American Gods

Yesterday I found out through Slashdot that Neil Gaiman has put up one of his books, American Gods, up online for free reading. Having now read two of his books, I can confidently posit a few key elements of his work. First, he writes more or less well and, at the very least, interestingly. I spent much of the last two days unable to put down my computer screen; which is difficult as it's one of those old CRT types that weighs like 30lbs. Second, he has many interesting ideas, but I don't think he ever fully delivers. Think most of M. Night Shyamalan's movies, though not quite as disappointing. Lastly, I will never read another one of his books ever again if I have any say in the matter. While most of each of his books are worth a read, the man seems to randomly throw in the most grotesque, unnecessary, inappropriate, lewd, etc. scenes in. It's like watching a movie that seems to be PG-13 for the most part (with a bit of language, so maybe R at times), but suddenly starts throwing in scenes from pornos, bondage flicks, and snuff films. The book I just read could have made for a decent memory, but now all I will be able to remember are all those disturbing and perverse scenes peppered throughout. I feel dirty for having read them. I don't want this crap in my head, but can't get it out. And I seem to have this terribly compulsion to finish the books, movies, etc that I start, so I had to read the whole thing. Blech.