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I’ve finished reading Anansi Boys just today and read Stardust this weekend. I loved Anansi boys tremendously- the humor, the characters, the plot and the general brilliant idea.
So I’m starting this thread for Gaiman appreciation.
I’m going to get a hold of American Gods next. I can’t wait.
I didn’t like Stardust as much as some of his other books; ‘twas a bit… I dunno, tedious I guess. I didn’t like the love aspect of it either; I really don’t think it was done well. I prefer the movie. But yes, Neil Gaiman is a pretty amazing author; Good Omens was great and I’m going to get the Graveyard Book in a few weeks.
Gaiman’s one of the authors I really look up to. I think his books and writing style manage to capture a certain magic about life that others don’t. Anansi Boys had a sort-of ‘eh’ story, but it was the characters that really amde it and the development was brilliant. Stardust was pretty good too, I enjoyed the romance in that.
But I was deeply disappointed in American Gods. Maybe I just didn’t ‘get’ it. It didn’t really do it for me. Shadow’s character development was interesting, and so was the story behind Lakeside, but that was really it. The message about consumerism and religion was quite interesting but… eh, I just don’t think it worked.
I suggest you pick up Neverwhere next, Rand, brilliant novel.
I’d like to read Coraline but I can’t find it, and I’d like to read Sandman but I can’t find Volume 1.
Coraline was a’right. But I think it was a bit too subtle for the likes of me. :( Philip Pullman Got It, though.
I liked Neverwhere the most.
Anansi Boys is my favourite, but Neverwhere is also really good (the ending is brilliant).
Actually, more stories about the Anansi family would be a plus. I liked it when Mr Nancy appeared in American Gods.
I haven’t read Anansi Boys. Gaiman is real inconsistent with me, I got bored with American Gods and didn’t finish it, but I couldn’t put Neverwhere down. I dunno if I would like Anansi Boys.
It’s got a sledgehammer of a symbol near the beginning that tells too much, but really, it’s one of his funniest books. There are a bunch of laugh-out-loud moments here. One of my favourite moments (and smaller passages to quote):
‘Hello,’ said the detective with a smile. ‘Would you like a cup of tea?’
‘You might as well not bother,’ he said, ‘I’ve seen the telly. I know how it goes. This is the whole good cop-bad cop thing, isn’t it? You’ll give me a cup of tea and some Jaffa cakes, then some hard-bitten bastard with a hair-trigger temper comes in a shouts at me and pours my tea away and starts eating my Jaffa cakes and then you stop him from physically attacking me, and in my gratitude I tell you everything you want to know.’
‘We could skip all that,’ she said, ‘and you could just tell us all you know. Anyway, we don’t have any Jaffa cakes.’
Stardust was too uneventful- the story was just him going, finding the Star, and walking home. And the Star lost her character halfway through (in proportion to falling in love with Tristan). Apart from that, the whole culture of Wall and the lands beyond Wall was classic fantasy/fairytale. I enjoyed the beginning the most just for reading about Wall.
Oh, and Neil Gaiman seems to have a thing for mixing up original couples and rematching them to new people by the end of the book. I also have an affinity for spiders now.
I also have an affinity for spiders now.
Heh. ;)
I need to read Gaiman. Where should I start?
As previously stated, I like Neverwhere the most now. Has the same HP feeling of the alternate universe with strange rules. Except that Neverwhere is small enough not to constantly keep adding rules.
I need to read Gaiman. Where should I start?
Neverwhere or Anansi Boys, definitely.
I need to read Gaiman. Where should I start?
Neverwhere, maybe? It’s that, or The Graveyard Book. Coraline’s really good, too.
I’d like to read Coraline but I can’t find it,
I believe that it’s being re-released for the movie, if you don’t mind a stop-motion cartoonish cover.
But I was deeply disappointed in American Gods. Maybe I just didn’t ‘get’ it. It didn’t really do it for me. Shadow’s character development was interesting, and so was the story behind Lakeside, but that was really it. The message about consumerism and religion was quite interesting but… eh, I just don’t think it worked.
I really agree. I pieced together the whole plot as soon as I heard two particular names in the first few chapters. The story behind Lakeside was really well done, though.
For some reason I don’t really like Neverwhere, it just seemed too confusing for me, he doesn’t explain a lot about the places the characters are going, so I feel sort of confused as I read it.
I’m eagerly waiting for Coraline to arrive at the library though.
I believe that it’s being re-released for the movie, if you don’t mind a stop-motion cartoonish cover.
Never! When I buy books by the same author, they have to be the books with the similarly themed covers! The black-background nice-art covers! The only one that broke this thread was Anansi Boys*, because it’s a bit bigger than all my other Gaiman books in height and the cover is mainly blue as opposed to black – but it was my first of his books, and Waterstones didn’t have the matching black book until quite recently.
*lololol
I really agree. I pieced together the whole plot as soon as I heard two particular names in the first few chapters. The story behind Lakeside was really well done, though.
I’m not very good with my Norse mythology, so the second more subtle character went over my head. That may also be why I didn’t appreciate it so much; I wasn’t familiar with a lot of the Gods in it.
@DrAlligator: All of his children’s books (Coraline, Odd, TGB, MM) are from Bloomsbury, and only his adult books were released with the similar covers. You could try to track down the first edition, but even that looks nothing like the Author Preferred editions…
Fragile Things is the ideal short story book I always pictured writing.
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