Rashmi bookmarks “American Gods”

When settlers came to America, over the ages they brought their gods with them in their minds. They brought Odin and Loki and Thor and Kali ... but as generations died or people forgot, these gods passed into myth. Now, weakened, these gods are not just left to get by as best as they can, they are also faced with a battle with the new gods: gods of internet, neon and plastic. This is the story of “American Gods” by one of the greatest story tellers of our time, Neil Gaiman.

As I type this, I realize, it is immature and terribly limiting of me to try to present this epic drama in those few words. Yes, that is the basic framework of the story, but there is so, so much more to this journey than just that; one that goes from myth to reality, from humans to gods, from life to afterlife.

Recently released from prison, Shadow is enlisted by the mysterious Mr. Wednesday, presumably to assist in collecting gods who will stand together when the war begins. From that point on we visit so many places, we meet so many people and we are told so many tales of magic and mortality. We visit an old fair with out-of-tune mechanical instruments and spend time in an old European house filled with cooking smells of a different world. We meet Anansi at a fair, Ibis and Jacquel at a funeral home, Easter at San Fransisco and Salim who meets a jinn. We go back to 15,000 BC and see waves of immigration, including the heartbreaking Coming to America of black people. And we stay at the pretty town of Lakeside with its mysteriously disappearing children.

But these are all just elements of the story - not the story itself. The story is something that has to be experienced personally. I would highly recommend reading this book (and, in fact, everything by this author) ... Meanwhile, I am checking to see if Gaiman is planning on touring Toronto any time soon.

Rashmi bookmarks “Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said”

I often say (with utter conviction, no less) that all the ideas in the world have already been taken; now all that remains is the expression and execution. And then I read something by Philip K. Dick. And once again I am blown away by a story that is great not just for its storytelling, but for being built around an idea that is original and brilliant.

“Flow My Tears...” is the story of Jason Taverner, rich and famous TV personality, who suddenly finds himself in a seedy motel room one day. Where that initial shock turns into a terrifying nightmare is when he realizes that no one in the whole world recognizes him any more. Not his thirty thousand weekly viewers, not the doting press, not his manager, not his close friends ... no one has any memory of ever having heard his name.

Shooed by his closest friend as a stalker, and on the run from the Pols (US Police) and Nats (National Guard) out to catch an unregistered person, this is the weird and fantastic story that PKD spins around a character rising high on a wave of popularity one day, and miserably questioning the meaning of life the next. As Taverner explores every possible avenue to regain his lost identity, the tale weaves through dolls that tell the future and kids who make their living creating fake IDs. When at last it reaches the one person who holds the key to this entire inexplicable drama, the story reaches a whole new level of awesome!

A surreal world built on ever soaring heights of imagination ... with man’s isolation deep at its core; I think PKD should be mandatory reading on every book lover's list.

Rashmi bookmarks “The Serpent of Venice”

They're back! Pocket of Dog Snogging along with his sidekick Drool and pet monkey Jeff ... and of course a ghost (hey, "there's always a bloody ghost"). The works of William Shakespeare (The Merchant of Venice and Othello) and Edgar Allan Poe (The Cask of Amontillado) get the Christopher Moore treatment in this continuation of Pocket's adventures from when we last met him in "Fool".

Out on a political mission at the behest of his wife, Queen Cordelia, Pocket walks right into a trap set by Antonio, Montressor Brabantio and Iago. From that torturous captivity unravels a story of great scheming and greater plotting amongst kings and princesses, soldiers and merchants.

There weren't too many laugh-out-loud moments - something I think I have come to associate Moore with. I do have to mention the Chorus: like Shakespearean plays, we see the chorus comment on scenes and characters ... unlike anything I have read ever before, the characters then comment back on what the Chorus says to them, sometimes even threatening them to change what was just said. That was really funny!

Overall however, I did not enjoy this book as much as all the other Moore stories I have read (even "Fool" was much funnier). I can't help feeling though, that Moore wasn't going for just funny this time. The Serpent of Venice is crafted out of tales that are polar opposites in genre, and brings together a vast repertoire of characters you could not imagine in the same world, much less the same room - and that is commendable.

Rashmi bookmarks “Wolf in White Van”

You may now make your first move.

Hospitalized for a lengthy period of time after an incident that left behind a permanent physical and emotional scar, Sean Phillips creates 'Trace Italian', the game of strategy and survival (interestingly, played solely via snail mail) wherein players send in their preferred move as they navigate their way around a world set in a ravaged, future America.

The beauty of this story by John Darnielle lies, not in that amazing twist where the imaginary and the real worlds merge, but rather in the narration of this story. As players Lance and Carrie take their turns into the real world with tragic results, and Sean is called in to testify, the story which had been moving forward starts to regress into Sean's history right back to where it all started. His letter to Carrie's parents which was read out during the trial, held so much sorrow and hope all at once, it gave a very poignant foundation to all the events that came after it.

From an imaginary to the real world, from excited replies to hate mail, this was the undulating, shifting story of a disfigured boy trying to create a 'safe place' in a horribly cruel world.

If there is one complaint I have about this book, it is that it did not go in as deeply as a subject this important warrants. It ended far too soon, and the tortured theme deserved a longer, harder look.

Rashmi bookmarks “Coronado”

“If we could have everything we wanted in an instant without fear of consequence? No worry of jail or societal reproof of any kind? No having to look our victims in the eyes because the victims have conveniently vanished? If we could have that? Stalin’s crimes would pale in comparison to what we’d do in the name of love. In the name of the heart wanting what the heart wants.”

That sentiment is at the heart of this collection of short stories by Dennis Lehane. My absolute favourite was “Running Out of Dog”. Set in Eden, South Carolina, this is the story of a small town that wanted to put itself on the map by building a world-class amusement park. A decision to eliminate the countless stray dogs that mar the landscape brings forth a sadly morbid reality where life is a “6 year old boy sitting by the ditch, waiting to die” … just like that kid in the war who got shot in the head, but kept running with half a head for 8 to 10 steps before realizing that he was already dead.

I also liked “Until Gwen”, the story of a con man and his son, both battling over a missing diamond. It was as much a picture of broken relations as it was a clever skirmish over lost treasure. (I did not much like the play version of this story; it seemed dragged out for no reason).

While “ICU” had quite an interesting idea at its core - a man who sits outside the ICU unit of different hospitals, pretending he has family within - the overall purpose of the events was not very clear.

I did not much care for the other 2 stories, “Gone Down to Corpus” and “Mushrooms” - both revolved around petty criminals whose actions were neither very interesting nor driven by some great motivation, and I just could not get into it.

Rashmi bookmarks “Black Moon”

A post-apocalyptic world where houses and malls have been ransacked and the streets are deserted ... save for the fearsome image of people wandering about, a danger to themselves and all others around them.

Kenneth Calhoun takes us to a world where prolonged insomnia has ravaged the minds of people affected by a phenomenon - the cause of which remains unexplained, the remedy to which, a distant hope.

Starting from a slight flutter of a black shadow at the corner of their eye, to a breakdown in language, to that final descent to madness which sees a horrific clash between the sleepless and the sleepers; the best part about this story was the fact that nothing is fully explained; we are neither told where and how it all started - nor are we given all encompassing answers in one grand finale.

Through different points in the tale, we follow several key characters as they deal with this nightmare ... we see Biggs desperately try to find a cure for his wife Carolyn ... we see Lila's parents with just enough sanity left to chain themselves to a table and send their daughter away for her own safety ... we see Adam and Jorie, married couple, and that horrific incident involving their new born baby ... we follow Chase and Jordan, high school friends on a road trip, and we see Chase slowly succumb to the madness (that final lap with a truck full of sheep and the axe-wielding maniac that he becomes, was truly terrifying) ... and we see the scientist Kitov become the first to test a possible cure to the disease ... Much like the hallucinatory experience of the insomniacs, I too got sucked into this eerie dystopian world where terror and despair rule.

Rashmi bookmarks “Anansi Boys”

From that incredible story teller Neil Gaiman comes yet another amazing story filled with fantastic characters in an unbelievable world. Based on the West African folklore of Anansi the trickster, who is considered to be the god of all stories, and often takes the shape of a spider, this is the story of siblings "Fat Charlie" and "Spider", sons of a god, who discover each other after the death of their father.

That landmark moment becomes the changing point - certainly in the life of Fat Charlie, who goes from being an average person in a dead-end job, to a god who can wield magic and control other life forms - but also in the book, which shifts to that magical realm for which I keep returning to Gaiman.

As Spider becomes an obnoxious sibling who takes over his brother's home, his job, and even his fiancée, Fat Charlie sets off on a mission to get rid of this interruption in his life (an interruption he himself invited by asking a spider to relay a message to his brother, asking him to stop by for a visit). Arranged by the mysterious foursome led by Mrs. Callyanne Higgler, his mission takes him to the caves of the Tiger, the Hyena, the Monkey ... and the deadly Bird Woman. And just like that, we enter a magical world where humans become beasts and animals take over humans.

“You're no help," he told the lime. This was unfair. It was only a lime; there was nothing special about it at all. It was doing the best it could.” In keeping with the character of a trickster god of all stories, this tale was filled with so many light and funny moments - and I absolutely loved that. Starting from Charlie's cringe worthy experiences because of an excessively embarrassing father, there are so many laugh-out-loud moments in this book! ... “Daisy looked up at him with the kind of expression that Jesus might have given someone who had just explained that he was probably allergic to bread and fishes, so could He possibly do him a quick chicken salad...”

The story had a very grand finale at Saint Andrews, where each and every strand of this web of stories came together, complete with warring siblings, fighting couples, crazy bosses and yes, even a ghost with some unfinished business.

(Oh, and this book is dedicated to me. That's right).