“Bite Me,” by Christopher Moore

FM's ratings:

1. Premise 10
2. Prose 9
3. Plot 8
4. Characters 8
5. Overall 9

Comments (optional - but try to keep it under 3000 words!)

My first Christopher Moore and I feel so violated! Actually I love writing like this, akin to Chuck Palahniuk but more abstract and less cerebral. I have described Palahniuk’s work as brilliant writing with profound meaning disguised as cheap entertainment. “Bite Me” doesn’t try to be as profound; just damn good story-telling and, yes, disguised as cheap entertainment. No, the prose is not “literary,” and yet it is very intelligent and appeals to our intelligence – IF we can be open-minded enough. Abby Normal, the petite Goth Chick is unforgettable as she kicks the novel off with, “The City of San Francisco is being stalked by a huge, shaved vampire cat named Chet, and only I, Abby Normal, emergency backup mistress of the Greater Bay Area night, and my manga-haired love monkey, Foo Dog, stand between the ravenous monster and a bloody massacre of the general public. Which isn’t, like, as bad as it sounds, because the general public kind of sucks ass.” Irresistible! In her chapters, told in first person as a kind of journal, her Nouveau-Valley Girl patter is mesmerizing. “So upstairs I’m all, ‘There’s a dead guy and a huge kitty in a sweater on your steps.’ And the Countess and Flood are all, ‘Whatever.’ And I’m all, ‘And there was a limo full of stoners here who were totally hunting you.’ And they were all, ‘Whoa.’” Who could turn away from that?! Actually, who could pull that off with flying colors, and the answer is, Christopher Moore. Will I read more by Moore? Can’t wait!

June is movie month! Books made into movies! Here’s the June line-up!

"Fight Club," by Chuck Palahniuk [6-3-17]

"The Lovely Bones," by Alice Sebold [6-10-17]

"The Color Purple," by Alice Walker [6-17-17]

"The Green Mile," by Stephen King [6-24-17]

(As always, if there are any books you’d like to recommend for next month, please do so. Also, if you have already read one on our previous lists, you are invited to send your ratings and or comments for that book!)

“Bite Me,” by Parker Blue

FM's ratings:

1. Premise 9
2. Prose 8
3. Plot 8
4. Characters 9
5. Overall 8

Comments (optional - but try to keep it under 3000 words!)

This is not great literature. It doesn’t pretend to be. But it is a LOT of fun, and the protagonists really get under your skin! Often, perhaps usually, I will pick a “fun” read over a “quality” read. Fun is usually the quality I look for in a novel. And sure, if this book had featured slightly deeper prose, or a slightly more clever plot, the overall rating would have been a “9.” But it might not have been as much FUN. This is the first book in a series which features a young lady with demon blood and corresponding vampire-killing powers along with a sidekick in the form of a hellhound which looks like a small household pet. Cute. If you have ever seen the movie, “A Boy and His Dog,” you’ll get a great comparison to the telepathy that happens between those characters and the pair in this book. The dog’s mental voice is written in all caps, no quotation marks, and I couldn’t escape the sound of the dog’s voice from the movie. Both have a ready sarcastic wit that adds immensely to the dialog. The young lady (she has just turned 18 at the start of the book) is going through a lot of very emotionally impactful changes and the author does a superb job of letting us feel it with her. Very empathic writing offset against good humor – almost always a winning combination!

June is movie month! Books made into movies! Here’s the June line-up!

"Fight Club," by Chuck Palahniuk [6-3-17]

"The Lovely Bones," by Alice Sebold [6-10-17]

"The Color Purple," by Alice Walker [6-17-17]

"The Green Mile," by Stephen King [6-24-17]

(As always, if there are any books you’d like to recommend for next month, please do so. Also, if you have already read one on our previous lists, you are invited to send your ratings and or comments for that book!)

“Victims,” by Jonathan Kellerman

FM's ratings:

1. Premise 10
2. Prose 9
3. Plot 9
4. Characters 10
5. Overall 9

Comments (optional - but try to keep it under 3000 words!)

A fascinating premise, excellent chemistry between the dual protagonists, and superb dialog throughout make this another great, make-it-look-easy detective novel by Mr. Kellerman! Are there other novels about a serial killer that arranges his victims’ intestines in creative ways? Sure, probably. But this one does it so well it’s a fresh idea all over again. The real beauty of these detective mysteries is the added element of psychological insights into the murders in order to track down the killer. Teaming up a hard-nose detective with a brilliant psychiatric doctor makes for some profound reasoning and dialog. I may have to read them all!

“The Year of the Flood,” by Margaret Atwood

FM’s ratings:

1. Premise 9
2. Prose 8
3. Plot 7
4. Characters 8
5. Overall 8

Comments (optional - but try to keep it under 3000 words!)

If you are going to write yet another Dystopian novel (or in this case, a trilogy) you had better make sure it is starkly original. Well, this is Atwood, so of course it is! The first novel in this trilogy is "Oryx and Crake" which was itself a breath of fresh (stale?) dystopian air. I covered it a while back on this site and only now got around to the next installment. To me, this is one of those rare instances where the second book in the series is even better than the first. Maybe "Maddaddam" will be even better. But looking at the Amazon. com reviews after finishing this one, it seems I'm in a distinct minority. I suspect this is nothing other than the predictable petulance of people not having their expectations met: "Boo hoo, it's not at all what I expected after the first book!" People love to whine. It makes me wonder, if it HAD been exactly what they expected, whether they would complain that it was too predictable. This book was a unique, even stunning blend of dystopian tropes, including the development of a religious cult that reveres nature, the absence of government, replaced by control-freak corporations on the macro level and gangs on the micro level, and out-of-control genetic experimentation pervading every aspect of society. Very intelligently written by an author from whom we have come to expect such things.