Just Readin'

So, I think Neil Gaiman is a genius -- and also a deeply disturbed individual -- and here's why. I just finished reading one of Neil Gaiman's newest books The Sleeper and the Spindle . I make it my business to pay attention to everything Neil Gaiman writes, however, if you haven't heard of this book, suffice it to say that it is a really, really twisted version of the Sleeping Beauty story. The premise of the story is that, about seventy years ago, a princess was cursed by a witch, causing her to sleep forever. The sleeping curse, which had previously been contained to the princess' castle, suddenly begins to spread throughout the world, causing many thousands of people to fall asleep and not to wake. A young queen -- who remains nameless -- sets out to wake the princess and lift the curse. I won't go into the details because I don't want to spoil the story, however, the conclusion of the story is basically the opposite of the Sleeping Beauty story in every wa...

So, I'm not usually a big fan of short stories, but recently I've been reading Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things , a collection of short fiction. Now, I think I've said this before, but I'll say it again: everything Neil Gaiman writes is genius ! And Fragile Things is no exception. It's one of the strangest books I've ever read, but I loved every minute of it. It was just so wonderfully weird. I mean, the only way I can really even explain this book is that it was like taking a walk  through someone else's dreams. It was that surreal. Actually, given the cover art, I think that that is actually quite a good analogy. Whoever designed the cover of this book had a really good idea of what it was about and what it was trying to accomplish. I love how it looks like the contents of his brain is draining out onto the book. It's such a powerful image. Really good writing, I think, should be a walk through the writer's mind, and I think Neil Gaiman accompl...

The most terrifying book I've ever read was written for 9 year olds. I just finished reading Coraline , by Neil Gaiman and let me tell you that Frankenstein and Stephen King and the movie Gothic (which was perhaps the most disturbing thing I've ever seen) have nothing on this book. In case you are unfamiliar with the story of Coraline; the book is about a little girl who finds a doorway in her house that leads to an alternate world where everything is the same but different. There, Coraline meets her 'other mother' and 'other father' who have buttons for eyes. Anyway, Coraline's other mother kidnaps her real parents and tries to make Coraline stay with her forever and sew buttons into her eyes and make her play with singing rats (not singing rats in a cute way either, singing rats in a Kujo sort of way). The other mother has a whole closet full of dead children and she keeps their souls in marbles. The weird thing is, if I read this about eight years ...

Poet William Blake once said of John Milton's Paradise Lost , "he [Milton] was a true poet and of the Devil's party without knowing it" (side note, I actually had to write a short paper on this quote for one of my English classes a few months ago and it was a thoroughly deplorable experience). Though I'm not going to talk about Paradise Lost today, this quote rather reminds me of a book I recently read: Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. That's not to say that the angels are the bad guys or anything like that. Actually, if I had to pick, I'd say that the demons come across as rather villainy (shocking, I know). However, they're not the real villains of the story. Actually, thinking back on it, I'm not really sure who the villain is in this story.  In a nutshell, without giving away anything, the book is a comedy about the apocalypse, the son of Satan, and an angel and a demo...

So, I read a lot. I read a lot of different genres and a lot of different authors and I have to say, I have never stumbled upon a writer I identify more with than Neil Gaiman. I mean, when I read his writing, I just get it. It's like "yeah, my sentiments exactly" or "yeah, I know whatcha talking 'bout". Well, maybe not exactly like that. Anyway, I'm working on reading all of his novels and I just finished reading Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch . I'm going to write a full review of it later, but I don't think the apocalypse has ever been so funny. In fact, I usually find it to be rather somber and distressing for some reason. Huh. I would say that it sort of reminded me of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy , but I don't like comparing books in that way. Let's just say, that if you like the Hitchhiker's Guide, you'd probably like Good Omens . Actually, if you have a basic understand...