But for today I'll just update you on the most recent book I've read. I just (I mean, a few minutes ago at lunch) finished American Gods by Neil Gaiman. It was bizarre. I read YA books almost exclusively, so this was far from my comfort zone. Not only that but it was Neil Gaiman. That in itself makes the book strange.

The premise of the book was that gods are brought to America by people who believe in them. Once they're here, they survive only as long as they're worshipped. I thought that the old gods were waging war against the modern gods of Media, Technology and Information (and so on), but that wasn't quite how it turned out. The main character is Shadow and he's... odd. But I really liked him. He wanders around being a pawn, but ultimately is the most important character in the book. Of course. But not in a cheesy way (Harry Potter mesiah way). It's more subtle.

Gaiman is pretty much a genius when it comes to foreshadowing and winding tales. I was very proud of myself for figuring out a few things (like where the missing children went and who was responsible). I was also pretty proud to have followed the mixed up story line, even if I couldn't keep all of the gods straight. Maybe I shouldn't be proud to have understood mainstream fantasy, but it was a lot harder than most books I read. Good though. Very good.