Hey Suzanne

have you read Neil Gaiman's book American Gods? I haven't read it but hear from a very reliable source that it is a really great book. His Anansi Boys also looks really good.

http://www.amazon.ca/American-Gods-Mm-N ... 959&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.ca/Anansi-Boys-Neil-G ... 959&sr=8-4

Hello Mary:

"American Gods"

No, I have not read anything by this author. I like this one. The synopsis mentions, "powerful American Myths". I think this one would be great to recomend, it has a creepy horror sense to it, it also has a sci-fi feel to it. I think those genres will appeal to a lot of members, at least from what I have read in the posts. The only thing that concerns me is the title, with the G word in it, it may be a turn on, or a put off. Atwood has these qualities too, but you know there will be a feminism take on it. This author is someone new to the both of us, how did that happen? Makes for a good discuss, we will not be biased by favorite authors. If up in a poll, I would lean towards it. Great job! And, if we don't like it, we can blame your source.

This is also a great book from an anthropology standpoint. I'm working on my final now. In 300 words, How does the concept of ethnocentrism interfere with cultural pluralism internationally? Cool huh?

About "American Gods"

a cinematic book--the distinctly American foods and diversions, the bizarre roadside attractions, the decrepit gods reduced to shell games and prostitution. "This is a bad land for Gods," says Shadow.

More than a tourist in America, but not a native, Neil Gaiman offers an outside-in and inside-out perspective on the soul and spirituality of the country--our obsessions with money and power, our jumbled religious heritage and its societal outcomes, and the millennial decisions we face about what's real and what's not. --Therese Littleton --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Amazon

About author:

But Gaiman -- who is best known as the creator of the respected DC Comics ''Sandman'' series -- has a deft hand with the mythologies he tinkers with here; even better, he's a fine, droll storyteller. Kera Bolonik

From the New York Times

Suzanne wrote:This is also a great book from an anthropology standpoint. I'm working on my final now. In 300 words, How does the concept of ethnocentrism interfere with cultural pluralism internationally? Cool huh?

It all makes sense now. I have an MA in Anthropology. I did a thesis in ethnobotany. So what did you say about ethnocentrism?

So Chris,

take this as support for Neil Gaiman's book American Gods

American Gods sounds like a really wild story. I just read the Amazon.com description and I think it would be as good of a fiction book for stimulating discussion as they get. Was that a proper sentence?

I second American Gods.

Oryx and Crake sounds interesting (one vote for that) and American Gods would also be an interesting read. (vote for that too). My Avatar is actually one of Neil Gaiman's characters from his "Death, the High Cost of Living" comic. I like how he personifies these abstract spiritual characters in our lives.

I am anxious to read Cormack McCarthy's "The Road", but its been on hold from the library for awhile and I still haven't gotten it, so I might end up having to buy it if you all vote for my suggestion. Here is the link to it.

http://www.amazon.com/Road-Cormac-McCar ... 146&sr=1-2

A searing, postapocalyptic novel destined to become Cormac McCarthys masterpiece. A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they dont know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged foodand each other. The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, each the others world entire, are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.

MaryLupin wrote:Hey Suzanne

have you read Neil Gaiman's book American Gods? I haven't read it but hear from a very reliable source that it is a really great book. His Anansi Boys also looks really good.

http://www.amazon.ca/American-Gods-Mm-N ... 959&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.ca/Anansi-Boys-Neil-G ... 959&sr=8-4

Reading the Amazon description of American Gods makes me think Ring Of The Nibelung meets Milwaukee. Gaiman seems to be presenting an archetypal mythological analysis of American psyche and identity by making the Norse God Odin his main character Wednesday, back to fix things up. Odin or Wotan was a lead character in Wagner's Ring Cycle, and has retained a place in cultures with Germanic influence such as the US. Updating this key northern sky god against the US experience - ""This is a bad land for Gods," says Shadow." - is a great premise for a novel. It is disturbing that the plot makes the wired world the enemy of the gods. American Gods would be a good choice.

Another book people may want to discuss at a later date is 1984 by George Orwell.

poettess wrote:My Avatar is actually one of Neil Gaiman's characters from his "Death, the High Cost of Living" comic. I like how he personifies these abstract spiritual characters in our lives.

Funnily, on my wall is a poster of Gaiman's work called Endless.

poettess wrote:I am anxious to read Cormack McCarthy's "The Road", but its been on hold from the library for awhile and I still haven't gotten it, so I might end up having to buy it if you all vote for my suggestion. Here is the link to it.

I read it about 6 months ago now. It is amazing. The way the story and the writing work together to present to world just blew me away.

Robert Tulip wrote:Reading the Amazon description of American Gods makes me think Ring Of The Nibelung meets Milwaukee. Gaiman seems to be presenting an archetypal mythological analysis of American psyche and identity by making the Norse God Odin his main character Wednesday, back to fix things up. Odin or Wotan was a lead character in Wagner's Ring Cycle, and has retained a place in cultures with Germanic influence such as the US. Updating this key northern sky god against the US experience - ""This is a bad land for Gods," says Shadow." - is a great premise for a novel. It is disturbing that the plot makes the wired world the enemy of the gods. American Gods would be a good choice.

I think you might be right about the mythological mixture. I tend to like authors that treat our mythological ideas as fertile ground for exploring what it means to live in our world.

Have you read Someplace to be Flying by Charles de Lint? It is one of my favourite fantasy books.

http://www.amazon.ca/Someplace-be-Flyin ... 602&sr=8-1

Robert Tulip wrote:Another book people may want to discuss at a later date is 1984 by George Orwell.

Agreed. 1984 is a classic and really should be read by everyone ruled by a government and who doesn't get out and vote or otherwise make their voice heard.