My book report

As a public service, here's a hasty, completely non-thorough review of the last few novels I read.

1) A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore
I enjoyed this book tremendously, but Moore will probably never again come close to writing anything as good as Lamb.
This one's about a guy who finds he's somehow been appointed the job of the Grim Reaper. Or a grim reaper, anyway. The plot dragged a little- 50 fewer pages would have been very beneficial- but there were quite a few extremely funny bits. I actually laughed out loud a number of times.

2. Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire
A couple of months ago I noticed the 3rd book in the series in the bookstore. I thought about getting it, then realized I wasn't sure if I ever finished the 2nd book. Turns out I hadn't. It was one of those that I started, thought I'd like eventually, but had never gotten into. When I picked it up this time I loved it.
I wouldn't recommend the series to everyone. I can see how it wouldn't appeal. Maguire uses the Baum stories as a jumping off point into his own narrative, but don't expect it to be anything like Baum. It's not.

3. A Lion Among Men
See 2. Overall, I'd rate this the worst of the series, but still quite good. Son of A Witch was probably the best of the three.

4. Ghost by Alan Lightman
Since Einstein's Dreams, which is one of my favorite books ever, I've made it a point to read any new Lightman works. Unsurprisingly, I keep being disappointed. As I read each one I find myself thinking "Wow, he's a really good writer. He has great structure, smooth, beautiful phrasing, and he's terrific at conveying his ideas."
But I don't much care for the books anyway. Ghost was about a guy who saw what may or may not have been a, well, ghost. His life gets crazy after he tells someone who tells someone else, and he's caught in the middle of a tug-of-war between new age nutcases and rational academics.
I don't recommend it. The whole story -not the seeing a ghost thing, but what happens after, which is the point of the story- was too implausible. I assume a guy might get a lot of attention from weirdos afte seeing a ghost, but I didn't buy the media and academic interest.
Plus a big portion of it-probably the majority- was devoted to his emotional state as it related to his work, his divorce and new relationship, his mom, etc. Too touchy-feely for me.

"Well, as Mrs. Krabappel already mentioned, the name of the book was Treasure Island. It's about these pirates. Pirates with patches over their eyes. And shiny gold teeth! And green birds on their shoulders! Did I mention this book was written by a guy named Robert Louis Stevenson? And published by the good people at McGrath Hill."

- Bart Simpson