http://roundrocktexas.gov/cc/search/SearchResults.aspx?o=DateDescending&tag=Readers+Exchange,Fool,Christopher+Moore&orTags=0Search results matching tags 'Readers Exchange', 'Fool', and 'Christopher Moore'en-USCommunityServer 2007.1 (Build: 21119.1142)http://roundrocktexas.gov/cc/blogs/exchange/archive/2009/07/31/random-acts-of-foolhardiness.aspxFri, 31 Jul 2009 14:25:00 GMT9be1e196-b4dd-4219-b883-7e290dbe3f82:573Linda Sappenfield<p>Does this happen to you?&nbsp; You choose a book or movie on a whim,&nbsp;then right away you encounter another one with oddly similar characteristics.&nbsp;&nbsp;Suddenly,&nbsp;you&#39;re theme-reading when you just meant to be spontaneous.</p> <p>I&nbsp;pounced on Christopher Moore&#39;s <em>Fool</em> as soon as it hit the library, because the premise (it&#39;s a send-up <em>of King&nbsp;Lear</em>) sounded amusing.&nbsp; And it was.&nbsp; Though perhaps&nbsp;too bawdy for some readers,&nbsp;the adventures of Pocket, the king&#39;s jester, and his accomplice Drool&nbsp;compelled me to&nbsp;laugh out loud.&nbsp; Moore&#39;s allusion-ridden text also helps to&nbsp;justify&nbsp;anyone&#39;s ever wanting to be an English major.</p> <p>A. J. Hartley&#39;s <em>Act of Will </em>beckoned from the New Fiction shelves soon afterward.&nbsp; This fantasy-tinged escapade is narrated by&nbsp;recently unemployed teen actor Will Hawthorne.&nbsp; The quasi-England,&nbsp;Shakespeare-ish setting allows plenty of scope for&nbsp;theatrical rivalries, a band of supernaturally evil raiders, and&nbsp;Will&#39;s amazing capacity for improvisation.</p> <p>While it&#39;s true that the&nbsp;Shakespearean devices&nbsp;first attracted me,&nbsp;another factor underscored my delight in&nbsp;these tales.&nbsp; If, like me, you are&nbsp;employed in a public service position requiring thoughtful and diplomatic behavior at all times, you will understand.&nbsp;&nbsp;It&#39;s&nbsp;therapeutic to experience the vicarious thrill&nbsp;of being unjustifiably overconfident, not to mention a complete smart-aleck.</p>