The act of writing always creates something of value. When I'm reading, it is the various manifestations of that inherent and powerful value that I'm looking to capture and share with my fellow book lovers.
From humble days as a bookseller in Colorado, I now live in NYC and work for one of the big publishing houses. I'm always reading a huge variety of books, but you're bound to find more reviews on titles that might not be on every bookstore's shelf quite yet!
And I must also say that it is immensely important to support independent bookstores. Definitely consider shopping with your local bookshop if you don't already!
If you're looking for one then check out the great store I used to work at:
oldfirehousebooks.com
This one took me much longer to read than I expected. It only clocks in at a a little over 160 pages, but I never found myself fully immersed in the tale. We find our selves with a man attending a funeral who is also remembering a particularly odd series of events that took place in his youth. He meets the girl at the end of the lane, Lettie Hempstock, and so the adventure begins. They vanquish odd creatures and through their time together we get to see an entire range of myth. There is great interaction with the designated "flea" called Ursula. She is more or less this weird mythical creature that acts like she is lending everyone a hand, but she is really just screwing everyone over. Also of note is how much I cringed at the worm-in-the-foot scene. Really got to me, and it felt like solid Gaiman writing.
This book is a fun time and a nice one to mix in with your other reading. It really won't take long if you can focus for a few hours and it is enjoyable. Not anywhere near my favorite Gaiman, and in all honesty, I probably will find this one fading into my memory fairly quickly. It has some good points, but I just can't imagine I'll recall much of this story 10 years down the road. However, it might end up more memorable since I'm directly calling it out in this post. Guess we'll see.