Secondhand Souls audiobook

Since I became a widow five years ago, death has been no laughing matter...unless I'm reading Christopher Moore's take on it and then I snicker, giggle, laugh out loud and snort once or twice. If you have a sense of humor, or even if you don't, Secondhand Souls is a marvelous read that is the best of Moore. Along with King, Hiassen, Tim Dorsey, I sometimes worry about Moore's mental state but as long as he writes hilarious books like this one (it's also a good meditation on death), I'll read them and hope the shrinks keep their paws off his brain matter.

Want Banshees?Want rodent people possessed by the souls of the dead? Want a list of heroes including a goth chick, a Buddhist monk, a police detective, a two foot tall alligator-mutant with a foot long . . . well . . . you know, and a guy straight out of 70s blaxsploitation films named Minty Fresh?Moore is always so wonderfully wired and wacky. This book (and the dualogy that it is part of) are so nonsensical, but so perfect at the same time. Sometimes when I read authors that are "out there", I quickly loose interest, but Moore just usually does it right. Be sure to read A Dirty Job before this one or you will be totally lost.

While I don't think this was quite as funny as the first book, A Dirty Job, I did still have a lot of fun with it.Charlie is still around, folks. Kinda around. I mean, when he doesn't have a boner, he's around. Later on, that little problem gets fixed. And in the meantime, he's not doing his REAL job. You know, collecting souls that get sucked up into objects. That little negligence will never come to bite him in the ass... no. Definitely not.I had a good time. I'm totally down for reading all his works, now. And for those of you who know what I mean, I definitely think that method of suicide prevention has a lot of promise.

In this second installment dark pandemonium of disorder looms once again!It's been a year since the end of the previous book and a lot of things have changed since Charlie died. His store was first changed into some weird version of a pizza place and then had to be closed for good. Charlie's former employees have scattered - Ray is living with a woman now (I know!), Lilly is working at a suicide hotline and Inspectior Riviera is now retired and running a bookstore.Did I say that Charlie died? Well, kinda. Actually, he isn't dead. His soul was transferred into ... a different body. Yeah, let's call it that. Now, he needs a permanent human body to reside in because it seems that little Sophie has lost her powers and her hellhounds have left!Add to that the fact that there are thousands of souls gathering at the Golden Gate Bridge, that people are dying but their souls aren't being collected, the Morrigans have returned, and someone "new" is trying to become the Big Bad. Oh, and then there is something VERY peculiar going on with the squirrel people.(view spoiler)[I liked how this one didn't just have the Norse myth elements (Morrigans) but a banshee and Egyptian parts, too. It made for an interesting change. (hide spoiler)]Admittedly, this was not as hilarious as the first installment. However, from the fact that now we not only have a Minty Fresh but also a Lemon Fresh and who he is to the My Little Ponies of the Apocalypse to WC - there were a number of really funny scenes. Still, it there were just not as many as in the previous book and they usually weren't as hilarious either.Nevertheless, the story was engaging and I chuckled a number of times so this was still well worth my time and I can wholeheartedly recommend both books.

You know how it is when you finish a book and you actually wish it was an additional two hundred pages? This is that. The latest installment of Moore's Grim Reaper series gave me an awesome amount of pleasure, as my favorite San Francisco Death Merchants reappear (along with their entourage) and gird their loins to take on another menace to humanity. Everyone plays a part, and there are naughty hi-jinks galore. Yes, Moore has a delightfully prurient mind, and no doubt would rattle the morality code; wouldn't be surprised if his publisher has warned him to tone it down (or would they?). Moore is basically the horny fifteen-year-old jester who sat in the back of class in junior high and lets his wry yet funny witticisms delight sniggering classmates and frustrate humorless teachers (who secretly enjoy them even if they can't show it). He just hasn't grown up, and we the readers are beneficiaries of his humor. We're not talking Shakespeare or Cormac McCarthy, no. But we are expecting a fun frolic, and would have to say this is one of his better efforts, as I chortled at something on just about every page. Loved the characters, from the regular crew to the Squirrel People. There also was a completeness to this volume, although I hope that doesn't mean he will end this story line (as he usually does these in threes, though I wouldn't mind him tacking on new volumes to his other mini-series). He is one of a handful of writers I find myself recommending to friends and acquaintances the most. The only sad thing about finishing this book is that now I have to go back into a holding pattern for about a year for the next one (unless he is well along on a new book---we can only hope).

Love this book! I got it as an advanced reader copy and couldn't put it down! I need more Sophie; she is easily my favorite character! The way she mouths off like a sailor but infinitely more creative than just the constant f-bombs and the wide eyed innocence only a 7 yr old can pull off, what's funnier than a mouthy kid or grandma if you're not the one having to discipline them? I'm not sure if my favorite part was from her interaction with the drag nuns, or telling a strange man that she named the pony she was coloring Sparkle Darkle Glitter-tits just to get a reaction. There was also a bit much fun with Wiggly Charlie, the affection name for Squirrel People Charlie, the poor over-compensated meat bag holding human Charlie's soul. The rest of the cast was great support, but I'm really hoping this is followed up with teenage Sophie threatening to sic the "goggies" on everyone if she doesn't get chocolate and a date with a cute boy, or heaven forbid, "kitty" anyone fool enough to challenge her at the wrong time.

Point of embarkation: Christopher Moore isn't for everyone! Indeed, when a student first convinced me that I would enjoy The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove 15 years ago, I admit I was concerned what my students thought of me and what kind of role model I was (or was failing to be). But Moore made me laugh, and that's good. His stuff is weird and, let's be frank, skates along the fine edge of just plain stupid, but, when he hits his stride, he's really funny. Frankly, I've always thought his finest hour was the heretical, irreverent Lamb, but he's at his best (to my mind) when he's combining the supernatural with the just plain silly, demonstrating that nothing, absolutely nothing, is off limits. And one of the joys that Moore offers derives from his willingness to recycle his characters and mix and match his mini-series/genres (most recently transitioning from vampires to soul collectors/death merchants). Literature - this is not! Thought-provoking, not so much. But, if, for example, you find John Scalzi's Red Shirts too buttoned up, or if you liked reading Dav Pilkey's Captain Underpants to your kids (or whether you read it in the bookstore for personal pleasure when no one was looking), you're probably the target audience for this kind of, um, low brow, off beat, pretty much "out there" entertainment. You won't find this on your child's high school or college reading list any time soon, but 350 pages of fast-paced escapist entertainment, innumerable chuckles, and at least a dozen burst-out belly laughs is well worth my time. It is what it is.

I'll just say it: Christopher Moore can pretty much do no wrong. Enormous lizards? Artificial whales? Stupid angels and Jesus? Shakespeare, Impressionist painters... you get the drift. For ultra-weird but extremely funny (and even touching) stories, you really can't beat the Author Guy's books.Secondhand Souls is a sequel to A Dirty Job, which is just an awesomely funny, entertaining, vulgar, crazy tale -- and Secondhand Souls lives up to it, not quite perfectly, but awfully darn close. The characters we love are back, in different places in their lives (and even in different bodies), but still themselves. Plus, there are some memorable new characters, including a Golden Gate Bridge painter named Mike, a mysterious man dressed all in yellow, and a banshee, among others. San Francisco itself is a star, and seeing such a crazy adventure unfold in our beloved city is at least half the fun.Who am I kidding? It's all fun. The logic of the story gets a little thin at times, but it doesn't really matter. If you're a Christopher Moore fan, you need to read this. And if you've never had the pleasure, I'd say put this one on hold and read (at least) A Dirty Job -- and possibly a few others -- before picking up Secondhand Souls.

DO NOT READ THIS UNLESS YOU READ BOOK 1 FIRST...like i didn't. (Good luck deciphering that triple negative.)Kind of dumb, I grabbed this at the bookstore when it came out because I love Christopher Moore but didn't realize it was the second book in a series. So while there are many hilarious moments in this book, there is also a lot of convoluted backstory that would have been much easier to follow had I read A Dirty Job.Even so, I quite enjoyed it. No one can do paranormal comedy like Moore. His humor tends to be character based (snarky females are a forte) and through the juxtaposition of the supernatural with the mundane (a banshee with a taser). In a word: camp.The plot involves some eating of souls, reincarnated baddies, demon dogs, a 14" tall alligator-headed duck-foot meat creature with a foot long dong, and assorted other absurd characters. It's a blast. If you read the first one, even better. I'm sure. I'll know better next time.

It's not just the genius with which Moore creates his strikingly unique characters and imbues them with distinct speech, or the brilliance of how he builds the symphony of increasingly outrageous events to a crescendo, it's...well, it's every one of those things and much more.Constructing readable prose is hard. Constructing prose that surprises with hidden meaning and marvelous metaphors takes a master. Christopher Moore never falls to the pedestrian usage of a phrase. He raises it a notch, then another, until his writing constantly delights.Secondhand Souls lays the Charlie Asher story to rest in a most satisfying way. Read it if you like funny, zany, twistedly wicked humor.

Christopher Moore makes death weirdly funny. This was my first Moore book, but it won’t be my last. His humor is right up my alley. I had no idea that this was a sequel when I started it, but it worked fine as a stand-alone book. Clever and a little profane, just like me.