I just finished reading Christopher Moore's Fool.
It's King Lear, more or less, told from the point of view of the fool. It is filthy--no, I mean really, really filthy. It's also hilarious. It's also got a heart. It's also Moore's best novel.
The fool, Pocket, instigates all kinds of political intrigue that is, to be honest, somewhat hard to follow, even if you've read the play. (I don't think familiarity with Lear is going to add too much to your reading experience, though a love of Shakespearean wordplay and bawdy jokes certainly is.) So I was a bit lost as to who was supposed to be in love with and/or killing whom, and I didn't care at all, because Pocket is a classic smartass in the Groucho Marx/Bugs Bunny vein-- that is to say, one who can't really seem to take anything seriously, who counts on his persistent wiseassery to deliver him from any scrape. He is way more explicitly horny than either Groucho or Bugs, though.
There are also witches, a ghost, some shocking revelations about Lear, and a dim-witted giant apprentice fool named Drool.
It's a ton of fun, and I can't recommend it strongly enough, with the caveat that if you're going to find yourself perturbed by a lot of really filthy words on every page, this really isn't the book for you.
