Sara Martin

Not bad, not sure if I'll finish the series.

A virus killed almost all the adults, then the vampires came. One teenager wants revenge.

A fun and clever read. I've read plenty of books on the English language and the vagaries of our spelling. As far as English spelling is concerned, this didn't really go into detail like some of the other books and I knew most of what was in this book.

That being said, the author is fun to read and the anecdotes were great. Some sections of the book even merited being retold to my husband. I'm also now going to read the novel Trainspotting. I didn't realize how much of a Scottish accent you could give yourself by reading the words in that book the way they are spelled. I'm also going to read the book “The Killer's Guide to Iceland”.

If you're interested in a quick, fun, entertaining looks at English spelling, this book is great. If you want something scholarly and in-depth, maybe look elsewhere.

I'm re-reading this in December of 2013. I don't remember reading it in 2002. I'm enjoying it and I think I can write a review this time after I read it. Maybe even up the stars.

Another fun tattoo shop mystery. Love the lead character. She's a 6 foot tall redhead, too!

“Well, that's a bloody great bundle of bull bollocks!”

And if you like that, you'll like this book.

A Christopher Moore parody of The Merchant of Venice, Othello, and The Cask of Amontillado, this book is a bawdy, raunchy ride through 13th century Venice. (It's good to know that ahead of time so you don't recommend this book to your book group consisting of nice, lovely, church ladies who probably aren't aware that Shakespeare himself can be bawdy and raunchy.)

There's a few extra characters not found in Shakespeare - the dark, creepy serpent for one. And the monkey Jeff. And Drool. Oh, and Fortunato (Pocket) the Fool. He may be the hero, but he can definitely get on one's nerves after a bit.

And the language! At times very formal, very Elizabethan, and then at other times totally like 21st century English. I struggled with this at first. Finally, I got used to the rhythm (and there is a rhythm, I read to the end which was like riding out to sea on a serpent's undulating back.) I admit I chuckled a few times in spite of myself (Rhesus feces? Should I burst out laughing or is that just really in bad, bad taste?).

And the language! I think I squirmed a bit reading this at work, wondering if the bodily function jokes ever ceased. (Hint: They never do.) I can now exclaim (to hopefully, just my husband) “Holy ripened fcheese!” when I am astounded by an amazing feat. We read this together. As I mentioned in one of my comments, we'll always have Venice.But the confounding confusion. So many characters. So many. If you're familiar with these plays, so much the better. I read Othello so long ago and I haven't read The Merchant of Venice. I had a hard time figuring out what was going on and who all these people were. Most are evil, most will die. That helps. Every time someone died, I though - Thank goodness!! One less person to keep track of! And there's some flash backs and some fast forwarding - yeh, time to flip through pages or rewind the audible and try to figure out “What just happened??”Toss between 2 or 3 stars. Moore is clever, no doubt about that. And smart. And full of witty one liners that you probably can't say in church. Or even 50 feet from church. Or even within, say, 1000 feet of the parking lot. Maybe you can say them to your significant other when no one is listening, but then - dang! Before you know it, you'll be walking down the mall and out of your mouth will come “Thou wretched pillar of syphilitic pheasant-f!” to the security guard which might garner you a few stares. (And 86 you from Macys.)

You've been warned. Read at your own peril. She just might come looking for you (the serpent, I mean) and whether she kills you or ***** you, well, you'll find out.