My Dreams and Neil Gaiman's Dark World
The reason why I have posted Gaiman again today, is because I have dreamt of him for two days on the trot. In theory, I should like Gaiman - he writes in a genre that resonates with me and from what I can tell, he is an immensely likeable character. I enjoyed Coraline when it came out on film and when I realised he had written Good Omens with Terry Pratchett, I immediately picked the book to read it - only to find that it didn't 'hold me.' I am not sure what I was expecting. I have heard in recent years that Gaiman handed over a substantial part of the writing to Pratchett, yet when I read the book, I don't really see Terry's style at all - even from his earlier books. I have tried with other books of Gaiman's, The Graveyard Book, The Ocean at the End of the Lane etc., but for some reason, I couldn't get into them. I wasn't looking for a replacement of Terry as such, but at least his fantasy writing made me laugh and want to read more.
Usually I would just give up at this point - but I remember that I had a similar tussle with Jeanette Winterson's The Passion (not particularly amusing but beautifully written) and eighteen months later, I picked it up again and not only totally 'got it,' it remains one of my favourite books of all time. Plus - after years of reading books that I didn't really resonate en route to the degree and making myself an authority on their stories, I figured that I could do the same with Gaiman's books. Saying that, I have said the same about George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones book series, but have decided to save that for the long autumn/winter nights as I believe the change of seasons will compliment the stories.
Back to the dreams, though - mostly, it was about Gaiman raiding my bookshelf, in an upstairs bedroom (and before you say anything - no this is not a euphemism for anything vaguely Freudian). IRL, the bookshelf mainly contains books on myths and legends, the anthropological and archaeological, the psychological - in fact, probably a whole humanities faction lives upstairs in my cottage. I also saw TP in these dreams and it reminded me that Pratchett himself explored myth and legend in his local library as a kid - moving through fantasy books, then history books as it was "more blokes in helmets, bashing each other over the head with swords."
I think it is my psyche telling me that I should stop procrastinating and write something, even if it might start as fanfic on AO3. As for Gaiman, well I have decided to listen to Neverwhere on Audible, read by the author himself. With Good Omens, American Gods and Norse Mythology waving a lot of flags in front of my face, I think the least I should try to see what the fuss is about.
