Driving Around With The Dream King

I got all excited today about going to use the library for the first time today in 2008! After my last post, I had a few suggestions that I read something shorter to break the monotony of this chunkster that I'm in the middle of. Then I read this wonderful review of The Diaries of Adam and Eve by Mark Twain that Becky wrote, so I was going to go get it at my library. Then I started thinking of other stuff I wanted to check out ;) Oh yes...this could just as much of a hindrance to my TBR shelf as the bookstore, but at least I'm not adding permanently to the TBR shelf. I was also going to check out Alice in Sunderland since I've been dying to read it since Nymeth's review and I've been wanting to listen to Neil Gaiman's American Gods on Audiobook for ages, so I was going to get that too! Well needless to say, I'm so disappointed with our library system here. We have 12 libraries in our parish...yes 12 libraries that I can use my card at!! Not a single one of them carries any of those three items...not even the Mark Twain book! I searched the online catalog and I called. No luck. It makes me so mad!

Well after that, I had a craving for American Gods on audiobook and I just happen to have a brand new shiny iPod that I treated myself to last weekend ;) So I went to iTunes, and of course they don't carry it. But I did find the author's preffered, complete unabridged text of Neverwhere read by Neil Gaiman and bought it! It's an audio book, so it's fair game. It's not taking up shelf room and I listen to it while I drive or walk, so it's not cutting into other reading time :p I am in love with this thing so far and I'm only 2 chapters in! I've always loved Neverwhere. It's my favorite of Gaiman's after American Gods. I've never really been sold on audio books before, but now I see how they can work. To hear an author read their own work is truly an amazing experience. I didn't want to get out of my car. It's wonderful to hear the story exactly as Gaiman intended it, exactly as he saw the scenes and created the characters. And I could just listen to Gaiman's voice for hours....as I will be because it's nearly 13 hours long. Seriously, this man has a voice that is meant for reading things aloud and you can hear his passion for his work in his voice. It makes me appreciate his work that much more. Carl has been plugging this one for quite some time and I don't know why it took me so long to buy it, but I'm so glad I did. I add my recommendation. Neverwhere is an incredibly unique, dark, eerie, quirky story and the audiobook adds a whole new dimension to it...and it's great to revisit the story again.