I haven't done a book review in a while.
(OK, so this isn't going to be an actual full-on review, partly because I haven't finished the book yet...)
I'm currently reading Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman. A couple things to know here:
-I really like Neil Gaiman.
-Neil Gaiman really likes Norse mythology.
I was really excited when I heard the book was coming out - I love his style. Plus, since a lot of his books feature Norse mythological characters, and since Jason and I are interested in both the Norse/Vikings specifically, and mythology in general, I thought this would be really interesting to read. I haven't been disappointed, though it's also not quite what I expected.
I also follow Neil Gaiman on Facebook. A month or two ago (before I got the book), he made a post announcing that Norse Mythology had been nominated for a fantasy award (I don't remember which one now) and while he was honored to have been nominated, he was also somewhat amused, as he had marketed this book as non-fiction.
(Side note on non-fiction: For several years, I worked in a library system that used the Dewey Decimal system, meaning that fiction and non-fiction are kept separate, as opposed to the Library of congress where you will find fictional pieces by an author next to reviews and criticism about that author's work. It was always interesting to me to see what was housed in non-fiction that kind of hovered on the fiction/non-fiction line. Many pieces of older literature - poetry, the Greek epics, Shakespeare - were housed in non-fiction, as were books of myths and fairy tales.)
I recall having read in a book about the defining characteristics of different genres that fantasy is arguably the oldest genre - mythologies and fairy tales are the very oldest stories. So to me, hearing that a non-fiction book about mythology had been nominated for a fantasy award didn't strike me as all that odd.
But then I started reading the book and it made even more sense why it was nominated for a fiction genre award rather than non-fiction. Gaiman comes right out in his introduction and says that a lot of this book is based on his fond remembrances of reading Norse mythology as a kid (after having become interested due to the Thor comic books). He states that he did some research but that a lot of this is revisiting tales he remembers; the book is not an in-depth anthropological examination.
Really the great thing (one of the great things) about this book is that it comes off as Personal Recollections of Hanging Out with the Norse Gods by Neil Gaiman. As opposed to a lot of mythology books, that can actually be quite dry, because the author is either taking a heightened style, respectful approach, or because the author is merely presenting "this is the direct translation of these old rune and I myself have no interest or opinion on the story itself," Gaiman's retelling of these myths comes off as personal. He's not afraid to be casual with the gods, giving us such gems as "'Shut up, Thor,' said Loki."
Part of why I picked up this book when I did (you, know, selecting it out of the massive tower of books that I got for Christmas) is that I just finished reading Gaiman's Odd and the Frost Giants. It's a story about a kid who doesn't quite fit in with the rest of his Viking village. He runs away and encounters 3 of the gods, who have been cursed into different shapes and need his help getting back to Asgard. I was curious to see more tales about the characters I'd just read about, so I started in on Norse Mythology (even though I generally do not read the same author back-to-back unless I'm reading a series).
The gods in Mythology are given the same casual, familiar feel as they are in Odd. It comes across less as "here is what the ancient peoples of Norway believed" and more, "So did I ever tell you about that time that Thor was just chilling and Loki played this really mean trick on him?" Some stories feel almost like these are the antics of Neil's college buddies. And I'm loving it.