false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168444147m/33458.jpg 33458 17 Reading a Christopher Moore novel is a little like eating a potato chip--it's hard to stop at just one. And you don't have to look beyond the titles to understand the allure; who could pass up a book called <I>Practical Demonkeeping</I> or <I>Island of the Sequined Love Nun</I>? Each of Moore's tales skewers a particular literary genre. In <I>Coyote Blue</I> he nailed New Age fascination with Native American religion; in <I>Blood-Sucking Fiends: A Love Story</I> he put a new twist on the classic vampire tale. <I>The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove</I> is a companion piece to his first novel, the hilariously twisted horror story <I>Practical Demonkeeping</I>, and readers of that book will recognize the setting, Pine Cove, California. In addition, Moore includes plenty of his patented weird sex, occasional gross-out death, several off-kilter but nonetheless affecting love stories, and some fabulous secondary characters such as Mavis Sand: <blockquote> Mavis first began augmenting her parts in the fifties, first out of vanity: breasts, eyelashes, hair. Later, as she aged and the concept of maintenance eluded her, she began having parts replaced as they failed, until almost half of her body weight was composed of stainless steel (hips, elbows, shoulders, finger joints, rods fused to vertebrae five through twelve), silicon wafers (hearing aids, pacemaker, insulin pump), advanced polymer resins (cataract replacement lenses, dentures), Kevlar fabric (abdominal wall reinforcement), titanium (knees, ankles), and pork (ventricular heart valve). </blockquote> In a nutshell, the plot revolves around a gigantic prehistoric lizard whose slumber deep beneath the ocean surface is interrupted by a radioactive leak from a nearby power plant. At the same time, a woman in Pine Cove hangs herself; the local psychiatrist (who has been prescribing antidepressants to everyone in town with gay abandon) decides the suicide was her fault and yanks everyone's medication; and an elderly black blues singer named Catfish Jefferson arrives to perform at the Head of the Slug saloon. Into this already strange brew mix one schizoid former B-movie starlet, a pot-head town constable, a bereaved local artist, a biologist tracking anomalous behavior in rats, a crooked sheriff, and a pharmacist with a bizarre sexual fixation on sea mammals, and you have a recipe for the kind of madness Moore does so well. <I>--Alix Wilber</I> 1573176 1998 The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove total:4047|5:902|4:1627|3:1250|2:242|1:25| 4047 15282 5375 307 3 4 false false Thu May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jan 07 08:50:09 -0800 2008 Mon May 19 06:37:12 -0700 2008
No matter how many time I shake my head or utter the words "he's warped" ...more...]]> 4 1 false false Wed Feb 25 08:47:35 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 25 08:47:57 -0800 2009
This book was my maiden dip into Christopher Moore, who should get a Pulitzer for his titles alone! Who can pass up a title like this? I have since moved on to read several other of his books.

Totally improbable, quirky, witty and twisted. ...more...]]> 3 1 false false Tue Feb 24 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 28 17:56:32 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 28 18:08:13 -0800 2009
He has found a comfortable home in romping, playful send-ups in the horror genre. I wouldn't call his books satire; he seems to have too much genuine affection for the field to be that biting. But there is no question the books choose h...more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Feb 19 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 21 14:55:25 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 21 15:18:38 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jun 18 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 24 13:16:11 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 24 13:24:59 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Apr 28 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 21 16:02:49 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 28 17:11:25 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Aug 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 23 15:52:17 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 23 15:56:08 -0700 2009 2
Welcome to the lovely tourist t...more...]]> 4 1 false false Fri Aug 29 06:31:01 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 29 06:32:22 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Wed Apr 01 13:34:36 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 01 13:37:39 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Nov 19 08:05:57 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 14 20:37:40 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Sep 20 11:02:45 -0700 2008 Sat Sep 20 11:22:35 -0700 2008 This book is wildly entertaining in a way that would make Tom Robbins proud - and when you've read everything Robbins has written, thi...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Jul 05 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Apr 25 12:38:37 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 08 05:01:54 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jul 06 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Apr 25 10:33:18 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 02 08:41:05 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Apr 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 17 18:34:25 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 17 18:38:40 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Apr 22 00:00:00 -0700 1999 Wed Dec 10 06:35:41 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 10 06:39:51 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Nov 03 19:14:48 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 03 19:18:27 -0800 2009
Very funny and rather bizarre. The title character is a prehistoric amphibian called Steve, who pretends to be a trailer after an unsuccessful ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Apr 07 16:58:54 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 08 05:02:34 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Jul 24 12:22:18 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 24 12:25:47 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Jun 19 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 07 08:14:58 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 07 08:18:53 -0700 2009
Set in a fictional California coastal town, the 'Lust Lizard' is set loose and somehow manages to make you lik...more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Sep 18 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 20 21:49:38 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 20 21:51:19 -0700 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=33458