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.