Kelly's review

The Ladies of Grace Adieu is not bad at all, but I fear it will do nothing to satisfy your hunger for more long form Clarke. Nearly all the stories are set in the same England as is featured in Jonathan Strange, and the exception is set in Neil Gaiman's Stardust world, but features an amusing tale about the Duke of Wellington. Strange appears in the title story (if I remember correctly). Some of the stories referenced in JS & MN appear in this collection. You should get it, though again, it will only make you want her to finish the next book that much more quickly. And sorry for the long response.

No, don't apologize. I enjoy long responses. It therefore gives me more to respond to.

As long as its still written in the same general style as Strange and Norrell, I'm sure I'll love it. I would of course prefer that this was also 800 pages long, but I suppose one must make do when one has few options! I'm interested to hear that there is a story set in one of Gaiman's universes. I heard that he was mostly responsible for getting this book published because he liked it so much. I wonder if that was her form of a 'thank you'.

Neverwhere is decent and American Gods is amazing (with Anansi Boys showcasing his best writing). If you're at all interested in graphic novels and comic books, the Sandman is an excellent place to start, especially given your stated interest in mythology. Gaiman is certainly a Clarke booster ... and a hell of a storyteller.

The only Gaiman I've read is Stardust. I enjoyed that one, but I've heard that I chose wrongly in reading that before American Gods. I've been told it's geniunely brilliant. I've just bought it, and it's in my pile of 'to-read-as-soon-as-sanely-possible'. I've never read a comic or a graphic novel in my life. I never really came across one that compelled me to want to explore that genre. Is the Sandman better than the average?

Yes.




Ha. That's all I wanted to write. Um, it's not a superhero comic. It's about the Endless, though mostly it's about Dream -- the others being Destiny, Desire, Death, Delirium (who used to be Delight), Despair and Destruction (who has gone missing). Each member (they are all siblings) of the Endless is a personification of its respective name and ... well ... it's quite a story. It's a bit horror, fantasy, history, and mythology all put together. If you were ever interested in comics, this is the best non-superhero one ever. Of course, if the genre is a problem ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T...%29

"Is "Sandman" better than average?" is like asking if _The Bible_ is popular with people these days.

I am sorry. I hope you both can forgive me. I did not know what heresy I was committing! I can only claim a heathen's ignorance of all things graphic novel and comic. The whole superhero comic thing never really appealed to me. I guess I thought the story couldn't be all that interesting, or at least no more so than you'd see in 'The Adventures of Lois and Clark' on TV, and I never watched that either. Don't bite off my head! I've recently become aware that I might be wrong about that. It just wasn't something I thought about since I was 12 and being snobbily choosy at the fantasy bookshelves. :)

However. This hardly sounds like a comic at all. It actually sounds a bit fascinating. So I might have to take a peek at those. After American Gods, of course!

If you want to piss on great literature by comparing it to "The Adventures of Lois and Clark," you can. But don't expect us not to kill ourselves in fits of exasperation.

Did I not just express there that my assumption involving Lois and Clark was probably wrong? Especially with regard to this series, which I hear is very good. I'm pretty sure that I did. :)

But where's the fun in being reasonable? Now you've gone and ruined my ranting.

Fine.

Monkey knows when to move on.

Did you put up that picture just so you could use "monkey knows" whenever you wanted to? :)

What? The picture? No I put that there because my wife calls me "Monkey monkey," I like monkeys, I'm dopey like a drunk monkey, and I have lots of hair. And a large occipital ridge, like a gorilla (that ridge at the back of your skull; mine's BIG).

Monkey knows what monkey does.

Plus, he drags his knuckles on the ground and has a tendency to fling his poo.

You can't invite Brendan ANYWHERE.

I know all about the difference between monkeys and apes, but I choose, as a humorous device, to conflate the two. "You dirty ape!" is too Charlton Heston.

Sadly, I have little to say about monkeys, apes, chimpanzees, etc. However, there is at least one alcoholic flying monkey in Fables, another set of comics/graphic novels worth reading, if you end up enjoying the Sandman, which of course, you will.

So you'd rather be a monkey with a "tendancy to fling poo" than Charlton Heston? Man, Heston sucks, but that's cold!

Thanks for telling me Bryan. I'll have to think about that the next time I take his novel recommendations. :)

Hey, let's give props to our knuckle-dragging brothers and sisters of the Monkey, and Ape clans, people. An orangutan? Yeah, that dude can pull your arms off with his BAAAAARE HAAAAANDS. That's, like, Chuck Norris, Bruce Lee, and a VW bus full of ninjas rolled into one.

And how about that Mr. Norrell, huh?

Yeah.

You know who hijacked this review thread. B's the name, and f***ing up Goodreads is my game.

Neverwhere is brilliant. a little easier to take in the American Gods which i absolutely loved as well. Both much better than Stardust in my opinion, though i thoroughly enjoyed that one as well. I have yet to read a piece by Gaiman that i havent liked be it his novels, Sandman or his work for Marvel Comics of which i would recommend The Eternals and 1602.

Neil Gaiman keeps surprising me by combining a deep respect for the power, whether divine or that of the human psyche, of his myths *and* his ability to riff on them in a way that feels true. The Sandman series were pressed on me by a friend, and being more of a word person than a graphic person, I had to work at them. Someone reminded me to watch for how the frames create space and time, speed or suspend the narrative, splice in information, play with texture or color.
I enjoyed this thread, folks, monkeys and all.

Kelly, don't read The Ladies of Grace Adieu straight after Strange & Norrell, you will be sadly disappointed, it's an inferior work. Leave it a few weeks.

I waited a few months, actually. And yes, it was inferior. They aren't bad stories, just... fairy tales. Well recorded ones. Well.. anyway, see my review, but I agree with you.

Ohhhh I've been circling this for aeons.
*encouraged*

Oh do give in and pounce! It's really very well worth it, I promise!

I agree wholeheartedly with your review, Kelly! I am only about 100 pages in, and I'm also listening to the audiobook, which is terrifically (is that a word?) performed as well. Both reading and listening are pure treats! Clarke's writing is so lovely and lyrical and tongue-in-cheek - I just love it. Some lines just get better in the reading and re-reading - like the one you quoted about the trees dreaming green dreams or thinking green thoughts. Is that a line or is that a line?? It deserves to be a poem! Anyway, thanks alot for your review - I enjoyed it.