Review: Sacre Bleu: A Comedy d'Art

Sacre Bleu: A Comedy d'Art by Christopher Moore

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



The first third or so of this book is not Moore's best work by any means. It time jumps so gracelessly that he has to rely on chapter titles to tell the reader where they are and his stabs at bawdy humor are just that - blunt force stabs that inflict as much pain as humor. However, when the story starts to pull together and the characters begin moving the story rather than being moved by it, this becomes a slightly more adult and intelligent Christopher Moore Real Person Fiction. I was thrilled by the reveal of Bleu's real identity that I did not see coming but made perfect sense, and was very happy to read about a Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec who was quite happy with his lot in life. Add in the use of a few well known Impressionist paintings with Moore's choice captions and as always in a Christopher Moore book, the best written Author's Notes that you will find in Historical Fiction, and the sins of the beginning are washed away by the glory of the ending.



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Review: Trade

Trade by Oliver M. Bishop

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



A book with a promising plot set in locations that work with the plot almost ruined by lack of editing. At its core, this is a dark story of what happens when damaged people cross into the lives of people who have never imagined such evil exists in the real world. The antagonist makes no apologies because he's not aware that he has anything to apologize for and the group of characters that come together to form the protagonist shows glimpses of being flesh and blood types who make mistakes and sometimes blunder into doing the right thing. Where the book goes bad is the repetition of inner dialog (perhaps used to show the characters intellectual weaknesses, but the smart ones do it too), supporting characters that take actions that aren't supported by what they've shown themselves to be, and way too many uses of gunshots by amateurs , either accidental or on purpose, that always hit the best spot for lazy story telling.

A few more drafts and an impartial editor and Mr. Bishop would have had an impressive first novel.



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Review: Sacre Bleu: A Comedy d'Art

Sacre Bleu: A Comedy d'Art by Christopher Moore

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



The first third or so of this book is not Moore's best work by any means. It times jumps so gracelessly that he has to rely on chapter titles to tell the reader where they are and his stabs at bawdy humor are just that - blunt force stabs that inflict as much pain as humor. However, when the story starts to pull together and the characters begin moving the story rather than being moved by it, this becomes a slightly more adult and intelligent Christopher Moore Real Person Fan Fiction. I was thrilled by the reveal of Bleu's real identity that I did not see coming but made perfect sense, and was very happy to read about a Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec who was quite happy with his lot in life. Add in the use of a few well known Impressionist paintings with Moore's choice captions and as always in a Christopher Moore book, the best written Author's Notes that you will find in Historical Fiction, and the sins of the beginning are washed away by the glory of the end.



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Review: Last Seen in Massilia

Last Seen in Massilia by Steven Saylor

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Definitely better than the previous book, but that might be because I took a break between reading Saylor's Sub Rosa series. Perhaps the negatives (anachronistic ethics) aren't so noticeble if you don't immerse yourself in the series, or perhaps Saylor did a better job of writing characters that lived in the 40s BCE. Either way, this was a simple little mystery set in a fascinating time and place. Add in the return of Meto and I was hooked in a "junk food with some redeeming qualities" sort of way. Also unlike a lot of reviewers, I liked the ending.



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Review: The Year of Living Philosophically

The Year of Living Philosophically by Robert Grossmith

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Quick fun read that relies a little too heavily on the serendipity of the Dave Gardner, the main character, meeting up with a retired philosophy professor. Without that character entering the story, no one would have been able to offer comparisons or deeper meanings of some of the monthly philosophies to Dave. That weakness also leads to information dump, reading closer to lectures rather than conversations despite Grossmith's attempts to lighten up those passages. Dave's daily life, however, is fun and complicated in all the right ways to keep the reader rolling right along with him through his year. An added plus for this reader is that it all takes place in England and Dave has a really interesting job - dictionary editor.



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Review: Pickit

Pickit by Lee Richardson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Reading this, I couldn't help but suspect that the author had a lot of historical background and then created characters to populate it and then wrote a novella that he placed them inside. The story has one original twist that caught me by surprise, and that along with all that historical information that does fit quite well takes a very ho-hum story up to three stars.



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Review: Breaking the Chain: How I Banned Chain Restaurants From My Diet And Went From Full To Fulfilled

Breaking the Chain: How I Banned Chain Restaurants From My Diet And Went From Full To Fulfilled by Allyson Reedy

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



Once the author has covered how difficult it is to avoid what she has defined as chain restaurants (definitely a YMMV definition), the book becomes stories of her experiences. The details about meals ate at local restaurants aren't that compelling to someone who hasn't or doesn't plan to eat at those restaurants. Reading over and over again about the inconvenience she caused her coworkers and friends seemed more about pointing out how special the author was for what she was doing rather than using the opportunity to educate why eating local might be a good idea. But, there's a reason for that. Reedy cause wasn't ideological, it was personal. She'd had repeatedly bad meals at the same chain restaurants. Also, I suspect she was looking for a blog topic and thought this was a good one. It probably would have made a better localized blog rather than a book with the word "Fulfilled" in the title.

Her writing style is light and conversational, and humorous if you find self admitted hunger tantrums funny.



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Review: Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants

Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants by Robert Sullivan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



The title tells you what you're going to read - the author's observations. These aren't only his observations on the rats in the particular alley he chose for his project, but also his observations about the people who make a living trying to get rid of rats when they are places that people don't want them to be. Each chapter attempts to deal with something related to the rats - rats and plague, how to trap a rat, rat diet, how the rat population of NYC was affected by 9/!!, but some times the author goes off topic or revisits a previous topic, giving the book a meandering feeling that can be frustrating to a reader who just wants to know what he discovered about the rats he observed.



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Review: Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants

Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants by Robert Sullivan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



The title tells you what you're going to read - the authors observations. These aren't only his observations on the rats in the particular alley he chose for his project, but also his observations about the people who make a living trying to get rid of rats when they are places that people don't want them to be. Each chapter attempts to deal with something related to the rats - rats and plague, how to trap a rat, rat diet, how the rat population of NYC was affected by 9/!!, but some times the author goes off topic or revisits a previous topic, giving the book a meandering feeling that can be frustrating to a reader who just wants to know what he discovered about the rats he observed.



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Review: A Discovery of Witches

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



I read this for a group challenge and boy oh boy, was it a challenge to finish this! It's not that this just isn't my kind of story, it's that there's the makings here for something good and the author ruins it with horribly characters that belong in the arrested development romance genre. For a really good review, I direct you to http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/158359633 , which I agree with 100%, minus the last paragraph.



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