reading

Neil Gaiman's "American Gods" sucked me right in. It went from reading a little bit each night to not going to bed on time to spending half the weekend sitting in front of the fire to finish it. There is a lot going on in this book and Neil's prose is solid, occasionally peaking into that the unsustainable zenith of just perfect. I love the fact that Gaiman basically starts from the same premise as Pratchett's "Small Gods" but takes it in a completely different direction. There aren't many writers who can write a short story like Bradbury and write a 600 page novel that will keep you from your proper bedtime.

So yeah, spent my Saturday reading. It was nice to spend all day reading.

34. Neil Gaiman "American Gods"

reading

I found Connie Willis' "Lincoln's Dreams" on our bookshelves while I was organizing and sorting. I hadn't read it before so added it to the bedside pile. I decided to read it this week because I wanted a quick read and not only is this just 200 pages, but it is also Connie Willis and I know from experience I tend to read through her stuff quickly. Honestly I hadn't read this book before because the cover and the jacket blurb didn't draw me in.

Once I started reading it, I found it enjoyable enough. It has some of the standard "harassed and stressed main character" but not excessive. It moves along quickly and despite being about very specialized knowledge the book expresses the minutia without getting bogged down in it. All in all, it was an interesting quick read. Somehow it felt like "an early effort", but I don't have specifics of why, just an impression.

35. Connie Willis "Lincoln's Dreams"