Yet another fawning review of Neil Gaiman

Well at least I call it what it is. This weekend I read Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Prachett. I think a reviewer on the back said it best, something like "The Book of Revelations as written by Monty Python's Flying Circus."

It is about the coming of the Antichrist and the end (or not) of the world. Every page has something to chuckle about, like how any tape left in your car for more than three weeks magically transmutes into Queen's Greatest Hits, or how the Hound from Hell was tamed by a boy. It has one of my favorite characters in years, Anthony J. Crowley, an "Angel who did not so much Fall as Saunter Vaguely Downwards."

Supposedly Terry Gilliam has the movie options on the book, but has had them for a decade or so, so don't look for the adaptation too soon in the theaters.

A highly recommended summertime read. I think I may buy the book as I expect it is funnier upon rereading.

Well here I am

An unanticipated home repair (front door lock) finds me at home today, waiting for the locksmith. I will update you on some books and movies.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. This was a good one-day read. In fact, it was so engrossing that I think I read it all in one sitting. Nothing earth-shattering, just enjoyable. The narrator and hero is a very realistic and likeable person. The story is interesting, with lots of "color" since it is about the circus.

Coraline by Neil Gaiman. This is a novella that may be for children, but is super scary, even for adults. I loved it. My husband read it and liked it too. I see that it is being made into a movie, but thankfully it will be an animated movie, not an adaptation with live actors. I was a little scared, because Dakota Fanning is listed as the person who will play Coraline, so I worried that she would be the lead actor, but she is just the lead actor voice. Not that I dislike Fanning, I just wasn't sure this would be done well with live actors. Neil Gaiman is amazing, just amazing. I have not read anyone's works in a long time who has such a brilliant and original imagination.

Stardust, the movie. Another Neil Gaiman story. I had tried to read the book a while ago and could not get into it, because I did not know it was a fairy tale. Seeing the movie makes me want to read the book again, knowing it is like the Brothers Grimm or something, rather than a modern fiction novel. The movie stars Charlie Cox (hottie alert!) Claire Danes, Robert DeNiro, and Michelle Pfeiffer. It is a fantasy and a little odd, since it isn't really for kids and isn't really for grownups either. Again, though, Gaiman has such great and fantastic ideas, it is worth it (to me) to watch a Hollywood version, even with all the Hollywood conventions and baggage. There is one scene that looks to be a rip off of Titanic, which is not a movie I want to see imitated (in the sense that I didn't like Titanic in the first place). If you watch Stardust, see if you can find that scene, it almost made me laugh out loud.

Hooked, again

Now I finally have a new project. I am going to make a tablecloth from crocheted squares. I tried 2 squares but the one on the left was too open and the one on the right was too dense.


But, like Goldilocks, the third one was just right. This is called prairie rose from 200 Crochet Blocks for Blankets, Throws, and Afghans, by Jan Eaton. The two above are from the same book.

I am not going to use that beige yarn for the tablecloth, it was just some Dale Baby Ull I bought for practice. I wonder how long it is going to take me to buy some yarn for this project. probably months and months. Then months and months to make the squares, then months and months to crochet them together. I call it the Slow Crafting movement. Like Slow Food, we aim to relax and enjoy the process...