American Gods: First impressions

Thoughts on American Gods as you're starting to read? Post them here!

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I thought this was the March book and Dorian Grey the February, or have I gotten them switched?

>2 lorax: Your first thought is correct: this is the pre-discussion group for speedy readers, or the ones who simply aren't going to read Dorian.

I'm not going to read Dorian, but isn't the entire idea of a group read that we're all reading it at more or less the same time?

Exactly. This shouldn't even have been opened until March 1st. Nor the Dorian until February 1st. Or else what's the point?

The idea is that everyone will have finished reading Dorian Gray by February 10th, and American Gods by March 10th. Similar to the thread prior to official discussion starting for The Circle, this is a place for people who want to talk about the book as they're reading, before that date.

Okay, I can understand for Dorian then. But American Gods?

Yeah, I can understand starting the first-impressions thread before the discussion date, but I don't think it makes sense to start it more than a month in advance—I would have waited at least until Feb. 10 for this one.

Well, just because the thread is open doesn't mean we need to post in it, I suppose. :-)

Or be on topic

I was also a bit surprised this thread was started so early.

I don't see any problem. We're not all serial readers. So if we've dipped into both books already, it's handy to have a place to put stray initial thoughts until the official start of the March group read gets here.

Yeah but there was a lot of reluctance from staff to have two books going at once, they didn't even want to choose two books at the same time, and now we're having threads concurrently? >_>

I'm flexible. It's not like LT is *forcing* me to read this thread.

Only just now getting the hang of this.
>6 lorannen: Good to read that the tenth of the month is when the books are to have been read.....good. I shall start now then on American Gods. (just as soon as I finish a few I am half way in.....)

I cracked open American Gods and was instantly fascinated and drawn in. "Wow!" was my very first impression. I will definitely be a part of more in depth discussions come March!

I also made a small start yesterday. I really liked the beginning, but haven't really reached the part where strange things start to happen yet...

I've finally started. I'm in chapter two. I have enjoyed it so far. I like how many thoughts and ideas that Wilde is able to pack into every paragraph.

I'm at chapter 5 now. I really liked the beginning, then afterward I thought it was a bit distant and couldn't connect to the characters, but a bit further on I started enjoying it again. I still have no idea what's going on, bit I'm keen to find out.

^ #20 I have heard other people say that too, zjakkelein (that they found the start a bit slow/distant). I found the opposite. I was instantly drawn in to Shadow's plight, and his journey. It was later on - p150 or so, that I started to feel like it was all getting rather odd.
I rarely read this genre, so I am reading on in interest to see exactly how odd it will get!

>19 fuzzy_patters: Think you meant to post this in the Dorian Gray thread.

21: My ereader doesn't show what page I'm on (I hate that!), @Ireadthereforeiam, but I'm at 22% now, so around page 100? I still think the connection with Shadow is not particularly strong, but I'm engaged enough now. I'll see how I fare around page 150!

I just started this last night, and am enjoying it so far. I especially like Shadow's parts. The gods - will have to wait and see. I'm reading the 10th anniversary version.

I'm using Audible's WhisperSync for the first time so I can switch between reading and listening. The jury is still out about how well that's going to work for me.

Having never directly compared an audio book to a printed (whatever media) book, I find it interesting that the narrator sometimes leaves out the "he said"-type bits. Multiple readers, so it is easy to tell when the speaker changes with those edited out sometimes. I'd always assumed the book was verbatim.

There was one interesting part where the narrator used an Eastern European accent, and I wondered why, but it was explained later in the paragraph. The narrator knew that before I did.

Okay, I'll try to be quiet now until March 10th, our official starting date IIRC.

I don't think I'm spoiling anything by saying that he does a great job describing the obscenely cold winters in Northern Wisconsin/Minnesota. This winter in Minneapolis we've had 50 days where the temp went below zero . . . I'm not the only one who has had enough!!

Any reactions to some of the other locations? (or should we save that for a thread?)

^ I was fascinated to hear that the house on the rock (is that what it is called?) is a real destination.

Yes, there are signs for it everywhere, just like he said . . . I don't think I've ever been there though . . .

I've only got about a fifth of the book left to read and I'm still waiting for something to happen. But I'm enjoying the guessing game in my mind as I wait.

I've read about 100 pages so far. I wouldn't say I'm enjoying it, but it's holding my attention.

It's not how I imagined to be. Not that it's bad or anything but I had expected more fantasy and action.

I thought the beginning moved very slowly and I was tempted to call it quits. It did pick up, but I can't say I loved it.

I finished yesterday . . . and found more to like in the last 100 pages than in much of the rest . . .

>33 LucindaLibri:

I completely agree with that.

About 50 pages in. Not puzzled by what's going on, but then I'm pretty familiar with the Northern Mythologies. I don't think this is going to be one of my favorite books. It does, however, make clearer who wrote which part of Good Omens.

>6 lorannen: The idea of reading "by" a certain date doesn't mean the discussion should begin prior to that date. I read American Gods immediately upon finishing Dorian and now don't remember enough to discuss. Good--a learning lesson for future books!!

Surprisingly, I really am glad I read the book. It had me thinking about it when I wasn't reading it....something that doesn't always happen. I guess even when I don't "enjoy" a book, if it stays with me and won't let me go, then I have to give it credit.

I'm 200 pages through this book. I continue to find myself bored with both the writing and the story. The beginning with Shadow in jail was awful. The writing quality is very shallow. I recall, "Shadow becoming more shadowy" and "heart beating arrythmatically." His descriptions have no depth. I feel like Shadow must be named so because his character is barely 2D. I don't find myself interested in what happens next in the story or to Shadow.

It seemed Gaiman got more into the swing of things as the magical started to emerge. The erotica seems overblown. The wife is like some sort of deus ex machina for when Gaiman needs a quick way to get Shadow out of bad situations.

I am going to keep reading as I have heard the end is where the novel gets good. Right now, I think the past 200 pages could have been edited to 25, and I am desperately reading short stories to remind myself that there are decent writers in this world.

I really hope that this starts getting interesting. The only upshot I see at this point is that the limited vocabulary and the readability should get me through this book quickly.

I really shouldn't have purchased the 10th anniversary authoritative text. It adds 12,000 extra words.

Gaiman here is a higher caliber writer than Dave Eggers, as far as I could tell by reading The Circle.

I found the latter's prose style cliché ridden and lackluster--but I've heard his other works show much greater talent and strength of originality/experimentation. This is my first trip through Gaiman, and I am certainly not aching to return to Mia's torturous fall into the inauthentic hivemind. Both, however, typecast--Eggers, the typical (doomed in his mind) millennial, Gaiman, the mutable people and gods of myth and legend.

On balance, I don't think I'm going to finish this book anytime soon. Life is too short to read fiction you aren't enjoying (especially when there are some new titles on the tbr pile that you *want* to read).

>38 PrometheusUnbound: The wife is like some sort of deus ex machina for when Gaiman needs a quick way to get Shadow out of bad situations.
Uh huh.
A little too convenient, right? It irritated me too.

I *forced* myself to finish reading it, determined to find out what people found great in it. But in the end all I learned was that to vacate my preferred genre is foolish :)
(it is good to learn as you go, so I don't regret reading it)

There was a passage where Shadow decided to stay with the Gods because they spoke less in cliches. I almost lost it there...

The whole "build-up" of the tension between materialism and Gnosticism... I've never read someone critiquing the growing materialism of modern culture as something that may be destroying an inner spirituality. Oh wait, Weber... Freud... Madonna?

I got through another fifty pages--slowly. I'm finished with this; I cannot force myself through the rest of it. I am still curious as to why this book and author are popular and well reviewed.

One good thing about reading a book like this: It makes subsequent books seem much more impressive.

Anyone know how we vote for the April book?

Did you read the new expanded version or the original?

If the question is to me, I, unfortunately, bought the expanded version.

About half-way in now, finding the play on older myths and how they may survive (or not) in the modern world solidly enjoyable overall though maybe a bit short in characterization and other elements that would make me recommend it to people without an established interest in contemporary fantasy or magical realism.

I really wanted to like this book. I, too, was drawn in from the beginning, and I liked Shadow as a character. However, the book lost its charm for me. The myths were interesting to me, and I found myself looking up some of the more obscure gods featured in the book. I chugged through it, and I was, sad to say, glad when I finished it.

46> Did you read the long or the short version? I wonder if the editor was right to make the cuts that they did.