Want to feel jealous in a bookish manner? Go look at Neil Gaiman’s library. The colours, the layout, the view from the windows and the mind-boggling amount of books.. I hardly ever covet anybody else’s possessions but I do covet that room.
On the topic of Neil Gaiman, people tend to assume that he is one of my favourite authors and I am at loss to explain why this is so. I have received emails from dear friends with subject lines like “Neil in Edinburgh!!!” (at which point I flailed happily around the house until Other Half pointed out that the email referred to Neil Gaiman and not Neil (yes, in Casa Bookish there is only one Neil and he needs no surname)). Other friends have assured me that if I run out of reading material, they have plenty of Gaiman books they’ll put at my disposal. And yet other friends approach me asking if I’ve read the latest Gaiman novel?
I’ve read two and three-quarters Gaiman books: American Gods, Neverwhere, Good Omens (co-written with Terry Prachett) and Odd and Frost Giants. None of these clicked with me – Neverwhere came closest, I think. American Gods is said to be Gaiman’s finest and most complex work so far and it left me completely cold. I did like the film adaptation of Stardust.
I understand that people are passionate about their favourite author and I get that people want to share their passion, but once I have read a couple of books by an author I am able to make my mind up about an author and decide that, nah, that guy isn’t really for me. In that respect, Neil Gaiman is a bit like Ian McEwan. I read Amsterdam (still the worst Booker prize winner, in my opinion) and Atonement (horrid), listened to people going into raptures over McEwan, read a chapter of Black Dogs, and decided to choose Life over reading another page.
I suspect the “you must love Neil Gaiman’ thing has to do with demography: I am in my early thirties, like geekery, am a Firefly and Doctor Who affectionado – and Gaiman just sort of goes with that territory. I still consider Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials one of my favourite reads this past decade, so sometimes I do find books within that niche that I really like. Gaiman just doesn’t do it, though.
Have you ever experienced something similar? Have you read, listened to or watched something you knew you were meant to be Just Your Thing, but you just couldn’t get into it? Other examples of mine include Bjørk, Tori Amos, Jonathan Safran Foer, and, well .. banoffee pie.
For me it is most definately Björk as well: In theory it should be great, but in practice … not so much. I adore the idea of her, what she tries to do with both her music and her look/image/presentation, but when it comes to actually watching her or listening to her, I just tend to find it too opaque and clinical somehow. Just doesn’t connect.
Oh, and these two might get me killed: I don’t particularily like David Bowie, and I prefer Torchwood over Doctor Who (yes, I’m a heretic, I know).
… oh, and on the subject of Gaiman: I actually think that the real gems are to be found amongst the short stories. “A study in Emerald”, “October in the Chair”, “Murder Mysteries” and “Snow, Glass Apples” are particular favourites of mine.
In my house, we call him “The Finn”.
Nirvana, Radiohead, Alan Moore’s “The Watchmen”…Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell are all things that I’ve never really got.
@DK: I think this is really a continuation of our decade-old discussion. Like Rhiannon, you’ve never been that fond of Radiohead either? And, yes, I remember “Snow, Glass Apples” and you talking about it.
@Rhiannon: *gigglesnort* .. The Finn.. heh.
.. I have never read many comics or graphic novels. There’s a clash of text/image there, I think (particularly as I view typography as a visual entity, of course). I didn’t get Jonathan Strange until I was bedridden and forced myself to read it. Suddenly (okay around page 250) I really loved the book.
AND! I just thought of another thing I Just Don’t Get: the Colin Firth adaptation of Pride & Prejudice. Aggggghr!
please explain the P&P thing Kari!
I don’t get Gaiman either. tori fans everwhere love him but after Neverwhere, which I loved, I never got anything else, much to my husband’s dismay!
Bells, it’s that I Just Don’t Get It thing again. I have watched two episodes, just couldn’t get over the fact that COLIN FIRTH was DARCY and what was with all the splashing about in ponds and huh? In my head P&P was so different from the BBC adaptation that it just didn’t work for me. I suspect I’m the only person on this planet to feel like this!
I remembered another one: Quentin Tarantino. I do not get his stuff AT ALL.
I’m exactly that way about Neil Gaiman’s books. I really like his Sandman comics (graphic novels? I’m never sure what the difference is) with a few exceptions; his novels not so much. Good Omens is my favorite, but I read that before reading anything else by either Gaiman or Pratchett, and now that I’ve read them both individually I’m pretty sure that what I like about Good Omens was what Pratchett brought to it (his brand of humor and cock-eyed interpretation of the world). Neverwhere was okay, and Anansi Boys was okay as an audio book to get me from one end of a 10 hour drive to the other. Stardust was okay, but I liked the movie better. :P I have not been able to make it through American Gods, though. I’ve tried a few times. It did absolutely nothing for me, though, so I probably won’t try again.
And I do get the assumption from people that I must love Gaiman. When I ask for book recs, I frequently am rec’d American Gods. So I definitely get the impression that I *should* like his books. But I don’t. :/
Yeah, Radiohead, they’d be on my list as well (though, strangely enough I ADORE “Street Spirit (Fade Out)”. One of my absolute favourite songs of all time. But all else … well, except maybe “Karma Police” … just doesn’t klick. Which kills me).
@Mahoni: Hey, gooood to hear from you! And I’m glad I’m not alone ;)
@DK: Thankfully I love Radiohead enough to make up for your lack of enthusiasm. And Rhiannon’s too. Man, I heart Radiohead.
Totally agree that the splashing about in ponds stuff is just crazy. I loathe and detest one thing about that series – it’s turned the wider public’s view of P&P into an overly romantic version of a very clever book. You could take the sexy stuff out of it and it would stand the test of time much better. It’s wonderful in lots of ways but real Austen lovers generally despise Andrew Davies for it!
American Gods is the only book of Gaiman’s that I’ve read and it didn’t do much for me either. I feel like I should read something else of his, maybe Coraline or maybe the Sandman novels? It’s sort of the same with me and Tim Burton films too. I can appreciate them but I do not get the rapturous adoration of the man’s work. It seems to me that the sort of person who likes Gaiman would feels similar about Burton. I was trying to wrap my mind around the fact that maybe I’m not the sort who likes that sort of supernatural/fantasy but I did enjoy what I’ve read of the His Dark Materials series, enjoyed Harry Potter and am now reading a trashy vampire series.
I like Bjork enough and have kind of cooled on Tori though I do still enjoy some of the latter’s older material. I attempted to enjoy Bjork’s last output but never really could.