Review time! Gaiman, Older and Hamilton

So, I made it through some of the books on my list for March, but not others.

How does this happen? Well, you have to know my particular talent for chaos. I tend to read three or four books at once, first of all. The Anne Rice book, I set down somewhere and lost until last week. The Joe Zieja book, I started reading aloud at night before bed (because it's fun!) which means I am deathly slow at it.

And the Book of English Magic, well, that's one's highly instructional, so I can only get through a chapter or a half at a time. It's great!--don't get me wrong--but it takes a lot of thought to process, and keeps leading to other research.

Me and books, usually.

But I did finish some good ones. Here are my short takes on them:

Edith Hamilton, Mythology -- So interesting! The myths of gods were way more intriguing than the ones about heroes and kings, though. The human characters in these seem to really get the short end of the stick a lot. But, I did discover where George R.R. Martin might have gotten some of the more shocking and cruel plot turns in his Game of Thrones. If you ever said out loud while reading or watching, "Who could ever actually do that?!" the answer seems to be the ancient Greeks.

Neil Gaiman, Norse Mythology -- This was so much fun to read. Educational, yes, but flavored with that particular sensibility for the harsh and wondrous that Gaiman has. It actually seemed in structure to be a lot like Hamilton, probably because it's also a modern edit of ancient tales. I feel like this is one I'm going to be referring back to over the years for its very thorough lens on Norse culture and stories.

Daniel Jose Older, Salsa Nocturna: Stories -- Oh man. So, I had been avidly reading all of Older's novels and novellas, and didn't know these short stories set in some of the same worlds and with the same characters even existed. Then my husband procured a signed copy of this somewhat-hard-to-find early collection (hint: try here), and I was lost in the streets of the author's supernatural-populated Brooklyn all over again. I can't overstate my recommendation for this man's work. It's beyond creative, heart-wrenching, hysterically funny, and pulls you along with every sentence.

I actually read a bunch of other stuff since March, too, but I'll save that for another update. I'm getting behind, though, as I've bought far more books these last months than I've read. Bad habit that I need to catch up with!

Till next time,

--Kim