Crosspost: Review: The Ocean at the End of the Lane

My instinct was to write this review longhand, which probably won't mean much to you (except that I am old), but says something to me about the emotional space I was in after finishing the book. I took out my boarding pass, thinking I'd write on the back, not wanting to put it into my just-started professional notebook (it's teal, and has a fabric placeholder, and only has writing on one page -- a to-do list, most of which remains to be done). That was my instinct but, as it turned out, I'd left my pen in my backpack, which was safely stowed in the overhead compartment, and which I did not feel like retrieving just to get a pen. So, I "wrote" on my phone, in an app designed to look like a pad of yellow paper. I like the lines, but I miss the feeling of pen, and the imaginary lines on the imaginary page made me think of Lettie Hempstock saying that nothing is really what it looks like on the outside. 

I read The Ocean at the End of the Lane in less than the time it takes to fly from New Orleans to New York. I started during takeoff and when I finished, and checked the map, it told me that we were somewhere over North Carolina. It was a quick read, and the story is fairly simple: a man returns to a place he once called home and he remembers a time when he was a boy, when he met a girl and lost his heart. But it's better than that, and not quite like that at all. It was, as the best books are, full of more than you think will possibly fit in its pages. It was A Story, in the way Isak Dinesen might have meant -- bigger and more true than you'd imagined at the start. It was not unlike Lettie Hempstock's ocean, even knowing that it really was an ocean. 

And now I'm not sure what to say about it, though I felt, immediately, like I wanted to say something. Hm. That seems like a problem for a book review. So, here's what I think you need to know to understand what I thought of the book, which is really the point of a review: I mostly didn't think about it and I consider that a good thing...

Read more @ No Shortage of Opinions

Wondercon 2011: Day 3

So the highlight of day 3 was obviously the Doctor Who panel, which I've already posted about a little bit. It was moderated by Chris Hardwick, and the panelists were Toby Haynes (director of stuff, including Sherlock), Mark Shepard (that guy who's in all those shows you love) and Neil Gaiman (purveyor of awesome).

Before the panel, there was The Line. I got up early (for me, on a Sunday) and went to get in line, because I knew that Doctor Who + Neil Gaiman at Wondercon would be a fool. M. met me in line and was kind enough to supply me with caffeine (key on day 3 of con.). We got ushered into the big room and given free tees. In case you've forgotten, they look like this:

Then we found seats, got settled, and waited for the magic to begin. After the intros, there was a 6 minute preview (I mostly won't talk about the footage, partially because it makes no sense to me, because I am so far behind, and partially because it was lots of quick cuts and snippets that you will find better described other places). The big hype was that 2 episodes, I believe, are set in the US. President Nixon is involved.

There was much talk of Neil Gaiman's long-awaited episode, which was postponed for money reasons.
"They took other episodes out round the bike shed and beat them up and took their dinner money and gave it to my episode," Neil said. He also said the thing about how not to get caught up in all the history, which I liked a lot, and which I quoted in the post linked above.

And there was a lot of talk about the easiest/hardest thing about filming Doctor Who. Mark said that the easiest is the passion everyone brings to it, while the hardest is that TV is so much more distant than live theater, harder to connect with the audience. Neil said the hardest was realizing that reality is expensive, which makes making TV difficult. The easiest was the creative freedom. Toby said something similar, that the "dream killer" meeting, where all the production realities are brought out is most difficult, but that the best is how creative everyone gets to make it all work out.

Some fun footage, entertaining to listen to them talk about the behind the scenes fun, and I'll be super excited to see the eps. when I get to them.

Also on day 3: I went to great panel on female spies and private detectives. Speakers were Jennifer Stuller and Trina Robbins. I now absolutely need to read a graphic novel called Queen and Country, and I bought a book from Trina called Eternally Bad - Goddesses With Attitude. Also checked out a presentation on the Nikopal series, which I'd also like to read. So many books, so little time...

Seen around the conference that day:

Who you gonna call?

I petered out early on Sunday - after a full weekend of the crowd I was ready to call it quits. I'll have to pace myself better at ComicCon, there will be both a bigger crowd and since I won't have the advantage of being able to just go home to my own apartment every night. And since I'll be presenting on one of the days. We'll see how it all goes. I'm hoping at least that the fact that I won't also be teaching means that I'll be able to do daily updates, rather than saving it all until the week after to start posting about it...

First, a friend sent me a link this article, which says that Warner Brothers/DC is trying to make a Sandman TV series. Then, Yahoo TV confirmed it. Let me share what I sent in reply to that friend.

I cannot express how very strongly I vote no on that. Wait, wait - let me try... OH, HELL NO! Unh-uh. No, no, no, no, no. I mean, no! Just, no. I DO NOT LIKE! Hm. Not quite right, but close. I just can't imagine that going well.

I stand by that response, and was glad to see this article, sent by another friend, which is a bit more detailed and articulate on why bringing Neil Gaiman's Sandman to TV is a bad idea. Ms. Ryan mentions one of my main objections, which is that making an appropriately awesome TV version of Sandman would take more resources (both money and talent) that I really expect the average network to come up with. I'd go further, and say that even if, by some miracle, that awesome version came to be, it wouldn't be popular enough (and certainly wouldn't get good enough ratings fast enough) to stay on the air.

Or, in the words of a fabulous postcard I recently received, "Nej, nej, og atter nej." (Danish for "No, no, and again no."

Strange fruit and creepy conversations

Just done w/chapters 1-3 of American Gods. I had forgotten how creepy that book is.

SPOILER WARNING

At the top of the list of creepy things right now? Shadow's Bone Orchard dream, which is more disturbing to me than the nonchalant conversation he has with Laura, his recently-dead wife. The dream itself is not a happy one, and the sense of wrongness is compounded by what I'm pretty sure is a reference to Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit." (WARNING: the photograph of the lynching that inspired the poem that became the song is on the page linked.) Strange fruit is a hauntingly beautiful indictment of one of the ugliest pieces of US history. The last verse, in particular, in sticking with me as I read AG tonight: 

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck, 
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck, 
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop, 
Here is a strange and bitter crop.

While the context is different, it is relevant to what's happened (and what's to come) in several ways.

In other news, I'm making an American Gods playlist of the music in the book. My list so far:

• "Nottamun Town" by Fairport Convention
• "Masters of War" by Bob Dylan (Why? See here for details.)
• "Iko Iko" by The Dixie Cups
• "Walking After Midnight" by The Cowboy Junkies (Patsy Cline version in the book)
• "Who Loves the Sun" by The Velvet Underground
• "The Fool on the Hill" by The Beatles
• "Strange Fruit" by Billie Holiday
• "The Midnight Special" by Creedence Clearwater Revival

A fellow 1b1t-er has made an American Gods music spreadsheet (he's also got sheets for people and places).