Status Updates From The View from the Cheap Sea...

I might actually be in love with this book.

Skimmed through the comic book essays. Not my forte!

So much stuff abt comics.

I think this sums up the entirety of this book, which above all else feels like a collections of names and what Gaiman thinks they've contributed to the culture of stories:

"Isaac Newton, even as he created the foundations of huge swatches of science, said that if he had seen little further than most men, it was because he was standing on the shoulders of giants. We've inherited an art form from giants..." (303)

I really wish this book was edited down. I just read four 'essays' (most of these are short prefaces or introductions to other books) about the same topic in a row.

There are only so many introductions to books I'm not about to read that I can take at once.

今天剛從圖書館借回來XD

I already adore this book, Neil Gaiman is everything

Made iit this far. But it's kind of tedious.

I'm not listening to every single one of these, but I do love Neil Gaiman.

Many of these words are kind and speak of a depth that maybe only Gaiman can muster (but all can appreciate), but I'm getting a little tired of reading introductions for books or conventions that don't follow. I feel like these segments are so tied to the content that they're attached to that, on their own, I feel a bit cheated by reading them.

Doctor Who, and Sundance bits are good

I like the Bradbury piece.

Honest and full of heart, as to be expected from Gaiman.

For a moment there thought I was reading review for Hungry Cities. Or maybe something to do with Neverwhere. Very nice.

King bit is tedious. But the Geoff and next bit are both alright.

Not all of them are winners, but they are all interesting, yes, even the book introductions.

every so often i am struck by how glad i am to be alive at the same time as Neil Gaiman. this books is just a series of those moments. so good.

I don't know who Harlan Ellison is (besides an author) but so far this is a study in Neil avoiding the subject. There's bits about everything BUT Harlan. Not sure what's the point if including this piece is.

TIL: Neal Gaiman was in part, the inspiration for the Cenobytes and Hellraiser. Also, he wrote an easter egg for Sim City 2000...

Neat.

Onto authors

Gaiman's Coraline Oscar experience is both heartfelt and hilarious. While reading this it has become apparent that he is very open about his feelings and expressions of them.

Whiskey and sugar careening through my system, I defy the the orders on my ticket not to photograph anything, and I Twitter a picture of the bar menu.

It was the 1st anniversary of his father's death.

Slow but going.

‘Growing up to be a citizen is to learn that some ideas, some words, some images can be shocking. Being shocked is a part of democratic debate. Being shot is not.’

Aaaaand my Kindle dies on me. But to be fair, it's scuffed and battered, and served most faithfully for full seven (7) years. RIP. But what a way to go - on a Gaiman book. LOL. Good thing a have a spare.

The second misconception, a kind of second-stage misconception, easy to make once one has traveled past the "SF is about predicting the future" conceit, is this: SF is about the vanished present.

My aunt bought me the audio-book. I love this man's voice :)))

He told me that the phrase "the happiest days of your life referred to your school days. This seemed nonsensical to me then, and I suspected it of being either adult propaganda or, more likely, confirmation of my creeping suspicion that the majority of adults actually had no memories of being children.

There is something very charming about Gaiman's conversational voice. Plus, he has a some insightful pleas to go with the anecdotes.

"Fiction is a lie that tells us true things, over and over."

«Если повезет, фантастика даст вам карту дорог – путеводитель по землям воображения: ведь истинное назначение художественной литературы в том и состоит, чтобы показывать нам мир, который мы и так знаем, – да только под другим, непривычным углом.»