books 2007: The Observations, by Jane Harris

Emily recommended this, so I got it from the library. It was a really fun read. In fact, I read it all day yesterday to the detriment of other activities like doing yoga and eating. It was similar in a lot of ways to Slammerkin, but I liked The Observations a lot better. The heroine was more likable, and the ending was happy/ier. I know the author of Slammerkin was kind of locked in to her ending because of where she got the story, and that did make it interesting, but it doesn't necessarily make for a pleasant, fun book. The Observations was a fun read and I had to keep reading to find out what happened next. Good stuff.

books 2007: The Neil Gaiman Audio Collection

Fritz burned me a copy of this. Yet another factor proving his awesomeness. In this collection, Neil Gaiman himself reads from his children's books: the cd includes The Wolves in the Walls, Cinnamon, The Day I Swapped my Dad for Two Goldfish, and a poem called Crazy Hair. My favorite story was probably Cinnamon, just for the random creepy touches like Cinnamon's eyes and the poor aunt's fate, but I also loved how the Queen of (Rhodesia, was it? Micronesia?) just randomly shows up in various stories, she's totally Gaiman's Cheese Man. The collection is rounded out by an interview with Neil--the interviewer is his daughter Maddy, and this track is absolutely adorable. I want to scoop Maddy up and snuggle her and then steal her daddy and make her some more siblings. Um. So, the stories probably do lose a little something without the illustrations, but they definitely gain something in that they are read by Neil himself, the way that they ought to be read. This was entirely awesome to listen to in the car on the way to my mom's house tonight. Yay.

::edit:: I forgot to say, the between-tracks instrumental music is the Magnetic Fields, "I Think I Need A New Heart" (a title which, when thought of in a Gaiman context, becomes more than slightly disturbing).