28. The Sandman: Endless Nights - Neil Gaiman

The 2nd Dev loan, also meant to broaden my Gaiman repertoire. This time a series of comics. And I'm not really sure what to say. I liked the comics. But I am not sure why exactly. And I am also not sure that I entirely understood them. Which is why I usually stay away from comics that aren't in the local paper or don't include a lot of pow, blam, gack and an obvious conclusion.

I guess it can be fair to say that while I have always enjoyed the comics I have read I haven't exactly gotten into them. I haven't felt immersed by them. It's always a sort of "that was good, but ..." and I'm not sure what the but is. I'm not dismissing comics out of hand because I have read some of them, they're just not my thing. And I feel bad saying that, just like I feel bad admitting there are other things I don't enjoy. Maybe because I feel like if I say I don't like something it will dissuade others from trying it or enjoying it. And wow if that is the case is that ever egotistical of me because I am sure that people have better things to do than take their cue from my series of beliefs; of likes and dislikes. Then again I also think we (possibly especially me) underestimate our sphere of influence.

27. The Wolves in the Walls - Neil Gaiman; illustrated by Dave McKean

Dev leant me this the last time we hung out in order to round out my Neil Gaiman experience. Because he is not just a writer of novels, he does childrens books and comics as well!

It's been a long time since I have read a children's picture book for myself, without a sticky child turning the pages and moving me ahead when I am in the middle of a sentence. At a certain age I am not sure they really appreciate the actual story, they seem more interested in the pictures and possibly making up their own story. Who am I to stifle creativity? Although I think that if I ever have kids of my own I might just have to have 2 of certain books - one that it is ok for them to be all jam-hands over and one that is kept in relative unstickyness. Or maybe that makes me overly anal. Hrm.

The Wolves in the Wall was a cute story that made me laugh in places and really revel in the creative spirit. It is beautifully illustrated and well written and just enough odd.

26. Eragon - Christopher Paolini

Ok. I really have to get better at posting as I read instead of trying to play catch up with the pile of books that is steadily growing beside my monitor. Mostly because by the time I get around to posting I have forgotten what I wanted to say about the book. Not that I really say anything terribly interesting anyways, but maybe that is fueled by my posting procrastination. Of course part of the reason I am posting right now is because I am procrastinating from another project. Go figure. Well and also I have 2 books of Dev's that I really should return tonight at bookclub and I really should log them before I do.

Anyways, I was surprised that Eragon was written by a 15 year old. And more than a little jealous because I am 25 and I still don't think I could write like that. I just can't seem to get my thoughts in order or get any ideas to suss out into a larger story arc or ... well any of the things that you probably need to be able to do in order to get published. And maybe that is just me selling myself short - I have a tendency to do that and pretend that it is being realistic. Hard to say. But the language was beautiful and seemed so much above a highschool level. Maybe, as Sarah and I discussed, the plot was highschool but I think that is a little less than fair. Definitely there were obvious borrows from LoTR and StarWars and probably some other classics that I failed to recognize but really what book doesn't borrow from something else? Isn't it said that there are basically 6 great stories and every other book is some sort of retelling? But there were dragons and battles and adventure and it was an easy and fairly quick read.

I think the biggest "danger" is that the book followed a form that I am overly familiar with and I found myself anticipating certain outcomes and sometimes I wished that he would do something different so that I could be a little surprised. I have some predictions I am fairly confident about for the sequel and I think the best thing that could happen would be for my view of things to come be totally off base. Which means I will definitely read Eldest to find out how on the mark I was. Sometimes I really am every marketers greatest dream. :p