I really think it's funny.....

I have a new favorite author

     And Molly, if you read this, sorry but it's not you.  I mean, you are a favorite author, but I am not into romance books..... But Jackie does read your books.
     Anyway, I go through stages.  William McCall Smith and the Number One Ladies Detective Agency was on my must read list a couple of years ago.  Donna Leon, who does a series of mysteries set in Venice, is another on my favorites list.   She is an American by birth, but has lived in Venice for ages.  She has done maybe 20 books in the Venice setting.  Carl Hiaasen. a columnist for maybe the Miami Herald.  He writes mystery novels with very bizarre plots and characters.  One eyed former Florida governors who are now environmental extremists, for example.    He became my favorite one summer when he had a villain who lost an arm and replaced it with a battery operated weed-whacker.
    Understand, I still like them.  I read their new works, and in the case of Donna Leon, I plan to start with her first book in the series and read them in order.  I can watch characters grow and develop in a way that I can't by reading books out of order.
     Which brings me to Christopher Moore.
     I read a book by him called "Sacre Bleu" and was hooked.  Amazing plot line, great characters, a lot of history, and plenty of humor.  It was based on the premise that Van Gogh was murdered.  The descriptions of Paris made me want to go back there with the book and see the areas he wrote about.  Next I read "Bite Me" and hated it.  But I gave him a second chance and read "Fool."  I laughed so hard at the bawdiness, I decided to gift the girls with Christopher Moore books for Christmas.  They were not impressed.
     Anyway, today I picked up "The Serpent of Venice."   It was just published, and the local library had a copy....and I don't think anyone else has checked it out.  Strangely enough, Carl Hiaasen has a quip on the cover:  "Shakespeare and Poe might be rolling in their graves, but they're rolling with laughter.  Moore is one of the cleverest, naughtiest writers alive."
     Bear in mind, this is not children's literature.  One of his favorite words only has 4 letters and rhymes with luck, and his characters are always committing various acts of debauchery.  But he is funny.
     And informative.  Before Fool, I never new what a codpiece was.  Now I do.
    This book has two characters with similar names.  Salanio, described as a young friend of Antonio; and Salarino, "also a young friend , interchangeable with Salanio, may have been born of a typo."
     Freewheeling, funny and a little irreverent.
     Just what I need to while away an afternoon or two on the porch.