Archives For neil gaiman

American Gods

July 6, 2005 — Leave a comment

vic and i have been listening to Neil Gaiman`s American Gods for about a week now. i had heard more of it before i convinced her to listen and now we`re listening to the last six hours of the unabridged version that i downloaded during a free audible trial.

i`d read the book before, but listening to it, is lending some more nuance to the tale. it`s also got me thinking, especially in light of the political and religious climate here, in this country and in this town. in the store there is a standing joke among those of us that work on a Sunday; find the Lord, lose all good sense and manners.

the worst behaved people that we have in the store are always on Sundays. it`s amazing how badly all these people in their Sunday best behave and how steeped they are in their belief that they have the right to talk to you however they feel like. this isn`t a rare occurrence, the store has been open four Sundays, i`ve worked three of them and without fail there is at least one person, still dressed for church and comes in and abuses us. and that is primary reason i loathe organised religion; the people.

every time my shift ends at the store i find myself more than a little surprised that it`s over. i`ve never really considered myself a people person but i spend at least 20 hours every week interacting with people, answering questions and giving them the best advice i can and at the end of the day i feel good about it. but i digress.

i think Nashville has more square footage allocated to churches than there is office space, this might be an exaggeration, but i doubt it. drive along any major thoroughfare and there is at least two churches per block or a strip mall. it`s all about what you worship, isn`t it? and all of them, churches and malls are massive erections screaming for attention. and i wonder where is the humility and couldn`t the money spent on building these gaudy displays be better served in helping those in need.

these are the sort of thoughts that i have that make me a `bad` person but i can live with myself.

since i got here vic has been trying to get me to read the Jasper Fforde novels. i didn`t get to the first one until recently, not because i didn`t trust her judgement, but i tend to go off on a binge and the libraries in Nashville encourage me; although after three attempts, i`ve decided to wait for Neal Stephenson`s Quicksilver on paperback. I want to read the book but it`s entirely too cumbersome as a hardback.

in the interim, i`ve gone off on a Neil Gaiman binge, from the Sandman graphic novels to Neverwhere and Good Omens; which was co-authored by another one of my favourite authors, Terry Pratchett, who i`ve since introduced vic too; if the Nashville public library has it, i`m reading it, i still have Smoke and Mirrors and American Gods on the little table next to get to after The Eyre Affair.

Jasper Fforde has a writing style that`s similar to Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett; light, easy to read, somewhat silly but an intelligent silliness, if that makes any sense. it`s hysterically funny, but only if your sense of humour generally involves word play and literary devices.

Neil Gaiman is part of my holy triumvirate of comicdom for me. the other two being Alan Moore and Frank Miller and in one of those amazing coincidences Salon, has an interview with Alan Moore today. [if you`re not a member you can just click through the very short ad and give it a read.]

edit: i`ve just finished reading the Alan Moore interview, stop reading this and go read it, the stupid ad to get a day pass is worth it. go. what are you waiting for.