halfway through Fool

[wasabi_poptart]

There's something about Christopher Moore that's just too, I dunno ... too glib. Too clever. Like when you get among a crowd of geeks all trying too hard to be all witty and smarmy and it becomes a contest to see who can cram the most Monty Python and Black Adder references into a single sentence and it's just fecking annoying. Like it would be so much more enjoyable if it didn't seem so forced, so much like a performance.

I'm not saying it's not entertaining, just that it would be a heckuva lot more charming if it wasn't trying so hard.

(Maybe I probably shouldn't have picked up another book so hard on the heels of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell; it's going to be a while before I come down from that one.)

Comments

[illusiongrl.livejournal.com]

aw damn, I was worried about that. Only three of his books don't come off like that, as far as I'm concerned: Lamb, A Dirty Job, and Coyote Blue. Still, like any geeky friend trying too hard to be clever, I adore him anyway because he makes me laugh, even if he's not entirely relaxed. Maybe I'll wait for paperback, though.

[blue-lotus.livejournal.com]

I also find that he's somewhat misogynist.

[jdawgspi.livejournal.com]

I agree wholeheartedly about Christopher Moore. I made it about five chapters or something into Fluke, but I was so TIRED with all the cleverness jam-packed onto every page that I just gave up.

[thewrongtim.livejournal.com]

Let's talk M. Norrell; when you type "come down from that one," what does that mean?

[wasabi-poptart.livejournal.com]

It was the best book I'd read since The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, four years ago!

SO GOOD. OMG. From start to finish.

[donrickles.livejournal.com]

I think that is why I was just a plain old outcast rather than a geek. The geeks were too smarmy and condescending.

[wasabi-poptart.livejournal.com]

And I think this was why I always have aspired to be somewhat cooler than the average geek ... not because there is anything inherently wrong with being a geek, or with geeky interests, just that geeks themselves often make for such insufferable company.

It's also why I understand if nobody wants to play Trivial Pursuit with me.