’all know you want it.

Another book I bought myself – because my BFF and fellow Pollyanna says I should treat myself better – and which I finished today, is “A Dirty Job” by Christopher Moore. I had not read this one before although it was first published in 2006. Yes, I have been living under a rock, why do you ask? My old library was lovely and had a fun and cheerful children’s section and a large collection of DVDs, but was not so big on actual books, and I don’t think they actually stocked any Christopher Moore.

This is a great book. Loud out loud funny one moment, and poignant the next, and deeply thought-provoking always. 

Charlie Asher, the Beta Male protagonist, baby Sophie, the hellhounds… Every character is quirky and weird and I fell in love with them all. 

If you are a Christopher Moore fan – and if you’ve read any of his books you must be a fan, how could you not love them? – you’ll be thrilled as I was to meet up with some favorite friends from Moore’s other books. If you haven’t read his books before, go right out and find one!

It’s hard to classify Moore’s books, and every library and bookstore seems to find a different place to put them: fantasy, science fiction, horror… It’s okay, any creatures of the night you may encounter in his books do not sparkle. Yes, sometimes Moore’s books get shelved in the horror section, possibly because his first book was the classic “Practical Demonkeeping“.

When I found this particular volume, it was shelved with the rest of Christopher Moore’s books – in the Literature section. Not far from Shakespeare and Poe. Appropriate, really.

I mention how to find the Moore’s books, because you need to know not to give up the search. Because you will buy copies for your friends. And then you will read your own copies until they fall apart, and you will need to buy them again.

Read this, and you too will be pestering your local bookseller with questions like

“Do you have The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove?

and

“Do you know where The Island of the Sequined Love Nun is?”

Good stuff, Maynerd.

Pollyanna and the Tiny Zombies of Literary Doom

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Lyda here, as if y’all couldn’t figure that out.

Anna-Liza just sent me links to some ThinkGeek products that I just have to share.

She really needs the Self-Rescuing Princess shirt…

while this Newbie Geek onesie is perfect to have in waiting for her grandchild on the way.

This 8-bit Dynamic Life t-shirt is not a suitable candidate for Black Valentine’s Day – unless you only have one shirt.

But of course the one that I love is: INVASION OF THE TINY PLUSH ZOMBIES!! Be sure to watch the video at the bottom of that page. Do they have the best jobs ever, or what?

And in related news…

The LA Times reports on the zombification of Jane Austen. Did they turn the gifted writer into a zombie? No, but someone did add zombies to one of her classics, creating a book called “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies“. Also out: “Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters” – check out the Noodly Appendages on the cover, all praise to FSM. And yet, somehow, Mr. Darcy has become a vampire… or is that vampyre?

Jane is not the only author going zombie. H.G. Wells has been mutated too. And Mark Twain has gone the way of the undead as well.

I include the links, not to endorse the books – I haven’t read any of these – but as proof that real life is weirder than even my imagination.

So, while I was wandering around the zombie book section in that huge virtual bookstore, I found these, which owe their titles at least to some classics: “Love in the Time of Zombies” and “Fried Green Zombies“.

And lastly, I must report some Christopher Moore books which I’ve missed until now: “Fool: A Novel“, “A Dirty Job” and “You Suck: A Love Story” (a sequel to “Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story” that begins just after the first book ends).

How could I have missed THREE of his books???

I blame the zombies. A zombie is always a great fall guy. What is he going to do about it, moan?

But I digress.

I see a trip to the library in my immediate future.

I just hope the zombies haven’t eaten the librarians’ brains. I don’t think the undead can use the Dewey Decimal System.