Neil Gaiman

This is small but perfectly formed. I listened to this in recording, with the narration and Mrs Whitaker played by Glenda Jackson. Mrs Whitaker discovers the Holy Grail under a fur coat in the Oxfam shop one Thursday morning after collecting her pension from the post office. She thinks it will look nice on the mantlepiece, and so it does. She's then visited by Galahad, who is on a quest to discover the grail. Before she will let him in she asks to see some ID and his identification is a work show more of genius. He offers her precious objects she offers him a cup of tea and a sandwich for the journey home. It a fabulous mis-match, full of comedic moments, but pathos as well.
Just brilliant. show less

What happens to the old pagan gods that people bring with them to a new land, when worship erodes? How do they cope with the material world of America? Gaiman's concept is delicious, and he carries it out with a wicked wit - what better undertaker than an Egyptian god, after all? The story gallops along as our hero discovers that all is not fair in love or war, even, or especially, for the godhead.

The consensus n my book discussion group was that if the person read the 10th Edition with the show more stuff Gaiman added back in, it was too long. I didn't know any differently, so I must say I liked it as I read it (the updated version).

The various versions of the old gods, dealing as they must with current culture and economics, is both humorous and somehow sad. But there are bigger thoughts in this book: immigration, how people come here and eventually abandon the ancient, transactional gods; monotheistic religions that Gaiman doesn't bring in, those that superceded the same ancient gods well before the related populations came to the U.S. Then the comparisons - all our technological gods: money, TV, cars, electronic communication, bigness, power, worshipped more and more in spite of, or with the connivance of, current leaders. What does it mean to keep your word, have a sense of personal honor? What would you sacrifice for what you want? And what do life and death mean, however many times you go through them?

The novel is eminently readable, even in the long version, which seemed to fly by. I could almost cast the movie in my head as it went - Brian Cox, perhaps, as Mr. Wednesday? Any other suggestions? show less

The rural English town of Wall shares a border with the land of fairy. The wall that encloses a local field has a hole in it which occasionally the townspeople traverse to attend a fairy market.

Tristran is a young boy growing up in Wall who is largely unconcerned with the goings on in Fairy until the pretty girl he covets challenges him to find a fallen star in order to win her affections. The star fell far beyond the wall, and Tristran sets off immediately.

His simple quest will intersect show more with blood-thirsty nobles, witches, unicorns and many other strange denizens. Along the way he will discover his own peculiar heritage and power but nothing will prepare him for discovering the star who is actually a young girl.

I read this book for the first time when I was younger, and I think I enjoyed it. Obviously, the fact that the author is a monstrous sex criminal has colored my reading of it, but even without that context, one can only appreciate this story uncritically.

Tristran is a poor protagonist who's central character arch is learning that women are humans. The quest begins when Tristran refuses to accept the rejection of his crush, instead hounding her for some sort of job by which he can earn her love. He agrees to seek the star in order to force this unwilling girl to marry him.

When he finds the star, a young girl with a broken leg, he shackles her and forces her to walk back with him. Over the course of the story, he learns that this was actually wrong and that women are not his to overpower and own. And I guess the reader is supposed to be charmed and impressed by this moral awakening?

Of course the star is quite willing to fall in love with the man who enslaved her, because after all, he did eventually decide to let her go. And he said he was sorry. So obviously, no harm done.

I get that this is a fairy tale, and intended to be simplistic, but even the reformed Tristran is bland and dull and stupid. It's not clear why the star would love him, and it's hard for the reader to root for him. show less

Inventive, outrageous, imaginative - in short, crazy! This rhyming picture-book follows the story of a man with crazy hair and the young girl who is determined to 'fix' his unruly locks. As the man explains just how out of control his hair is, playing host to any number of creatures, Bonnie counters with a comb. Unfortunately for her (or fortunately, as the case may be), the residents of the man's hair don't take well to being disturbed...

Only the second picture-book I have read from the show more prolific Neil Gaiman (the first being Instructions), Crazy Hair was an absolute hoot! The rhyming text reads well - "Child! Are you mad!" / I cried / "Combs and brushes / Have been tried. / Once was eaten / By a bear / Prowling through my crazy hair" - and would make an excellent story-time selection, while the surreal artwork by Dave McKean, who has worked with Gaiman on such titles as Coraline and The Graveyard Book, captures the madcap sense of fun of the text. Recommended to all Gaiman fans, and to anyone looking for picture-books featuring a silly and wondrously imaginative sense of fun. show less