Lydia by Tim Sandlin

I admit it. I'm a sucker for brightly colored book covers. It may not make me read them but it usually makes me pick them up and read the jacket at least. This book is orange so I brought it home from the library. To add to the allure of the cover color was a blurb from Christopher Moore (whose books I love) mentioning how well Sandlin does comic fiction. There were a lot of things going on at once in the book. At one point you were following story lines stretching across two continents and a hundred years, and including a very odd road trip. Lydia is the narrator's mother, a feminist recently released from prison. She was captured after a decade on the run and convicted of trying to poison President Reagan's dog. (You've got to read it for all the salient details.) Community service is a part of her parole conditions and she ends up recording a centenarian's oral history to satisfy the requirement. His story alternates with what's happening in present time. Adding to the absurdity of the situation is a narrator runs a home for pregnant teens, a former hippie and psychopath hunting a main character and a visit to Lompoc prison. I liked the book and may eventually read more of his work.