Books

So this is supposed to be a blog which is not just about knitting, i think it is time to write a book post. I haven't actually been able to get much reading done lately because I've been away and because I've been feverishly knitting my left mitten. I have managed to finish one book though, 'American Gods' by Neil Gaiman.

I have only ever read one other Gaiman book, 'Stardust', which i read following watching the film and really liked. This is another great story, and should also be turned into a film in my opinion, as that might make more people read it, and also some of the visual descriptions in the novel could be wonderful on screen.

It is the sort of story that really grabs my attention because it has parts of it which can be researched, I am terrible when I read and watch film and television, IMDb is one of my most used bookmarks because I always have to know the trivia!

So the novel is about a group of Gods, ones from old myth and legend such Odin and Loki, who have been forced to live normal lives amongst us because people don't believe in them any more, and it is belief which sustains them. The story follows Shadow, who following being released from prison only to find that everything he was looking forward to is gone (his wife is in a car accident the day before his release among other things), is hired by one of the Gods to work for him as his bodyguard, as there is a war coming. The new Gods, such as the internet and cars are killing the old Gods. The book follows this line with Shadow and his boss recruiting old Gods to help the cause traveling across America. I wont say too much more because i will spoil it if i do.

It is a long book, and i have the authors preferred version so mine is an extra few thousand words long, but its worth putting in the time. In typical me fashion i did a few wikipedia searches on the characters after reading too so it was especially rewarding.

The original version of the novel has won several awards, and I'm quite tempted to try and get hold of the original version as well to compare what Gaiman felt was lacking and see what kinds of impact the new parts have on the novel. Can you tell i was an English student :)

Anyways, if i try and talk about it too much more i will end up giving more things away, and i would prefer for people to read it for themselves as it really is worth the time, and carrying the nearly 700 page book around with you, because you will want to once you have started reading!