69:100 Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Richard is a bland, ordinary person.  He works at a bland, ordinary job and lives in a bland, ordinary flat.  Until the day that a woman falls completely out of nowhere at his feet, bleeding everywhere.  Nevermind that Richard's fiance is furious that he would want to get involved, Richard wraps the mysterious girl up in his coat and takes her to his apartment to see how he can help her.

That's when everything starts getting weird.

Door isn't from London Above and people are out to kill her. She talks to rats who apparently bring her messages, two shady looking men come to Richard's apartment looking for her but when they barge in she is nowhere to be found while they are there but as soon as they leave she emerges as if she had been there all along, and the friend that Richard drops her off with doesn't seem quiet like any person Richard has ever seen before.

But now Richard is ready to get back on with his bland, ordinary life except that now no one can see him.  Cabs don't stop, the subway train doors try to close on him, his apartment is rented out while he's standing in it, his office stuff is packed up while he is asking what is going on.  Even his friends and fiance don't recognize him at all.  Stunned, he goes back to where he left Door to see if she can help him regain his life.

And then things get really weird as he is lead to London Below. An entire city beneath the one he thought he knew with strange people and even stranger creatures and where nothing works the way he thinks it should.  But Door is still in danger and Richard finds the strength and courage he never knew he had in London Below.


Apparently this is one of Mr. Gaiman's early works and there have been a few editions where things have actually been changed to create the one he really wanted to release.  The version I read is from 2001 so I don't think it's that one.  Still, it was a wonderfully fun read although I found the ending a bit too predictable and pat. 


Page count: 370p/18,443p ytd/327,138p lifetime

104:120 Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman

Mom has left to go to a conference and let everything all ready for the family except for one thing, she told dad on her way out that he needed to get milk before breakfast the next morning.

Dad forgot.

So now there is no milk for cereal and the kids are complaining so Dad goes to the store but geez he's gone for a loooooooong time. And when he finally does make it back home, with the milk, he has quite the story to tell of why it took him so long which includes a time-traveling stegosaurus, a volcano god, and pirates.

A fun tale about what happens when you run to the store for milk.  I totally believe every word of it because I've had similar things happen to me.  Just ask my kids.



Page count: 113p/19,116p ytd/290,519p lifetime

16:120 The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

My original review from 2013:

A 40+yr old man returns to his hometown after many years away for a funeral and finds himself walking down memory lane.  Down a lane with the ocean at the end of it and memories long since repressed and forgotten about things that sound impossible but aren't really.  About monsters and madness, oceans and other worlds, love and loss.  For a while, he leaves the outside world behind and remembers it all.

This is such a quiet book that you don't even realize how much time has gone by until something suddenly snaps you back into reality and you look down to see how much of the book you have read except you haven't read it, you have been swallowed by it mind and soul.  You can't wait to steal a few more minutes to dive into it again only to find yourself emerging an hour later.  Not a long read by any means but I found myself reading it slowly to savor it.  It doesn't want to be rushed but rather wants to quietly unfurl and draw you in...and you want to let it.


Page count: 259p/3,643p ytd/278,118p lifetime

49:120 Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman

Odd is an unusual sort for a Viking boy.  His father was killed while out on a raid and before his mother remarried he went out to provide for them and a tree fell and crushed one of his legs. Now the winter isn't ending as it should and everyone is getting crankier as a result.  Odd decides to escape his house (and his stepfather) and stay in his father's workshop to get away from all of it. While there, he is summoned by a fox to help a trapped bear. The fox is really Loki and the bear is Thor while the raven flying overhead is Odin. They have been trapped in these forms by a Frost Giant that has taken over Asgard and Odd may be just the one person in all the realms who can help them trick the giant and regain their forms.

A lovely tale and I love that it's Odd's cheerfulness and cleverness that wins the day rather than brute strength.


Page count: 117p/13,124p ytd/263,084p lifetime