Category: Neil Gaiman

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

~ Wendy-Marie ~ Leave a comment

I really should be puttering around the apartment, making sure I have a proper shopping list for my mad dash to the library and shops before going to lunch this afternoon. But the clean dishes are still stacked up on the drainer. The books I fully intended to review are in a little sad pile next to Mr Couch and I’m sitting here writing a review of a book I finished not more than fifteen minutes ago. A book that was actually in the library return pile before I snatched it up as something to pass the time until the laundry room was unlocked at 9 am.

Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane is billed on the front cover as a novel. But it’s such a slight thing. Okay, it’s 178 pages but they’re a fast 178 pages. If I could have transferred the clean clothes from washer to dryer with The Ocean at the End of the Lane. It’s not the best Gaiman book I’ve ever read or the worst but like the grey worm creature that burrows into the narrator’s foot, The Ocean at the End of the Lane burrowed into my brain. Gaiman hasn’t lost his fine touch of making you feel inside the skin of the narrator, the things you can trust and not trust as a small child. And if I was ever a small child or man in trouble you could have no finer persons behind you then the mysterious Hempstock women snug on their farm. I almost wish I was brand new to Gaiman, that The Ocean at the End of the Lane was the first book of his I encountered. It’s lovely, unsettling book, but the baggage of my former Gaiman fan-girlhood kept pulling me out of the tale and playing literary detective. And even though Gaiman says in the acknowledgements that the narrator’s family in the book isn’t his family my internal literary detective still popped right up, rolling her eyes and saying “yeah right”.

Even though my internal literary detective is sneering with my internal President of the I Loathe Amanda Palmer Club (both are giving me major side-eye for even picking up this book) The Ocean at the End of the Lane is a fine read for a rainy October, fog spilling down the hill and a cup of hot tea at your side.

 

 

 

I Am Sort of Bummed…A Tale from the Library Bag

~ Wendy-Marie ~ Leave a comment

***This was originally posted on the Confessions blog***

Yesterday morning there was a lovely email waiting for me in my inbox at Company X. One of my holds was in! Fist pump and YESSSSS! Mental note to race to library right after work!

And race to the library I did (well, race after coming home to change work clothes and drag Blacklight away from Orbiter). Jen Lancaster’s MY FAIR LAZY was mine mine MINE! (Okay for the next 21 days) A jaunt to West Hartford and Aldis and I was sprawled on Mr Couch with book in hand and a bag of Clancy’s finest Sour Cream and Onion chips.

And two hours later I was looking at the picture of Alec Baldwin, Jen and Fletch going “Ohhhh that’s what Fletch looks like”. A few more pages and book was done. Cue me walking out to the kitchen and telling Blacklight “Gee I’m really glad I didn’t buy this for (peeking at inside front cover) $24.95.” Blacklight was all “okay…can I order the next Thomas Convenant yet?”

Now remember this is Jen Lancaster. The author I recommend to all my girls. The first author I ever followed on MySpace and Twitter (yes, even BEFORE I followed HE WHOSE NAME CAN NOT BE SPOKEN…okay Blacklight just peeked over my shoulder and said “You mean Neil Gaiman? Thanks for blabbing honey! Back to the Jen Lancaster Love Fest) The gal whose inspired me to start the WordPress blogs last year. But the hardcover in my library bookcase? Just not feeling it.

Maybe it’s too many memoirs in a few years. Maybe it’s because I can go to Twitter and read her instant thoughts. Maybe it’s because I’m an NPR listening snob…Okay THAT SOUND? My dear Blacklight laughing as he tries to pour some get tippy in a shot glass. Because the wife who wears a CAPTAIN AMERICA FOR PRESIDENT t-shirt, listens to NPR, watches YOU’RE CUT OFF! and refers to COPS as her “SESSSY MAN CATALOG” is just way too funny. Whatever. Back to Jen!

Maybe I’m asking for too much when Jen’s other memoirs owned me from page one. Next time I get a hankering for Jen in print I’m going to grab SUCH A PRETTY FAT or PRETTY IN PLAID but MY FAIR LAZY? Some lucky duck in my area is going to be holding MY FAIR LAZY in their hot little hands by Tuesday tops.