American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Ahead be spoilers.....




I've lost track of how many times I've read this but I felt like it has been a bit and I wanted to refresh myself before really diving into the Starz series. I didn't want to be surprised and question if what I was seeing was a deviation from the book or maybe I just didn't remember the book. It's a thing.... be happy that's not you.

Ian McShane and Cloris Leachman in the Starz series

I've seen enough of the series to be over the moon about it - the cast alone makes my heart pitter patter. But let's talk about the book. I listened to the 10th anniversary edition with a great cast of readers, plus an additional 12,000 words from Neil Gaiman. I loved that I remembered so much of it (I am 41, you know...getting older) but I loved even more when I was surprised by something and then remembered how it played out.

The basic plot is: Gods live in America, brought here by older generations in tales and folklore and sacrifices, but they fade as people forget about them. Newer Gods come in, ready to be worshiped by the next generation. The new Gods of Media, Internet, TV - all so easily worshiped by those of us who eagerly read and absorb the media. Gaiman references Norse mythology quite a bit in his novels, so it would help you to read up on it. Actually, read his book Norse Mythology. He makes it easy for you.

Shadow Moon is serving a sentence for robbery and is scheduled to get out soon. We know he's one of our main characters, but we really don't see why until much further into the book. Honestly, he's just the every day man who moves the Gods plot along and allows you to meet the necessary big players. He gets out of prison early because his wife, Laura, is killed in an car accident. While giving his best friend, who is driving, a blow job. The end must have been very very painful for Robbie.

Shadow's world starts spiraling downward.

On the way to Laura's funeral, he meets Wednesday, aka Odin (look him up), and through a very odd series of events, agrees to work for Wednesday as an errand boy. Shadow ends up on some odder errands that get him nearly killed by various people who apparently strongly dislike him. Wednesday hides him in a small community and hopes to keep Shadow safe until the war. But, not before Shadow loses a game of checkers to Chernabog, and promises to come back to get his head bashed in. Weird wager, y'all.

Did I not mention the war?

The old Gods vs the new Gods. Wednesday is rallying his troops to destroy the new Gods and the new Gods are doing the same. Things are gruesome as they start randomly killing each other (it was sad to see you go, Bilquis, you man-eater, you).

In the end, the war begins. Old Gods and new Gods begin killing each other. But....

I'm not giving anything else away at this point. There are more than enough twists and WTF moments to keep you going and you really need to go along for the ride. Then watch the show. Or watch the show, then read the book because, already there are differences which are significant.

Enjoy them both .....  and think about what you worship.

Pay It Forward by Catherine Ryan Hyde

My book reading mojo went away for a bit. I've just been consuming newspapers and magazines but, honestly, with the world the way it is now, I started getting depressed. Pay It Foward ended up on my doorstep and was the perfect remedy for the hate and fear running around outside.

I think most, if not all, people know the concept of paying it forward. You help out someone who needs it and, instead of asking for anything in return, you ask the person to help out three people. Those three people help out three other people and so on. A movement of kindness sweeps across the world, wars are ended, enemies hug it out and everyone lives happily ever after. That's the gist, anyways.

I try to regularly do something for someone and then hope they pay the kindness forward. It's an honor system and we know how those work. But I still do it and still hope. This novel is about Trevor, a 12 year old, who gets an assignment from his teacher, Reuben St. Clair, to think about how one person can change the world and then to go out and do it. Trevor's idea was very simple. Help three people then ask them to help three more, etc. etc. Trevor does his bit but he's certain no one else has until a reporter shows up asking about the kid who got gangs to stop killing each other.

The senseless violence at the end wasn't necessary to make this an impactful book and I wish the ending had been different. The book made it's mark, without that ending. I understand there's a movie based on the book but I have not seen it, nor will I :)  Books are ALWAYS better than the movie.

Go pay it forward.

Turbo Twenty-Three by Janet Evanovich

Twenty-third (duh) in the Stephanie Plum series opens with a dead man in an ice cream truck dipped in chocolate and nuts. What?

So the Bogart Ice Cream company is having some troubles, even if you don't count the dead ice cream covered guy. Ranger gets Stephanie to work undercover at the Bogart factory to see what she can find out but Stephanie sucks at undercover. Actually, I'm still amazed Stephanie has a job, but she manages to scrape through every chaotic (sometimes Lula-induced) situation that comes her way.

If you've read the previous book, we're in the same situation: Stephanie, Morelli (engaged to be engaged??) and Ranger. Lula and Connie add to the comic elements and there's plenty of chase scenes and action. For some reason, perhaps it's the ice cream element, I found #23 to be a particularly good book.

Golden Prey by John Sandford

Twenty-seventh in the Prey series and I'm still loving Lucas Davenport! I can't say that about to many series. I tore through this one and, towards the end, was reading at break-neck speed and ignoring all adult responsibilities. Thank goodness I don't have children.

Davenport is now a US Marshal, thanks to his actions in the previous book. He saved the life of Presidential candidate, Michaela Bowden, and she re-paid him with a cush job and no one to answer to. Naturally, his fellow Marshals don't care for him much but, Davenport himself is starting to feel at loose ends. He's a small fish in a giant pond and he needs someone to chase.

Enter Garvin Poole. A redneck hick with a mean killer streak, he's on the most wanted list and, with the help of his friend Sturgill Darling, just knocked over a drug cartel's counting house. After killing everyone inside, including a 6 year old girl, Poole and Darling walked away with millions in cash. The Federal Government isn't happy and neither is the cartel. Davenport takes on the case of hunting down Poole but he's competing with cartel killers, Soto and Kort. Davenport picks up two US Marshals, Bob and Rae, to assist after a near deadly shootout with Soto and Kort. We're flying, literally, over the southern and southwestern US with Davenport and co. and it's truly at mind-boggling speed.

There are a few moments when Davenport has an "ah ha" moment that speeds us along and you have to question his ability to consistently come up with these things. But then again, you don't, because it's Davenport, dammit! And he's just that good.

The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen

I had no particular reason for picking this up at the library except that it sounded good as I browsed the shelves. This is a book of short stories all focusing on immigrants.

The stories capture the people who fled to America and lost family along the way, who are now haunted by the ghosts of the dead. The ones who are sponsored and end up living in San Francisco with two gay men. The elderly professor who is battling, and losing, dementia and keeps calling his wife by the name of an old lover. And so on.

There are no heroic battles or anything spectacular with these stories, but they are solid and examine a snippet of the life of a refugee. Being forced to leave your country and land in another, very alien, country and try to survive takes courage.

All in all, a very good little book of short stories

Hugo Award Finalists Announced!

You can go here to see the list.

I always like book lists. Just more to add to my to-read pile! I'm slowly starting to get more into sci-fi so this seems like a good list to start from. Interestingly enough, I went to a talk by Charlie Jean Anders at Butler University recently. More on that to come......

Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon

I had finished reading Outlander back in December 2015 and, as much as I adored it, never got around to continuing the series. I watched the first season of the show (SWOON) and let season 2 pile up while I tackled Dragonfly in Amber. These are TOMES. I could hurl this book at a person's head and quite possibly knock them out cold. Dragonfly clocks in at about 740 pages.

 I ended up putting the actual book away and grabbed the audiobook, read by Davina Porter (fantastically read by, I might add), because I went a little crazy at the local library and checked out too many books. At least listening to Dragonfly kept me moving right along. I started reading this in February 2017 and, quite literally, just finished the book. I was thisclose to tearing into Voyager, the next book in the series, but stopped myself so I can finish my last library book. My goodness this is a fantastic series. To catch you up, here is my review of the first in the series, Outlander.

Dragonfly in Amber starts in a very unexpected way: Claire is back in her century, showing up on Roger Wakefield's doorstep in Invermess, in 1968. Roger, remember, was the little boy that Reverend Wakefield had adopted, whom we met in Outlander. Roger is quite grown up now and Claire arrives with her daughter, Brianna, a vibrant 20 year old red head. Start doing the math here, folks. Claire asks Roger to help research the fates of the clansman who fought at Culloden. In 1745, the Jacobites fight, and lose terribly, at Culloden, to try and put Charles Stuart back on the throne. It's a terrible battle that nearly wipes out the Scots and Claire wants closure, it seems, on the people that she knew and spent so many years with in 18th-century Scotland.

While researching, Roger, Brianna, and Claire seek out a cemetery and come across James Fraser's gravestone marked as the "Beloved Husband of Claire". That sparks the telling of her adventures to Brianna and Roger, including the telling of Brianna's true father, Jamie.

Part II takes us immediately to 1744, France, and Claire vomiting from morning sickness. Jamie and Claire are in "high society" France to do what they can to stop Charles Stuart from waging his war to gain the throne, using the Scots as pawns in his battle. A great deal happens on so many levels in Paris that I can't recount them all and, frankly, I wouldn't want to. This is a great story told by a great writer and it's worth the travel with Claire and Jamie.

We do end up back in Scotland, with many deaths, many upsets and many nail-biting moments. Claire, as we already know, ends up going back through the stones into her century and giving birth to Jamie's daughter, Brianna. The last bit of the book turned out to be more of a twisted path and left us with a shocking bit of revelation.

The audio book is approximately 38 hours long and the last, oh, 10 hours or so I devoured in 3 days. I really wished that I didn't have to sleep at that point...or work... but alas.

I highly recommend this series. It's daunting in size, but so very worth the time.