I am thrilled to see The Magic Moscow on the list. The first Pinkwater book I tried to read was Lizard Music. The strangeness of it threw me so much I didn’t get further than twenty pages before quitting, although with a strange feeling of regret, which led me to pick up The Hoboken Chicken Emergency at the library, which I then never got around to even opening.
Then one Christmas my mother, bless her, for some bizarre reason gave me The Magic Moscow. Again the strangeness of it threw me, but it was my book, so I felt an obligation to read it. And something snapped. I got it. This was funny, but not in an obvious setup/punchline kind of way. It was funny in a way that I think can’t be described, only illustrated with the titular ice cream shop’s signature dish, the “Moron’s Delight”:
It has six flavors of ice cream - two scoops of each - a banana, a carrot, three kinds of syrup, whole roasted peanuts, a slice of Swiss cheese, a radish, yogurt, wheat germ, and a kosher pickle. It is served in a shoebox lined with plastic wrap.
