Next up, as chosen by Madfish, is the Neil Gaiman's tome American Gods.

You have until the 31st and anyone who can still type the day after will be able to comment on this on the 1st of January 2005!

Actually I'm going to open this a day early just in case I'm in no fit state to do this tomorrow . . .

No sure if anyone has read this, I've not been able to myself so comment at will if you have

Do we reply here?
um..
maybe im the only one but hey.
I bought American Gods when it first came out, and since then i've read and re-read it finding myself always amazed at how fucking intricate it is, there are so many stories within stories in that book. The stories of Gods that went to america nestled in the minds of settlers, how they fared & what happens to them.
The main story is about a man called Shadow & what occurs after he finds out his wife died 2 days before he was due to be released from prison and how he ends up working for a man called Mr. Wednesday, who is Odin. Shadow ends up in a fight with a leprechaun, wins a leprechaun coin, places it in the earth above his wifes grave and unwittingly brings her back to life.
It's so hard to explain this book, it really is.. im trying my best tho.
Basically there are the 'old gods' the ones that have names, like Odin, Anansi, the Zorya.. then there are the new gods, they don't have names.. but we sacrifice our time and lives to them, gods of the television, the internet, computer games.. and so on. The new gods incite a war between themselves and the old gods & Shadow is recruited by Mr. Wednesday to work for him, on his side in the upcoming war. Shadow and Mr. Wednesday round up support in the form of the old gods & Shadow travels the United States for Wednesday, learning and meeting Gods as he goes.
So it's like a mythical road trip, with Gods thrown in and a horrible twist at the end that i didn't see coming.
But on rereading the book i notice the cues and signs of it.. like when Wednesday tells Shadow when they make their deal that in the event of his death Shadow will hold vigil...which he does, he hangs for 12 days or something on the World Tree with Ratatosk the squirrel in his ear and one of the Egyptian Gods watching over him.

I'm not sure if im allowed to give big spoilers in reviews so i'll wait for more people to respond.

This is one of my favourite books I can't even begihn to imagine how much effort and research goes into a work like this. I have only just seen this thread but it's encouraged me to dig it out and read it again.

well this book was my suggestion but ive just not had the time to get all the way through it, but i have read over half of it and i have loved it so far. in fact, i think im gonna go read some more of it now!

*nod* Absolutely unbelieveably heartbreakingly hauntingly beautiful book. Just when I think he couldn't possibly do himself one better.... {{{{Neil}}}}}

(Was slightly alarmed to learn recently that the film rights to AG have been optioned - I suppose that's not shocking really, but I'd be unsatisfied if they made anything less than a 12 hour Band of Brothers type shindig on HBO with all the extremes left intact...)

do not be surprised by anything to do with Neil Gaiman has become my motto.. seeing as he's doing a death film.. talking about redoing neverwhere & lots of other things.

i just can't imagine any actress bringing death to life (no pun intended)

I quite liked the idea of Fairuza Balk, which was being tossed around by the fans for a while; she seems to have dropped out of sight tho.

As has Terry Gilliam's film of Good Omens. *cries*