Getting All Booksy

Hey kids! I've been posting book reviews for a number of months over at GoodReads.com, which is an excellent site for learning about and sharing books and authors. I just discovered that I can easily share my reviews THERE on my blog HERE. Woo-hoo! So, I'll be posting them on here from time to time. This first one is actually a book I finished over the summer, but I thought it was worth sharing here. I use the nom-de-plume "Phoenix Colter" on GoodReads, so friend me up if you are on board over there.

Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings by Christopher Moore
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am a big fan of Christopher Moore, and have been for some time. He has the gift of being able to mix the sophomoric humor of a teenage boy (which I never really outgrew) with sophisticated subject matter and then weave it into a coherent plot with interesting characters. In other words, Moore can keep a lot of plates spinning at the same time.

Fluke is, essentially, about a bunch of whale researchers in Hawaii who get caught up in some things about whales they never imagined. I will leave it at that to avoid spoilers. Keeping one foot grounded in real science and the other in whacked out gonzoliness, we follow the members of this research team through an adventure that is both hysterically funny and thought-provoking. The environmental conservation message is always lurking just beneath the surface, but Moore never really comes out and slaps the reader in the face with it. The reader just kind of comes to it automatically.

Christopher Moore can be a bit of an acquired taste for some people. This book might be a good place to start if you are not familiar with his work. Likeable and interesting characters, a well-researched but accessible scientific foundation, and Moore's "out there" humor make Fluke a great choice for anyone with the mind of and adult and the heart of a 15 year old kid.