Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story

Title: Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story by Christopher Moore

Synopsis: Here's something different: a vampire novel that's light, funny, and not at all hackneyed. Between scenes of punks bowling frozen turkeys on the graveyard shift in a supermarket, or snapping turtles loose in a loft and gnawing on designer shoes, this novel has comic charm to spare. But it also packs an appealingly downbeat message about the consumer culture: Becoming a vampire has given the twentysomething heroine "a crampless case of rattlesnake PMS"--a grumpy mood in which she realizes that she can dress to the nines as a "Donner Party Barbie" and still end up disillusioned and unhappy, just another slacker doing her own laundry and watching sucky TV 'til the sun rises. [via Amazon]

Book Notes: It was good to take a break from the heavy, brooding vampire love stories that's been all over pop culture and Christopher Moore's take on the vampire-human love story was absolutely hilarious. You get a wide-eyed, naive, country boy in the big city and a newly turned bombshell vampire trying to figure out life and their newly discovered urges together. It was fast, and punchy with jokes carefully placed at just the right moments. It was also brilliantly set in Downtown San Francisco and I loved the easy references to landmarks I was so familiar with. It made the story feel so much more real—like I knew exactly which Safeway they worked in and I've walked that same Ghirardelli Square several times as well. If you're tired of the Edward Cullen types, try this one for a good laugh.

Quotable Quotes:

"The plea for eyeliner appealed to the writer part of him, the part that believed that creative thought was worth something."

"I haven't seen anything that over-accessorized since Batman."

"Is there something wrong with your food? No, I'm just not very hungry. You're going to break my heart, aren't you?"

"Okay, not a particularly smart god, but at least a god who has her original nose."

"I suppose you could complete the look with a pair of Italian f-me pumps and some maroon lipstick."

"This is just pot right? This isn't some weird designer kill-the-family-with-a-chain-saw-and-choke-to-death-on-your-vomit drug, right?"