The Last Dickens

The Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl (author of The Dante Club and The Poe Shadow) follows an American publisher in search of the end of Charles Dickens last novel.  So I talked about Dan Simmons Drood in a previous post, and this books seems similar in plot.  But I liked this one a lot better.  First off, Drood was more mystery/scifi than this novel, and this one is better written (sorry).  James Osgood (a real publisher during that time) is Dickens' official American publisher, and when news of Dickens death reaches him, he reflects on Dickens last American tour, and embarks on an interesting journey to try to find the ending to his last novel, and the mystery surrounding it.  Pearl is great at the historical fiction dealing with publishing and authors, and this is not a let down from his other two.  And it's better than Drood, so if you want to read a great historical novel with an interesting mystery, read this one!

Fool

  Oh Christopher Moore, is there nothing you can't do?  I think I've mentioned Lamb is one of my favorite books.  In Fool, Moore takes on Shakespeare and King Lear and does a tremendous job of it.  Lear's fool, Pocket, is the narrator and main character weaving in and out of Shakespeare's narrative skillfully, charmingly and with a lot of swearing and shagging.  Moore's characters always walk that narrow line between hilarious and sweet, and Pocket is among my favorites.  Pocket is completely devoted to Lear and his youngest daughter Cornelia, and Moore makes him a master strategizer, controlling all the players.  There is a quick rewrite at the end, well hell, Moore managed to raise the dead in Lamb, why not make it a happier ending for Lear?  I adored this book, it ranks up there with Lamb and Dirty Jobs (now my third favorite Christopher Moore book).  Unlike Lamb, I think I can recommend this to all of my catholic school teacher coworkers, even the ones without much of a sense of humor.  Just an amazing book.