Sacré Bleu, by Christopher Moore

 

  

In his latest masterpiece, Sacré Bleu, the immortal Moore 

takes on the Great French Masters. A magnificent 

“Comedy d’Art” from the author of Lamb, Fool, and Bite 

Me, Moore’s Sacré Bleu is part mystery, part history (sort of), 

part love story, and wholly hilarious as it follows a young 

baker-painter as he joins the dapper Henri Toulouse-Lautrec 

on a quest to unravel the mystery behind the supposed 

“suicide” of Vincent van Gogh.

I really wanted to love this book. It’s not that I hated it, I just didn’t get it. And I kind of didn’t care about the story. It’s probably fair to argue that I should have skipped this book seeing how a subject like impressionist art movements doesn’t interest me in the least.  So my review is biased and has nothing to do with Christopher Moore as a writer because come on, I adore him.  

At some point while I was reading this book, Mr. Moore tweeted a “Chapter Guide” to Sacré Bleu. I knew then I was in way over my head. I already did not really understand what was going on, which character was which and how an entire book could be written on some Colorman dude. (There were also approximately 200 too many penis jokes). But that’s just how brilliant of a writer Mr. Moore is! He can write an entire book on the colour blue, a Colorman, a muse and the solving of Van Gogh’s supposed suicide. And most people are probably going to love it. Unfortunately, sometimes this kind of wit and humour are lost on me. But that's life and the life of a reader - not every book is going to be for me, and I'm ok with that.

What I did love about this book was the all the physical awesomeness of it. If you read this on a kobo/kindle, then you totally missed out. Not only does Sacré Bleu have the most gorgeous cover I think I have ever seen, but it’s full of coloured art work, and the print is a beautiful, very easy on the eyes to read, indigo shade. There is so much texture to this book and it just reinforced my love for physical books. 

An Evening with Christopher Moore

Yesterday evening, I spent 3 hours waiting in line at the Indigo in South Edmonton Common, just to meet and have my books signed by Christopher Moore, aka @TheAuthorGuy.  And it was totally worth it! Even if I did learn that my back cannot handle standing for such a long period of time. Or that the 3 year old kid with his mom, who was waiting in line behind me, complained less than I did. But once I got up to the front of the line and had Mr. Moore joke that he wasn't "going to go there" when he saw my name is Brie - (like the cheese in case you haven't caught on), and I delightedly exclaimed like a silly girl, "oh but I was hoping you would!", just like that - my back pain - um, what back pain?

Yay! I finally made it!

Mr. Moore making me laugh.

In case you don't know, Christopher Moore's latest book is called Sacrè Bleu, "a story about the colour blue", obviously. It is one of the most beautiful books, visually, that I have seen in a long time. I can't think of a more gorgeous cover then this one.

I haven't read Sacrè Bleu yet, but it's on the never-ending TBR pile. The font, I just noticed, is actually a purplish-blue colour which is quite pleasing on the eyes, and also very beautiful.

But the most beautiful part is the personalized autographed. While all my friends had theirs signed with {insert name} followed by "For Art", naturally, I can't help but feel just a little special about mine.

If you EVER have the chance to attend a Christopher Moore book signing, then I highly recommend doing whatever it takes to go. He spoke to the large crowd for almost an hour and I haven't laughed out loud like that in public in a long time. I already knew he was hilarious, but you never know in person how an author will be. I promise, it will be a night you will remember!