Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story by Christopher Moore

This may be the most fun I've had reading a novel in a while. Moore is right up there with the best in the bizarre-fantasy-novel genre as he puts together a comic romp through the seedier side of San Francisco society.

Essentially, a young business woman is attacked and turned by a vampire. Waking up in an alley more than a day later, she's forced to fend for herself. Although she has godlike powers, she also can't be out during the day and her boyfriend turns out to be a complete jerk. This would all be bad enough, but not only isn't the vampire who turned her helping, he's out-and-out sabotaging her.

I don't know why this book hasn't been made into a movie yet. It would make a great one. Hey, Hollywood, are you listening?

Recommendation: Buy it!

The Naked Man: A Study of the Male Body by Desmond Morris

Morris is back with another fascinating account of human adaptation. In this latest book, he focuses on the male body, and covers everything from fingers to toes, providing the latest theories on why they evolved as they did, and lots of fun details about gestures and attitudes towards these body parts.

Morris, who started out some 40+ years ago with The Naked Ape, takes complex ideas and puts them into easy-to-read and entertaining exposition for the lay reader. Sometimes he may not be 100% clear on what came first - chicken and egg kinds of things - and he may over simplify for his audience, but for the most part you won't find a better anthropological text.

Recommendation: Buy it if you love anthropology, otherwise borrow it.

The Silent Sea (The Oregon Files) by Clive Cussler and Jack Du Brul

This is the latest story of the Oregon and her crew of stalwart ex-military spooks who cruise the oceans in search of adventure and fortune. In this installment, Superman Juan Cabrillo is recruited by the CIA to recover a Plutonium core from a US rocket shot down over Argentina. In this world, Argentina has been the victim of a military coup, and is being run by a brutal Junta.

Still, it takes more than a nation of angry South-American commandos to slow down the Corporation. Cabrillo and company liberate the fragment with only one casualty, but this only starts the Corporation on an even more incredible adventure that takes Cabrillo from the tropical rain forests to Antarctica in a desperate attempt to stop China from taking away the United State's superpower status.

This is another fun hawk fantasy from Cussler and my favorite collaborator, Jack Du Brul. While the story is improbable and the characters impossible, it's still a feel-good experience for those of us who like to imagine a world where the US rules with benevolence and justice for all.

Recommendation: Borrow it.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling

This is the 5th of the seven-part series of Harry Potter novels, and it may be the darkest. Most of this book revolves around how the weight of Harry's destiny devolves onto his shoulders. In the end, Dumbledore is practically in tears as he tells Harry the full extent of his burden, but things aren't much happier on the way as Harry's enemies work to kill and/or discredit him.

The Harry Potter in this book is far from a perfect hero. He is still a powerful and gifted young wizard, but he is impatient and not very understanding with his friends as they try to help him. This all works to make Harry a much more interesting and realistic character, and Rowling brilliantly plays to Harry's weaknesses.

Other notable events in this novel include the introduction of such fun characters as Luna Lovegood, Bellatrix LeStrange and Tonks (who feature much less prominently in the movies.) It is also Sirius Black's swansong.

This is one of the slower Harry Potter books, but it's still well worth the effort. Younger readers may need some parental guidance.

Recommendation: Buy it.