A grab bag of tales

Let me preface this particular book review with one caveat...I LOVE Neil Gaiman. Seriously. If it was appropriate for a woman my age to still plaster posters of boy crushes all over my bedroom wall, I would. He's just so..so...yummy! I'm getting distracted just by having him on this page looking at me. And that British accent...it makes me melt.

So, you've been warned, this might not be the most unbiased review I've written.

However, I must confess. Fragile Things was HARD to get through at times. Oh! I feel like such an author traitor! I'm sorry Neil! Forgive me, please. I could tell this was a mishmash of all kinds of stories written by Gaiman during all stages of his writer's life. Some are wonderful. Some are hideous. Some I couldn't get through and others still linger in my mind. It was a nice journey to see how Gaiman's style has changed and matured through the years.

Most were "out there," in typical Gaiman style, the style I adore and covet. I love his introduction to the book. He tells the reader where he got his idea for each short story or poem and why he wrote it. I really love knowing that dorky information. My mind gets fat on that knowledge.

My favorite story was a tale about storytelling. "October in the Chair," still has me smiling. It's about months, telling stories, and each month has a very distinct and particular personality. I could see the months, October and August and February, how they might appear, and they were each beautiful in their own way. The tale "Goliath" is the story that inspired The Matrix. Enough said. It's one of those you read twice and say "Huh. That's fantastic!"

I hated "How to Talk to Girls at Parties" simply because I was left with too many unanswered questions. If there is one thing I hate most is having unanswered questions at the end of a story. I can't help it, I guess the Need to Know was bred into me. Or schooled into me. Something.

If you've never read Gaiman, this probably isn't the best book to start with. He is best known for his Sandman and Neverwhere graphic novels, which are, and will always be, near and dear to me. I'm a dork, I freely admit it.

But Coraline will ALWAYS be my favorite creepy story by Gaiman. Always. And it's in production to be released as a movie in 2008! I'm all giddy and stuff.