Among the pages : American Gods

hat I'm not is a book critique. Err.. Maybe I am. I mean I have spent countless hours discussing this & that book with various people, (i.e, Hubs, sis, my almost twin friend etc..). Does that make me a critique? Does my ability to make a good cheese cake make me Gordon Ramsay? ( I wish!) You get the point.

All these being said, I do love, adore books. Books therefore invariably feature in my "things that make me happy list" (hubs and family being in the people that make me happy list). The things that make me happy list contains the following & not in the same order every time.

1. The smell of books.
2. Butter. (Obviously! Have you seen me lately?)
3. Old furniture
4. Dettol soap
5. Garlic.
6. Butter. (did I say that already?)
7. Ginger tea.

See, I'm a very simple person.

In addition, to my delight, I have found out that (contrary to the popular belief) there are a multitude of people in our generation who could not simply survive without a book in their hands.

To come to the point of this blog post I thought I'd share with the world my two pence on what I'm reading.

AMERICAN GODS by Neil Gaiman

I finished this one a month or so ago I think. I have read a few of  Neil Gaiman's books in the past & am a huge fan of the Sandman. (thanks to my brother). While I think that Gaiman is a literary genius, this particular book was extraordinary. It is no wonder it has received so many awards.

American Gods centres around an ex-convict named Shadow and his adventures with the stuff of mythology. Its main theme that (As far as I can see it) Gods as we know them will cease to exist as our belief in them wanes & new ones are born when we start believing in new things is indeed fascinating. That is to say, some Gods of olden days have already gone extinct as we no longer believe in them and forgotten them while certain new Gods have sprung up. The Media, Technology etc.

The story follows Shadow as he makes his way through America facing challenges, battling enemies & solving mysteries to his ultimate revelation. He does all these while being in the employment of a certain mysterious Mr Wednesday.

I could not but notice the similarity between the aforementioned theme and of some of the characters found in Sandman.

I'm only vaguely familiar with the persistent Norse mythology in the book. (Having read Sophie's world). Because of this I found this subject very interesting.

Only the connection between Shadow & Mr Wednesday was kind of cliche for me.

Alright, alright. Enough ruining it for you by giving away the story.

If you ever read it, let me know. I of course do recommend it heartily.

Here's what you should do. Get the book. Fill a bowl with something to munch. Find a nook. Hide. Get comfortable. Read.

BookBaker Out.