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Not surprisingly I found it an interesting read and I erm basically loved it. It took me a while to read all the stories...favourites would be 'the price', food for thought, 'The sea change', I like the imagery in this, there are so many lines you could choose from this book and think about them for days. 'Chivalry' is quite a sweet tale.

I take it you are a fan of Gaiman? I have to read 'the sandman', I know this.

Have you read any of his other books?

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Yeah, "The Price" is one of the better stories. I don't recall the other two (it has been quite a while since I read it), but I really liked the story about him continually speaking with the old man in the hotel (was he a janitor?). I also liked the short fantasy piece he wrote about the troll. My friends all liked "Murder Mysteries," but I didn't care for that one.



I like his work alright. He knows what he's doing as a writer, and he's got a wild imagination. I haven't read all of the Sandman books myself (there are just so many), but I really enjoyed the few I did. I wish he'd write more short fiction, but it seems like he's been putting out more and more novels. I read his American Gods, and while it was entertaining (and the characters were fantastic), it wasn't as effective as I had expected. I hear Neverwhere is what I need to be reading, but I've tried, and I can't get through the plodding first few chapters.

I think the one you are talking about with the janitor is the Goldfish pool, I liked it very much also.

Neil Gaiman was in Belfast around a week or so ago. I was working...which was pretty annoying I must admit. My sister got one of her hardback sandman editions signed and he even drew pictures on it. Apparently he is a pretty cool guy, very friendly...and he must be as my sister bursts into tears at the mere thought of meeting one of the people she idolises

Its quite hateful when you know a book is great and you really wish to read it, but can not even get started. That happens to me quite a bit. Why dont you miss the first few chapters and skip to the middle

I check out his blog sometimes. You can read it here. He seems to be a pretty cool guy indeed.

I would...if it wasn't Neil Gaiman. I can't even imagine having started in the middle of American Gods. THAT would have been a head-scratcher, for sure.

Note to self: Never read 6 books at one time. It doesn't seem to work out. Lol. I mean I know what all is going on just, taking a little bit longer to finish them all. Hehe.

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"This is that human freedom, which all boast that they possess, and which consists solely in the fact, that men are conscious of their own desire, but are ignorant of the causes whereby that desire has been determined." -Baruch Spinoza

I was rooting around the cupboard looking for some Christmas decorations when I found this little (well, 1200-odd pages of 'little') gem.

One of the best £17.50's I can remember spending. It's got a huge selection, from Beowulf to Heaney with just about everyone of note who came inbetween. Some great essays on the nature of rhythm too...

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"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan

Hoping to get back to the Dark Tower series but, it doesn't look like I will.

Barnes and Noble was having a closing sale, so I went shopping. This is what I picked up, which will be my steady reading for the next few months:

Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut
Catch-22, Joseph Heller
1984, George Orwell
Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
On the Road, Jack Kerouac
The Beach, Alex Garland
The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway



Books I wanted to buy, but didn't:

Smoke and Mirrors, Neil Gaiman
V for Vendetta, Alan Moore
Chocolat, Joann Harris
Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk
Cofessions of a Dangerous Mind, Chuck Barris
Bad Grass Never Dies, Chuck Barris
Sideways, Rex Pickett

Required High School reading takes precedent eh?

I'm procrastinating from writing my final draft to read some of Nancy Shields's 'Fake Fish the Theater of Kobo Abe'. The pictures look really cool, and these plays were really radical. Oh why was I born too late?

Not at all. Most of those books are classics, and rightfully so. I haven't had a chance to read them yet, and now I will.

After finishing up a couple of film studies books, I am again attempting to read Gibson's Count Zero. I loved Neuromancer, and couldn't put it down, but Count Zero is....well, I keep putting it down.

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1984, George Orwell



It's a good thing 1984 wasn't really like this.

Well, Thatcher was in power so it was more like Big Sister (or Big Mad Granny).

My grandma gave me a book of John Lennon quotes for Christmas and I sat and read the whole thing. Can't be bothered to check what the title of it is though. Fascinating stuff anyhow.

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"Like all dreamers, Steven mistook disenchantment for truth."

Stranger Than Fiction, Chuck Palahniuk

Highly recommended.

I've been meaning to read something of his. What's good about it, and do you recommend any of his other work?

It's all creative nonfiction - a collection of articles he's written and other creative pieces - but they're all done in such a minimalist, reflective style. Palahniuk has been called the most enlightened visionary of the Gen-X writer movement, and I can see why. He lays it all down for you, as plainly (and as smugly) as he can - but there's always something deeper lingering just underneath the words. A good example is "The Escort," in which he writes about his time spent taking hospice patients out for fun before they died. There's another story about how he and a friend dressed up as cartoon animals and went out in public, so that they could feel what it was like to be visibly different from everyone else.

Much of what he writes feels emotionally distant, but you know it's because he's one who represses his emotions, but can't stifle them altogether. They show through - in every story - and it's just awesome. I flew through this book (started it earlier this week). If you like bizarre-but-true stories about eccentric people with real, perceptive points of view...give this book a read.

Admittedly, this was my first Palahniuk read. I've got Fight Club sitting right here, so I'll probably jump into that one tomorrow. He writes quite a bit about it in Stranger Than Fiction: about how, for us, the story is a fun, dynamic romp - but for him and his friends, it's a scrapbook of memories. When you think about it, that adds a whole new layer to the film. Can't wait to read the book.

Why in the hell does everyone LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE Chuck Palahniuk? He's a horrible writer. Don't bother with the, "That's just your opinion, DOOD..." because my opinion is universal and emperical from where I'm froming from. Shilawab' hukjus'. You've just been cursed and that means eventually you'll die. I'd suggest some Where's Waldo or Goosebumps. Those always put the jam on my toast.

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Coraline - Neil Gaiman

What a terribly wonderful little book.