Top | Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore. The birth of Jesus has been well chronicled, as have his glorious teachings, acts, and divine sacrifice after his thirtieth birthday. But no one knows about the early life of the Son of God, the missing years -- except Biff, the Messiah's best bud, who has been resurrected to tell the story in the divinely hilarious yet heartfelt work "reminiscent of Vonnegut crossed with Douglas Adams". Verily, the story Biff has to tell is a miraculous one, filled with remarkable journeys, magic, healings, kung fu, corpse reanimations, demons, and hot babes. Even the considerable wiles and devotion of the Savior's pal may not be enough to divert Joshua from his tragic destiny. But there's no one who loves Josh more -- except maybe "Maggie," Mary of Magdala -- and Biff isn't about to let his extraordinary pal suffer and ascend without a fight. Top |
Top | Letters from the Earth by Mark Twain. Twain was quite a cynic in his old age and this book, published 50 years after his death, gets you into the mind of one of America's best loved authors. Outrageously Funny. Top |
Top | The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie. When it was first published in 1993, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven established Sherman Alexie as a stunning new talent of American letters. The basis for the award-winning movie Smoke Signals, it remains one of his most beloved and widely praised books. In this darkly comic collection, Alexie brilliantly weaves memory, fantasy, and stark realism to paint a complex, grimly ironic portrait of life in and around the Spokane Indian Reservation. These twenty-two interlinked tales are narrated by characters raised on humiliation and government-issue cheese, and yet are filled with passion and affection, myth and dream. Against a backdrop of alcohol, car accidents, laughter, and basketball, Alexie depicts the distances between Indians and whites, reservation Indians and urban Indians, men and women, and, most poetically, modern Indians and the traditions of the past.
Made into an okay movie with a better sequel. Top |
Top | The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams. When a passenger check-in desk at London's Heathrow Airport disappears in a ball of orange flame, the explosion is deemed an act of God. But which god, wonders holistic detective Dirk Gently? What god would be hanging around Heathrow trying to catch the 3:37 to Oslo? And what has this to do with Dirk's latest--and late-- client, found only this morning with his head revolving atop the hit record "Hot Potato"? Amid the hostile attentions of a stray eagle and the trauma of a very dirty refrigerator, super-sleuth Dirk Gently will once again solve the mysteries of the universe. Top |
Top | Looking Backwards by Edward Bellamy. Published in 1888 this book has a Rip Van Winkle character Julian West who falls asleep in the 19th century and awakens in the year 2000. The US has been transformed into a socialist utopia. This book was a bit of a struggle for me to read when I was nine years old but I recommend it. You will see that it has quite accurate predictive charm. Top |
Top | Lord of the Flies by William Golding . Utopian novel. WWIII has stranded a group of boys. We follow them as they cope with living on their own and their descent into evil. (Compare with Summerhill.) Lord of the Flies and Summerhill have been used as anthical studies of children and learning. Top |
Top | Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R Tolkien. Tolkien creates a new world, Middle Earth where Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, Ents and more share the world with humans. This is as rich a trilogy as you will find. I had a girlfriend, Carolyn Wells, who had not read them (and she was a college English major). I loaned her my set. She disappeared for a week. When she emerged, she said, "More!!!" Sadly there will be no more. In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell into the hands of Bilbo Baggins, as told in The Hobbit. In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose. Top |
Top | Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers by J.R.R Tolkien. Middle books of trilogies are often very week, not so with Tolkien's Two Towers. Book one develops the trust that Sam and Frodo have for each other. The fellowship of book one has been scattered. Many have lost hope and are bracing for a dark era to begin. Sam and Frodo press on towards Mordor. Their guide is Gollum who still lusts for "His Precious". Top |
Top | Lord of the Rings: Return of the King by J.R.R Tolkien. The thrid book begins to tie the remmant of the Fellowship back together. As the Shadow of Mordor grows across the land, the Companions of the Ring have become involved in separate adventures. Aragorn, revealed as the hidden heir of the ancient Kings of the West, has joined with the Riders of Rohan against the forces of Isengard, and took part in the desperate victory of the Hornburg. Merry and Pippin, captured by Orcs, escaped into Fangorn Forest and there encountered the Ents. Gandalf has miraculously returned and defeated the evil wizard, Saruman. Sam has left his master for dead after a battle with the giant spider, Shelob; but Frodo is still alive now in the foul hands of the Orcs. And all the while the armies of the Dark Lord are massing as the One Ring draws ever nearer to the Cracks of Doom. Top |
Top | Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fall passionately in love. When Fermina eventually chooses to marry a wealthy, well-born doctor, Florentino is devastated, but he is a romantic. As he rises in his business career he whiles away the years in 622 affairs--yet he reserves his heart for Fermina. Her husband dies at last, and Florentino purposefully attends the funeral. Fifty years, nine months, and four days after he first declared his love for Fermina, he will do so again. True lust/love conquers all. Top |
Top | The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove by Christopher Moore. The town psychiatrist has decided to switch everybody in Pine Cove, California, from their normal antidepressants to placebos, so naturally—well, to be accurate, artificially—business is booming at the local blues bar. Trouble is, those lonely slide-guitar notes have also attracted a colossal sea beast named Steve with, shall we say, a thing for explosive oil tanker trucks. Suddenly, morose Pine Cove turns libidinous and is hit by a mysterious crime wave, and a beleaguered constable has to fight off his own gonzo appetites to find out what's wrong and what, if anything, to do about it. Top |
