Not for the faint reader, Cloud Atlas is a big ol' book that spreads across six totally different stories and genres. Each character is, in some way, reincarnated from a previous character, just as each story sprouts from the one before. It's like those crazy Russian dolls that are locked within one another: each one different but equally beautiful.

This is a tale told my an idiot. . .full of sound and fury. Let me begin by stressing that Fool is a sick, filthy and raunchy tale. It's bloated with ribaldry and dripping with obscenities. Still here?! Ah, good. I see you are of stout stomach and baudy mind. Do you remember the Bard's King Lear? That fella who lost his marbles and his land to his deceitful eldest daughters? And who can forget sweet, clear-headed Cordelia, Lear's thoroughly-wronged youngest daughter? Been years since Honors English, you say? Well, let's Lear's fool lead you through the class. Believe me, this tragedy is much funnier when told by a master-comedian like Christopher Moore!

"If I could tell you only one thing about my life it would be this: when I was seven years old the mailman ran over my head. As formative events go, nothing else comes close." -from The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint Certainly the best book I've read in some time. A year or so ago a woman put this book in my hands and said, "Read this; it's amazing." I filed it away, so inundated as I was with the pile of books-to-be-read. Then a few weeks ago I attended a booksellers conference and a speaker referenced it, saying he loved the book so much that he and his bookstore had sold 400 in hardcover and 1100 in paperback. That is a lot of love. So, I sat down with Edgar Mint one afternoon and didn't move from that spot for three days. OK, so that's a lie, but the sentiment is true. I have fallen in love with the brave, naive Apache kid who cant keep his head out of trouble. I followed him as he made each step in his tumultuous life. And at the end of the book I lived his joy with him. Isn't that why we read?