Secondhand Souls by Christopher Moore

A follow-up to Moore's A Dirty Job, Secondhand Souls continues to follow Charlie Asher, Minty Fresh, Lily, and Sophie as they try to figure out how to deal with the whole death and soul vessel retrieval thing.

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When we left Charlie Asher in A Dirty Job, Audrey had put his soul into one of the squirrel people, meat puppets she'd cobbled together from spare parts of other animals.

Secondhand Souls opens a year later, our motley crew discovering that people are dying, but their souls are not being collected. This can't be good. They try to figure out how to stop the impending doom, racing against time.

This is a great continuation of A Dirty Job...so fun!

I was lucky enough to receive a copy of Secondhand Souls through librarything.com's Early Reviewers program. Thank you, librarything!

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Rereading a Few Favorites

I rarely reread books anymore. I used to when I was a kid, eagerly, excitedly, as though I were trying to absorb the words and stories into each fiber of my being.

As an adult? I think I've felt as though there are always new books to discover, and that is where my excitement has been going.

But here I am, rereading a few favorites. I went to Powell's last week with my daughter and I bought two books that I used to own and I want to reread.

I found out that I will be the (lucky!) recipient of a book through librarything's Early Reviewers program, Christopher Moore's next, called Secondhand Souls. Yay! Secondhand Souls is the sequel to A Dirty Job, which I loved. It's been several years since I read it, so I want to read A Dirty Job again before I read Secondhand Souls.

I'm really enjoying reading this again. Poor Charlie Asher, Beta Male, right after his wife dies in childbirth, finds out that he's a death merchant and has to collect soul vessels and pass them on to their new owners. That sounds kind of heavy, but, in usual Christopher Moore style, it's smart and funny. And in addition? The cover glows in the dark.

         

And the other one? A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.

Recommended by good friends when I was living in a book desert (before the internet I lived in a rural area where there was one small, sad little bookstore that stocked mostly Harlequin romances). When I got my hands on Bryson's book I devoured it, and began a love affair with all things Bryson.

     

And it's going to be a movie with Robert Redford and Nick Nolte!

As my partner has wisely taught me, books and movies based on said books are different things. Most of the time it isn't even right to compare them. They are different animals. I agree with this. I loved Gone With the Wind the book AND Gone With the Wind the movie, even though the movie left out a lot that was in the book.

Have I been disappointed in a movie based on a book? Sure. Mostly because I was watching the movie with book eyes, the eyes that I wanted it to be the same, or rather, I wanted to have the same experience that I had with the book, which isn't really fair to the movie.

Will A Walk in the Woods movie be as good as the book? It will be different. Is it silly to reread the book before the movie comes out? Shouldn't I just enjoy the movie for what it is and not compare the two? Maybe. And I don't care. I am looking forward to enjoying the book again.

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Recommendations...light, short and funny

One of Therapist's co-workers is in a book group and asked for some recommendations. One of my favorite questions! Her parameters were that it be "light, fairly short, and FUNNY." Here's the list I sent...


Bill Bryson is one of my favorite authors for funny and light...A WALK IN THE WOODS is his chronicle of his attempt to hike the Appalachian trail (over 2000 miles) with his buddy, neither of whom have any business being out of doors. One of my other favorites of his is his collection of essays called I'M A STRANGER HERE MYSELF, his observations about the U.S. after living abroad for 20 years. Some of the essays are poignant, some are laugh out loud funny, some are insightful. (non-fiction)

            

Christopher Moore...I love him. Some of his books are really wacky and out there (Roberto the talking fruit bat is a recurring character in a lot of his books...and that's not one of the really wacky characters), and he also has books that are 'about' something...LAMB is about Christianity...A DIRTY JOB is about death...FLUKE has environmental themes. COYOTE BLUE is one of my favorites...and yes, he is funny. Warning, he can be raunchy. (fiction)

                  

I recently read DOMESTIC VIOLETS by Matthew Norman. It is fairly new, and is only available in paperback. It's pretty funny and fun...you can read my blog post about it here... (fiction)
http://notthenewyorktimesbookreview.blogspot.com/2011/09/domestic-violets.html

      

In that blog post I mention Jonathan Tropper...I really like him as well...his books can also be a little raunchy, so another warning. His main characters tend to get into bad situations and make bad choices...In THE BOOK OF JOE, his main character writes a best-selling novel based his people from his hometown. He did not paint the people in his novel in a very favorable light. He never intended to return to his hometown ever again. Then his father had a stroke and he had to go back. He was did not receive a very warm welcome home. Chaos (or close to it) ensues. (fiction)

      

Nora Ephron, I FEEL BAD ABOUT MY NECK: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman is one suggested by one of my co-workers. She said it might be funny if there are women in the book group of a certain age...or it might be funnier to woman of a certain age, as it's Ephron's reflections about aging. (non-fiction)

      

FUNNY IN FARSI by Firoozeh Dumas... This was also recommended by one of my co-workers who liked it. She said that the author says things like, "I'm the one they call to do an author event when they can't get that guy who wrote The Kite Runner." Funny in Farsi is the author's memoir about being Iranian in America. (non-fiction)

      

THE BRIEF AND FRIGHTENING REIGN OF PHIL by George Saunders was suggested by another co-worker. He said it was biting and funny. I've started to read it a couple of times (and it's really short!) and couldn't get into it...it wasn't my cup of tea, but might be someone else's! (fiction)

      

You can't really go wrong with David Sedaris...he is often on NPR's This American Life, and hewrites about his life. One of his first was HOLIDAYS ON ICE, where he talks about one Christmas where he was a department store elf during the Christmas season. ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY and WHEN YOU ARE ENGULFED IN FLAMES are two of my favorites of his...absolutely laugh out loud funny. In WHEN YOU ARE ENGULFED IN FLAMES, he talks about his quest to quit smoking. To do so, he moves to Japan for a few months, you know, to change his routine. (non-fiction)

                  

Sarah Vowell, another NPR veteran, has several books. My favorite of hers is her first, TAKE THE CANNOLI. They are essays with her unique take on the world. Her more recent books are about history, she's definitely done her homework about the history, and makes it more accessible, but like I said, her first is my favorite of hers. (non-fiction)

      

Chuck Klosterman started out as a rock music reviewer. I first read his SEX, DRUGS AND COCOA PUFFS which are essays about all sorts of things. Music, pop culture, religion...he's great. (non-fiction)

      

Lots of people love THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY by Douglas Adams. It is the first in a series. I read this first one, and liked it all right. It's wacky (I don't always love wacky). It is set in space...didn't do it for me, but lots of people think it's great. (fiction)

      

THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH by Norton Juster is one of my all-time favorite books. Yes, it's considered a kid's book, and I think it's brilliant. Milo is bored. He comes home one day and finds a tollbooth and a little car. He starts out on a journey, accompanied by a Watch Dog, Tock. Milo discovers all sorts of things about the world and himself. It's clever and fun...this is a masterpiece. (fiction)

      

HECTOR AND THE SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS Francois Lelord...I just saw this on the shelf yesterday and don't know much about it. I'd never heard of it. The cover has kind of 60's artwork on it. Hector is a psychiatrist. I liked how it looked and how it started. I don't know anyone who has read it. (how's that for a recommendation?) (fiction)

      

Lynne Truss is a British columnist. She has a collection of columns called MAKING THE CAT LAUGH which is absolutely hilarious. (non-fiction)

      

HAPPINESS by Will Ferguson is another fun one...in it, someone writes a self-help book that WORKS. Everyone's problems are solved after reading this book, relationships are fixed, financial problems are no more...which causes all sorts of problems, since so much of our society is built on the problems and fixing them. Ferguson is Canadian, so this book may be a bit harder to find, though it still is around. It was originally published under the title GENERICA. (fiction...Ferguson also has a few non-fiction titles, which are also good)

      

What would you recommend?

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A Day in the Life

A woman in her late 40's or early 50's was checking out at the register. She was purchasing a book in one (of the many) teen vampire series. She looked at the Twilight graphic novel displayed at my register and she picked it up. "How can you beat Twilight?," she said. I've been reading these other series, but none of them come close to Twilight. I can't wait for her next book, I love her writing."

A young man approached me at the Information desk. "I'm looking for a book to read, do you have any recommendations for someone my age, 18 or 19?," he said. "What do you like to read?," I asked. He said, "Mysteries. Thrillers. That kind of thing usually." I showed him Matthew Reilly's Seven Ancient Wonders, which is supposed to be a good read. Then I showed him Chuck Palahnuik which, while he doesn't really write thrillers, his books do seem to appeal to people his age. "He wrote Fight Club and Choke," I said. "And he's local. Super nice guy, does great book signings, if you get a chance to go. My son has read all of his books and really likes them." He seemed sort of interested, but not really. So I moved onto Christopher Moore. "Some of his books are about something, like A Dirty Job is 'about' death, and Lamb is 'about' religion but they are really funny and kind of wacky. I recommend taking whichever ones you're interested and starting to read them here. If you like them, then good. If not, then they aren't good for you right now." He came up to me later and asked to put the Matthew Reilly book and A Dirty Job on hold, and thanked me for my help.
Satisfying.

A woman in her 60's or 70's approached me...
"The people they talk about on channel 48 have some books. Where are they?" "I don't know what channel 48 is," I replied. "It's Fox News," she said. "Ah. Well, Sean Hannity has a new book that's at the front of the store, but most of the authors featured on Fox will be in Current Affairs, arranged by author," I said as I directed her to the section. She thanked me and headed to the section. About 10 minutes later she approached me again, this time with a sheet of paper. Randomly written all over it at all angles, in pencil, were what looked like authors and book titles. "I'm looking for a book called The Ultimate Solution by Joshua Cooper." I searched and searched, using key words, then exact titles, and couldn't get anything to come up by a Joshua Cooper. As I was searching, she kept saying, "Joshua. Cooper. It's Cooper. Ultimate Solution, by Joshua Cooper." I told her I was having trouble finding it, she said, looking down at her sheet, "Try this...The Age of the Unthinkable." So I did, and found The Age of the Unthinkable written by a Joshua Ramo.
So close, really. I don't understand how I couldn't find it before.

A co-worker came up and asked if I'd read any Stephen King. "The Stand," I said. "That doesn't help," she said. She said a kid asked her to find a Stephen King book that was blue and had a picture of an eye on the cover and it was about a ouija board. He didn't know any of the words in the title, and it was an old book. She was trying to google it, she was frustrated because she HAD read most of Stephen King, and didn't know which one it was. His books get reprinted all the time with new covers and new designs, which makes it really hard to find a book of his by the cover art, without knowing a little more about it. When I left her, she was still trying to find it.

One of the managers came up to me and said, "Oh, I hate it when people do that. They put books from one section in another section...this time they've put bibles and the Sarah Palin book faced out in the gay and lesbian section. Yep, that'll do it. There won't be any more gays or lesbians because they'll see those bibles and Sarah Palin books and change their minds. Yep."

A woman and a young girl were looking for a book about a particular dog. "H-a-c-h...and then something. It's that Japanese dog," she said. "Is it the name of the dog or the kind of dog?," I asked. "It's the dog's name," she said. A co-worker searched on the computer for Japanese dog and got Hachiko. The woman continued, "This dog met his owner at the train station every day when he came home from work. One day the owner died, but the dog kept meeting the train every day for ten years!" We did have one book about the dog, which she purchased. I looked up the story about the dog when I got home, sure enough, even though the dog was only 2 years old when his owner died, he waited at the train station every day for ten years, and died at that same spot. This was in 1924. There is a statue of the dog at the train station in Japan.
What a great story!