Rating: 
Summary: Moore At It Again!
Review: To steal the quote of the inside cover this book can be best described as "Bridges of Madison County" meets "Godzilla". Christopher Moore has a way of mixing zany true to life characters with unbelivable supernatural elements. If you are looking for a serious read. this is not for you, but if you allow your imagination to run amok, Moore's books are a true pleasure.Moore introduces new characters, and mixes them in with some old, mainly from 'Practical Demonkeeping" to tell the tale of a man eating sea creature(named Steve) who falls in love with an aging "Xena" like actress in a small California coastal town. Sounds crazy? Yes, but it is true fun with a laugh a page writing style that only Moore has. The characters are all likeable goofballs whose quirkiness and downfalls make their antics more belivable. It is a very quick read and is definitely worth the time. You won't put this book down with some earth-shattering revelations, just a few laughs and the feeling of being throughly entertained.
Rating: 
Summary: Sex with a giant reptile, you can't lose with that.
Review: While this is the first book by Christopher Moore that I have read, it prompted me to go out and buy every other book he has written and make my way through them. Delightfully funny and a very easy read, it is really an enjoyable work of escape fiction. Moore's sense of humor is so similar to my own, that I catch myself laughing out loud at many of the witticisms and having people stare at me wondering what's wrong. Perhaps I see too much of myself in Molly (though I've never starred in B-movies), but the sections concerning her were hilarious. I think I need to go buy a Warrior Babe costume now. I truly enjoy the fact that he varies his humor - some very blatant and right out there, some buried and you have to 'catch' it to enjoy it. It seems as if it isn't as much of a commentary on society as some of his other works, but still a fabulous read.
Rating:
Summary: Thoroughly Enjoyable Silliness
Review: What a great book! I have to say this one made me laugh more than any book has in a long time. I think the last thing I read that made me laugh this much was Bill Bryson's "Walk in the Woods". From cover to cover, it's completely enjoyable. That's about that. While the subject matter isn't going to shed light on difficult situations in your life, it's surely going to make you forget them for a while. So sit back, grab the book, and delve in for what will almost certainly be an entertaining ride. Moore was recommended to me by a friend a long, long time ago. She recommended this based on our mutual like of Tom Robbins. While not as deep and philosophical as Robbins, I find him every bit as entertaining. Funny, and often times out of left field, his writings easily allow you to forget the world around you and immerse yourself in some good, off-the-wall humor. This book is simply funny. No diatribes about the president, or the pope, or politics of any sort. Just left-field humor. The story is out of nowhere. The Lust Lizard is obviously a major part of the story; by looking at the cover of the book you know you're not getting a believable narrative by any stretch of the imagination. An enormous green lizard with a human foot sticking out of its mouth graces the cover. I think that's a good first step towards reading this book. If you enjoy laughing and the thought of a giant green lizard with a foot sticking out of its mouth doesn't turn you off, then this could very well be to your liking. I blew through it in no time. It was so good I went out and got 2 more from this author and look forward to them both. In general, I try to read deeper stuff than this. But as a nice break, this is as good as it gets when you need to get away from heavy reading. I'm glad this book managed to make its way to the top of my reading pile. It was clearly worth the read. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Moore's cure for the summertime blues.
Review: "Pieces of conversations as surreal as a Dali jigsaw puzzle," Christopher Moore writes in THE LUST LIZARD OF MELANCHOLY COVE, "there was definitely something going on in Pine Grove" (p. 128). Equal parts sci-fi, horror story, and Prozac allegory, Moore's fifth novel is set in the hippied-out California coast town, Pine Cove, where things get a little wacky after the town psychiatrist (Val Riordan) decides to take all of her patients off their antidepressants, but even wackier when a sixty-million-year-old "sulking" Sea Beast named Steve comes ashore, humps a fuel truck, then disguises himself as a trailer in a trailer park. People start disappearing, although many of Moore's memorable characters are too busy discovering uninhibited sexuality to care, and suddenly the town's pothead constable (Theo Crowe) has his hands full with Pine Cove-turned-"squirrel's nest." If all of this weren't enough, there's even an erotic love story between a "has-been" B-movie actress (Molly) and Steve. While THE LUST LIZARD OF MELANCHOLY COVE may not be life-changing literature, it is Christopher Moore at his off-the-wall best, and a powerful antidote for anyone suffering from the summertime blues. G. Merritt
Rating:
Summary: Mean Green Laugh Machine
Review: The pace of laughs per page is a bit lower on this one than some of Moore's other books. Still, it's full of interesting characters, hallarious situations, and great one liners. The plot is out there even for more. Take your usual B-movie Giant Monster plot, and center it around a seabeast (called Steve) Then add some strange love stories, put it in a blender, add some strong perception warping drugs, and you've got this book. The zany plot in a nutshell is this: a seabeast decides to start feeding in a small California town. The town constable is a pothead, but he's actually on the right track as he starts to investigate the strange goings on. There's plenty more going on but I suggest you read it yourself. It's not quite as funny as Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Good Omens, or some of Moore's other work, but still worth reading if your into this kind of fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Thoroughly Enjoyable Silliness
Review: What a great book! I have to say this one made me laugh more than any book has in a long time. I think the last thing I read that made me laugh this much was Bill Bryson's "Walk in the Woods". From cover to cover, it's completely enjoyable. That's about that. While the subject matter isn't going to shed light on difficult situations in your life, it's surely going to make you forget them for a while. So sit back, grab the book, and delve in for what will almost certainly be an entertaining ride. Moore was recommended to me by a friend a long, long time ago. She recommended this based on our mutual like of Tom Robbins. While not as deep and philosophical as Robbins, I find him every bit as entertaining. Funny, and often times out of left field, his writings easily allow you to forget the world around you and immerse yourself in some good, off-the-wall humor. This book is simply funny. No diatribes about the president, or the pope, or politics of any sort. Just left-field humor. The story is out of nowhere. The Lust Lizard is obviously a major part of the story; by looking at the cover of the book you know you're not getting a believable narrative by any stretch of the imagination. An enormous green lizard with a human foot sticking out of its mouth graces the cover. I think that's a good first step towards reading this book. If you enjoy laughing and the thought of a giant green lizard with a foot sticking out of its mouth doesn't turn you off, then this could very well be to your liking. I blew through it in no time. It was so good I went out and got 2 more from this author and look forward to them both. In general, I try to read deeper stuff than this. But as a nice break, this is as good as it gets when you need to get away from heavy reading. I'm glad this book managed to make its way to the top of my reading pile. It was clearly worth the read. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Recruiting for the Christopher Moore cult
Review: There are moments in one's life that are simply too good not to share. It's like joining a new cult; you just want to share. A good friend of mine recently shared one of his, the discovery of Christopher Moore. Given my friend and his history with regard to obsessions of all kinds, I was at first a tad...uh...skeptical. This is, after all, the same person who has attempted over the years to convince me that Britney Spears is the latest incarnation of a particularly nubile and powerful dakini from South Brahmaloka. But he persisted, and upon hearing the name of the first of the books he recommended -- "Lamb: The Gospel According To Biff, Christ's Childhood Friend" -- Uncle Tantra's Weirdness Alarm went off, and thus I took the time to peruse the author's website at http://www.chrismoore.com. There, I learned that great titles were not the exception for Christopher Moore. Mr. Moore is also the author of such noted works as "Practical Demonkeeping," "Coyote Blue," "Bloodsucking Fiends," "Island of the Sequined Love Nun," and "The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove." My interest was, to say the least, piqued. Then he sent me an excerpt from the preface to "Lust Lizard." That did it. I knew that the Uncle Tantra Weirdness Alarm was not sounding in vain. I rushed off to the bookstore, where interestingly enough "Lust Lizard" was the only Christopher Moore title in stock. I bought it. I have not stopped reading -- or laughing -- since. There is some possibility that Christopher Moore is the funniest writer alive. And he seems to be *genuinely* funny, unable to write more than a paragraph without saying something that makes you laugh out loud. I have laughed out loud now in most of the cafes in the neighborhood where I live in Paris. I have laughed loudly enough that I am welcome back in few of them, and may have to read the rest of the books in completely different arrondissements. WARNING: This stuff is 'way weird. Mr. Moore's strange view of reality is not everyone's. Were he not a novelist and thus able to say such things and get away with them, there is a strong possibility that he would be locked up somewhere for the greater good of society. But if you are one of the chosen few who believe that just because society calls the mediocrity it settles for 'reality' that doesn't *make* it reality, Christopher Moore might just be for you. At the very least, he will make you laugh out loud. Often. At worst, he will get you exiled from your favorite places to read in public, *for* laughing out loud. But that's a small price to pay for the smile that you will be wearing as you walk out of the cafe, never to return.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty good humorous Cal-contemporary fantasy
Review: ____________________________________________
Just finished this pretty good humorous Cal-contemporary fantasy -- which
opens with a sea monster mounting a gasoline tank-truck, with, well,
explosive results -- "... She was gone now, but [the Sea Beast] said, 'A
simple No would have sufficed...'" The Sea Beast (who's named 'Steve', by Kendra, Warrior Babe of the
Outlands) "came to the surface in the middle of a kelp bed, his massive head
breaking through strands of kelp like a zombie pickup truck breaking sod as
it rises from the grave." Laurell K. Hamilton, take note. 'Steve' stirs up the animal spirits of the low-seritonin residents of Pine Cove
(Cambria?) -- of which there are many, as the town's sole psychiatrist has cut
off their Prozac, surreptitiosly substituting sugar-pill placebos, with the
connivance of the town's sole pharmacist, who satisfies his carnal urges
with an inflatable dolphin in his bathtub.... [Dr. Val] came out of her office to find her new receptionist, Chloe, furiously
masturbating, "her steno chair squeaking like a tortured squirrel." "Sorry," Chloe said, a bit later... "I just want to stop. My wrist hurts a
little. Do you think I could have carpal tunnel?" Dr. Val, fearful of a workman's comp lawsuit, prescribes oven mitts,
strapped on with duct tape. Well, it's all good clean dopey romantic fun, though with more smiles than
laughs, for me anyway, and not quite as good as this outline sounds --
but humor is tricky, and some of you will love it.
Rating:
Summary: Shapeshifting is for Tanker Lovers
Review: Steve is a shapeshifting sea beast who has a thing for eating paperboys and shagging oil tankers and he's just come to visit the small Californian town of Pine Cove just south of Big Sur, where the local shrink has taken all her unwitting patients off anti-depressants and they're now swallowing sugar pills. Town members include our unlikely hero, rent-a-cop Theo Crowe who has a serious bong habit, an ex B movie star, an eccentric artist, a rat-tracker and his dog and a blues player called Catfish among others. Is this book scary? How can you be scared when you're laughing so hard? Funny, funny, funny. 'Nuff Said. Reviewed by Devon Adams, the Cool Kid
Rating: 
Summary: Moore's least
Review: Maybe it's the setting, because I didn't like "Practical Demonkeeping" so much either, and this is a kinda-sorta sequel. I have read almost all of his books, and this was the least enjoyable. Moore's books depend heavily on the protagonist, and this book has the least well-developed "hero" I've read so far. The whole book felt stale to me. I almost put two stars, but the second lead--a semi-sane, washed-up actress from Italian sand-and-swordplay films--is a bright spot. If you haven't read other books by Moore, I recommend "Bloodsucking Fiends" and especially "Island of the Sequined Love Nun." This one isn't really that great.
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