Altivo Overo

Perhaps because camels have the most brilliant mathematical minds ever incarnate in living flesh? Well, you need Pratchett's explanation for this, but believe me, it's plausibly funny. Just in case you wonder what REALLY happened to the ancient Egyptian civilization with all its priests, slaves, and demigod-like rulers, this book provides an answer. An answer that will have you chuckling if not laughing out loud.

Stands well on its own, even if you haven't already read others of Pratchett's prolific Discworld series.

Terry Pratchett is brilliantly funny, almost all the time. It's true that his jokes and double entendres can occasionally slip past American readers, though, because they are, well, British in nature. Not this time, however. Going Postal could just as well describe the state of an American post office and the jokes about stamp collectors and customers probably fit into any nation in the world.

The mad race between the "outdated" written communication sent by surface mail and the "trendy" clacks technology (yes, the fax, darling of the yuppie set, or the telegraph if you prefer a Victorian prototype) is too real and yet so hilarious that you will be unable to avoid seeing yourself and others you know in the ridiculous antics of these characters. Two hooves up. And, by the way, it's even funnier than the film version if you happen to have seen that.

L'Amour is a master of understatement who manages to give us the feel of an era without cluttering his writing with dusty details. The Sacketts often seem larger than life, but they represent a kind of pioneer who surely must have existed in that time, before America was a network of highways and telephone lines. Echo's adventure might have been set in a modern environment, as she is the same type of individual as V.I. Warshawsky or Stephanie Plum, with the same courage and determination supported by genuine ability. Her story is well worth the hearing.

An excellent reading of this fantastic tale. Almost unbelievable, and yet the author treads the very margin of reality. It could happen. This 20th century tale of shipwreck and survival stands close to Jonathan Swift's classic Gulliver's Travels in my opinion. Through it, we learn more about human (and animal) nature than perhaps we really want to know. I recommend it highly.