About writing. And reading. And being published. Or not published. On working on being published. Tangents into the pop culture world to come. Especially about movies. And comic books. And movies from comic books.
I get the pun (although I wasn't crazy about that book, and actually am rethinking my relationship with Neil Gaiman). Good picture, though. I was just telling Sweetie this morning that I wished we lived in the San Francisco area.
I re-read American Gods (audio this time) a few months ago, and I remembered the book as being awesome and a game-changer etc etc, it was in my mind as having been one of my favorite books.
This time around, though, I found it not as good; I was bored at parts of it and overall felt it lacked... something. Hard to say what. Just not as good as I remembered it being.
It's not JUST re-reading it. I've been off and on re-reading books from the past and some of them are as good or better ("The Stand," "Tigerman") while others sort of suffer, and "American Gods" was one of the latter.
But I also had on audio a collection of his short stories and I got bored with them and stopped listening. I liked his kids' book Hansel & Gretel, but found Ocean to be kind of a letdown, and I'm starting to think that he's one of those guys whose reputation actually exceeds his literary merit (in my opinion, of course. If you like him, then you'd disagree.) Which is to say: my image of Neil Gaiman's writing prowess is at odds with how much/little I actually enjoy his writing.
Briane: The problem with Gaiman is that so much of his fame/notoriety stems from his days of writing Sandman. In the early 90s when people still didn't know who he was, I used to say he was the best writer in comics. Because he was the best -writer-. Not that he'd written any novels yet. He's one of my favorite writers and has written some of my favorite books, but American Gods has never been one of them (though I do have his authored preferred edition of it that I have been meaning to read just because I'm curious as to how it will be different from the edited version that was initially published). I only ever thought American Gods was okay and much preferred Anansi Boys to it, though that is also not my favorite book by him.
I also think his writing is suffering because of his fame. Like the Xanth series suffered because of its fame, which is how I'm going to nutshell that example.
I think it's a bit of column A, bit of column B: not as good a writer as people say, suffering a bit from fame.
I remember reading "Good Omens" and thinking it was only OK. I went to see what else he's written and recall reading "Neverwhere," which I thought was rather typical of that type of genre book. Not a standout but not terrible. I have good memories of Anansi Boys but now I find them suspect.
BTW I've stalled on reading all the Xanth books; the Gargoyle one is the latest I've started and it's a slow start that I set aside for a while.
Briane: Oh, well, I loved Good Omens. It's one of the few books I've read multiple times. But a lot of the credit for that book belongs to Pratchett, from what I understand. And I really like Neverwhere. But The Graveyard Book is probably my favorite.
I'm pretty sure the Gargoyle one is past where I quit on those.
I get the pun (although I wasn't crazy about that book, and actually am rethinking my relationship with Neil Gaiman). Good picture, though. I was just telling Sweetie this morning that I wished we lived in the San Francisco area.
ReplyDeleteBriane: It's a great area.
DeleteExcept for expensive it is to live in the area.
So what's up with you and Neil?
I re-read American Gods (audio this time) a few months ago, and I remembered the book as being awesome and a game-changer etc etc, it was in my mind as having been one of my favorite books.
DeleteThis time around, though, I found it not as good; I was bored at parts of it and overall felt it lacked... something. Hard to say what. Just not as good as I remembered it being.
It's not JUST re-reading it. I've been off and on re-reading books from the past and some of them are as good or better ("The Stand," "Tigerman") while others sort of suffer, and "American Gods" was one of the latter.
But I also had on audio a collection of his short stories and I got bored with them and stopped listening. I liked his kids' book Hansel & Gretel, but found Ocean to be kind of a letdown, and I'm starting to think that he's one of those guys whose reputation actually exceeds his literary merit (in my opinion, of course. If you like him, then you'd disagree.) Which is to say: my image of Neil Gaiman's writing prowess is at odds with how much/little I actually enjoy his writing.
I ran a cost of living comparison between Madison WI and SF. Overall they say you're 103% more expensive than us.
DeleteBriane: The problem with Gaiman is that so much of his fame/notoriety stems from his days of writing Sandman. In the early 90s when people still didn't know who he was, I used to say he was the best writer in comics. Because he was the best -writer-. Not that he'd written any novels yet. He's one of my favorite writers and has written some of my favorite books, but American Gods has never been one of them (though I do have his authored preferred edition of it that I have been meaning to read just because I'm curious as to how it will be different from the edited version that was initially published). I only ever thought American Gods was okay and much preferred Anansi Boys to it, though that is also not my favorite book by him.
DeleteI also think his writing is suffering because of his fame. Like the Xanth series suffered because of its fame, which is how I'm going to nutshell that example.
I think it's a bit of column A, bit of column B: not as good a writer as people say, suffering a bit from fame.
DeleteI remember reading "Good Omens" and thinking it was only OK. I went to see what else he's written and recall reading "Neverwhere," which I thought was rather typical of that type of genre book. Not a standout but not terrible. I have good memories of Anansi Boys but now I find them suspect.
BTW I've stalled on reading all the Xanth books; the Gargoyle one is the latest I've started and it's a slow start that I set aside for a while.
Briane: Oh, well, I loved Good Omens. It's one of the few books I've read multiple times. But a lot of the credit for that book belongs to Pratchett, from what I understand.
DeleteAnd I really like Neverwhere.
But The Graveyard Book is probably my favorite.
I'm pretty sure the Gargoyle one is past where I quit on those.
What is that?
ReplyDeleteLiz: It's the plug where you drain the ocean, of course.
DeleteWhen's the giant come along to pull the plug?
ReplyDeleteNice.
ReplyDelete