AMERICAN GODS - Neil Gaiman

Gaiman is fast becoming one of my favourite authors to read.
I would love to sit down with him and have a conversation about where his ideas come from for his novels.
When I started out reading American Gods I had no intention of actually writing a review and because it actually took me so much longer than expected to get through it (a couple of months at least) I wasn't sure I was actually grasping the story enough to form much of an opinion.
But I've just having finished it I have so many thoughts. 

The book starts off with us meeting Shadow - who is the central character of the whole book. You get a sense to begin with that he's someone special, even though it's not explicitly stated. He is released from jail early as his wife dies in a car accident. I don't think we ever fully get told why he ended up in jail in the first place but we're given a rough idea and that Shadow is the type of guy that takes the wrap for something that wasn't his fault to save someone else - in short, he's a really honest to God, genuine, good guy. 
Shadow meets a guy, known as Wednesday, on the plane home that 1). knows a little too much about him and his situation and 2). offers him a job. Shadow is hesitant at first but in the end takes the job to essentially be Wednesday bitch. We find out that Wednesday is the God, Odin, Shadow drives him around and runs errands and it all seems strange but harmless to begin with. Wednesday asks a few unsavoury request of Shadow which is does anyway - because he's already been in jail once right?
From here the story progresses into a series of meeting strange beings and encounters that the reader is unsure of whether is real or just happening in Shadows mind. 
We meet super old Gods, gods you would have no doubt heard of and ones you haven't. Gods from myths you would have read about in classics at school. 
And then we meet the super new gods. The gods of the information age, the TV, electricity, the internet, cars. Gods of Technology - the things we worship today. 

We find out that Shadow has entered into a world of Gods and a war is coming. Both sides are both hesitant and willing to fight if it means winning, if it means surviving. Is Shadow the hero they need or will he cost them everything?

I had zero expectations about this book before I started reading it, nor did I actually have any idea what it was about. All I heard was that the book - and the TV show - were good. 
When I was about halfway through the book I still wasn't fully understanding what was going on so I watched the first episode of the TV show in hopes it would shed more light and I think I came out of it even more confused. And I feel like that comes down to the fact that even though things are now visual you tend to lose a lot in the interpretation. Needless to say I stopped that idea - I'll get back into the TV show at another time. 

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story - even if some of the imagery was lost on me. I simultaneously loved and hated the fact that Gaiman gives you names of Gods but no backgrounds. You don't know where they're from or what they do, and I think that was actually the point. These Gods are being forgotten. They are being lost in a new world to more exciting, shinier toys.
I feel like the novel gives interesting commentary on the time it was written (2001). A time when technology had progressed so quickly, it was everywhere. And even though you still have people who worship their old gods, their old beliefs; their everyday use of technology gives power to it. 
It's interesting commentary on the way the world is heading.
Sure, we learn about old Gods and old religions but we no longer worship them. We no longer sacrifice things to them - and without us - Without our love and belief they cease to exist in our world. It's an interesting idea that the Gods we believe in could be the average Joe down the street who works at the corner store, who is struggling to survive just as much as we are.

I'm interested to see how the TV show pans out and whether it does justice to the ideas and conversations Gaiman poses in the novel.
Definitely something I would gladly read again - 9/10

Mini Reviews

Hello lovelies,

My social life has been so busy lately that I've been finding it difficult to set some time aside to read - let alone write any reviews. I am currently on my 7th book of the year (so much for reading a book a week - since we're already on the last week of July!) and I don't think I'm going to review this one but I've decided to give a little review of the few books I did read. 

NEVERWHERE - Neil Gaiman

Honestly - this book was so good it got me out of my reading funk that I'd been having and got me excited about reading again. One of my work colleagues handed it to me one day after she was done reading it. We always talked on and off about what kind of books we liked and the kind of authors we liked to read - she is obsessed with Gaiman and I had never actually read any of his books so I was happy to start somewhere, and I wasn't disappointed. 

We follow the story through the eyes of the hero - Richard Mayhew, whose life turns literally inside out when he stops to help an injured girl on the sidewalk. He is whisked away to the London Below, a parallel world steeped in shadow and mystery and embarks on a journey like no other. 

I love the premise of this story, I love the idea of a parallel world existing just below the surface of our own, and the only ones able to see it are the ones who are willing - the ones who aren't caught up the in everyday hum drum, materialistic lives we now lead. Once I started I couldn't put this book down, my only wish is that there was more.
8/10

THE MAGUS - John Fowles

I stumbled upon this book while looking for something to read in the library. It was a big, thick book which is my absolute weakness and when I took it to the counter to check out the volunteer helping said it was one of his all time favourites. 

Since reading, I would gladly read  again. 

Nicholas Urfe is a young man from Oxford who, after life throws a few curveballs his way, takes up a teaching post at the Lord Byron school in Phraxos, Greece. He soon meets a mysterious man by the name of Maurice Conchis and that's when things really start to get interesting. 

If you've ever watched Inception and were left with a feeling of "Wtf is going on here??" that is how I felt reading this book - I was just as confused as to what was real and to what wasn't as Urfe was. Just when you think you're understanding what is going on another curve in the road is thrown you're way and you're back to wandering what is actually happening. It is a long book but it had me on the edge of my seat every step of the way.
9/10.

Images from Google Images

You've Got Mail #6

Hello Lovelies, it's been a hot minute since I've updated, or written anything substantial at all.
I've just been very busy with my life here in Canada, trying to find a balance between life and working and trying to get back in a routine that makes me feel like myself.
We're already at the end of our 2nd month of 2019 and I'm trying to set goals for myself (even if they are little ones) so I don't feel like I've been set adrift in this huge ocean we call life.

I've finally completed the Travel Blog update of our mini road trip when we first arrived in Canada (can you believe that was 10 months ago already!) and the next blog I'm planning is my Christmas and New Years trip to New Jersey/New York. I'm hoping to get that one out before the end of March.

In regards to the reading - my plan is to finish A Court of Wings and Ruin by the end of this week. I won't be reviewing it but the goal going forward is to try and read a book a week so it just means sticking to my guns an actually reading - I do miss it but I have a tendency to get distracted by all the amazing TV shows we've go going at the moment.
Until next time - C xx

WE WERE LIARS -
E. Lockhart.

As most of these start out, We Were Liars was handed to me by my best friend while I was on holiday in NZ in September. I hadn't brought any books over with me as 1). I knew I still had all my unfinished books waiting for me on my night stand and 2). I wouldn't have any time to actually read as I'd be too busy catching up with everyone. And boy was I correct!
I opened up the book to read the first Tuesday night I was there, only got 1 chapter in and only reopened the book once back in Canada. 

We Were Liars is a story told by Cadence Sinclair - a 17 year old girl from a wealthy family. It's a story about the summers they spent on Beechwood, a private Island owned by her grandfather. It's a story about the lives of a wealthy, dysfunctional family and how all families, regardless of how put together they seem, all have skeletons in their closets.

E. Lockhart manages to beautifully weave together fiction and poetry in one seamless motion. Cadence is as troubled as any other 17 year old girl could be. She is hopelessly in love with Gat, her Aunt's husband's nephew who has been coming to the island since they were kids -  a love that was never meant to be - and her family, as loving as they seem, are holding a secret from her. She cannot figure out what is wrong - she had an accident and she can no longer remember things very well; but something just doesn't seem right. 


Surprisingly I really enjoyed this book. I went into it with no expectations and came out the other end being pleasantly surprised. Lockhart managed to keep me on the edge of my seat; once I started reading I couldn't put it down. An air of mystery and unease keeping my interests piqued as we uncover the family skeletons with Cadence. The book ends with a crescendo that none of us expected. An easy read but a good one, 6/10.