A small story.

[kiya]

My senior year of high school, just about everyone was doing the AP and IB exams. My school had a policy that if you had an exam that day, you did not have to attend any of your classes. (I had several two-day IB exams and none of my various tests fell on the same day as each other. I didn't do much class that month. I remember tooling around Monkey County with dirtydianadd, larksdream, and Wendolyn in a little car that wouldn't go above forty except downhill desperately seeking Pez one of those afternoons.)

Anyway. Nobody else was in class much either.

I think it was the day of one of the French exams; there were maybe three of us in English class. There was no point in teaching under those circumstances; we all had reading material and stuff to do. (It was around here that my tarot card story goes.) Anyway, Natalie (one of the folks remaining) was sitting and reading some comics.

"What are you reading?"
"Neil Gaiman."
"Who's he?"
". . . you don't know Neil Gaiman?"

So she lent me one of her books and I read.

Because of this I've been looking for a copy of The Books of Magic for rather quite some time. Going into Pandemonium and looking through the graphic novels and never finding it, peering in bookstores here and there to look for it, nothing.

All of this is context for: I have a new leather jacket (from the place keshwyn recommended, thanks!), some fried chicken, and a copy of The Books of Magic.

Comments

[brooksmoses]

This seems a muchly good thing. Where did you find the book?

[kiya]

Pandemonium, actually. They had it this time.

[morningwind.livejournal.com]

Man, I loved that IB exam policy. Got out of a month of class senior year, and there was a week between my penultimate exam and the last one -- IB Music. *smiles with satisfaction*

I've never read any of Neil Gaiman's books, which is a pity; so many have raved about them. I hang out with his daughter, Holly, who's in my class at Bryn Mawr, but I just have a passing familiarity with the things her father has written (American Gods and the Sandman graphic novel series are the only ones I can remember off the top of my head, plus the book he collaborated on with Terry Pratchett). Any recommendations for where to start? :)

[kiya]

Hm. I don't know his work all that well, but I boucned this off a bunch of folks who do. Maybe some'll come by.

Needless to say, I really like The Books of Magic. At least the first one, there are apparently more. I'm in the process of reading American Gods; I'm finding it slower going than Neverwhere, which I read all in one gulp. I'm quite fond of Good Omens (the collaboration with PTerry), and reread it often, but I'm a major PTerry fan.

[erispope.livejournal.com]

The later Books of Magic are not written by Gaiman himself, it's worth noting. Not to say that they aren't good. Vertigo has a number of series more or less spun off Sandman and some of Gaiman's other work in that universe - Lucifer, The Books of Magic, the Dreaming, Hellblazer, and a couple of others are all sort of part of that interlocking continuity.

Happily, Vertigo updates and collects in trade paper format relatively quickly, so one can generally just buy the books, as opposed to having to snag issue by issue.

[annwyd.livejournal.com]

Smoke and Mirrors is a collection of short stories that gives a good idea of his general style. Neverwhere is wonderful if you're into dark urban fantasy--it's not perfect, but I love the setting to bits. Stardust is a tidier book as a whole, although less my thing; it's more archetypal fantasy, and deliberately so. American Gods is very good, of course, but it can be difficult at times; you might want to try some of his other stuff first.

And, of course, Sandman, assuming you can afford ten graphic novels, none of which are exactly cheap. It's worth it when you have the cash to spare, though. It's amazing.

[keshwyn]

I have a new leather jacket (from the place keshwyn recommended, thanks!)

What a good thing we didn't stop at Oona's when we were in Harvard. I thought about looking for a jacket for you. :) Glad you've got a new one.

From the List of Bookish Reasons Why I Love the Seattle Area. . .

[joyful-storm.livejournal.com]

. . . wandering in to an exquisitely designed modern little Japanese-style library on one of the commuting-distance islands from the city, where I was then living, and by happenstance finding the trade paperbacks of The Books of Magic AND Black Orchid.