Journal Entry 1 by karendawn from Lafayette, Indiana USA on Monday, August 11, 2003

I really enjoyed this book. I especially liked the way Gaiman explains how gods exist - and cease to exist. 

Journal Entry 2 by karendawn from Lafayette, Indiana USA on Monday, August 11, 2003

Journal Entry 3 by karendawn at Mailed to another BookCrosser in College Station, Texas USA on Tuesday, August 12, 2003

Released on Tuesday, August 12, 2003 at Mailed to another BookCrosser in College Station, Texas USA.

Book is on its way to the first location in the bookring. 

Journal Entry 4 by Maurean from Atlantic Beach, Florida USA on Tuesday, August 19, 2003

Received this in my mailbox today, and am looking forward to reading it. It's a thick one, so it may take awhile, but I will journal again as soon as I've completed it!
(Thanks to KarenDawn for starting this one!) 

Journal Entry 5 by Maurean from Atlantic Beach, Florida USA on Wednesday, August 27, 2003

"One describes a tale best by telling the tale. You see? The way one describes a story, to oneself or to the world, is by telling the story. It is a balancing act and it is a dream.The more accurate the map, the more it resembles the territory.The most accurate map possible would be the territory, and thus would be perfectly accurate and perfectly useless.
The tale is the map that is the territory.
You must remember this.
- from the notebooks of Mr. Ibis"
****************************************************************

This was a wonderful tale that kept me engrossed in its pages from cover to cover. Mr. Gaiman is a fabulous writer and a fantastic story-teller. Completely entertaining!
Thank you, karendawn, for including me in this journey! I will mail this off to tootshelling on Friday, 8/29, in the hopes that she enjoys it as much as I did! 

Journal Entry 6 by tootshelling from Wynnewood, Pennsylvania USA on Thursday, September 04, 2003

Just received my first bookring! Thanks karendawn and Maurean! I'm almost done the book I'm currently reading so I should start this one this weekend.

Sounds great and I'll journal again as I'm reading.

So, I'm about half way through and so far so good. It's like nothing I've ever read before.......

Ok, I'm done now and I'm not sure what to think. It was really interesting and unique but there were parts that I thought dragged.

Overall, I'm glad I had the experience of reading this book. 

Journal Entry 7 by tootshelling from Wynnewood, Pennsylvania USA on Friday, October 03, 2003

After some moving around of the list, this book is off today. We are skipping, for the moment, Grover3D, it will go back to her after the next reader. I sent it regular mail, so you should have it in no time! 

Journal Entry 8 by jamieh2003 from Wiley Ford, West Virginia USA on Wednesday, October 08, 2003

American Gods is Neil Gaiman's best and most ambitious novel yet, a scary, strange, and hallucinogenic road-trip story wrapped around a deep examination of the American spirit. Gaiman tackles everything from the onslaught of the information age to the meaning of death, but he doesn't sacrifice the razor-sharp plotting and narrative style he's been delivering since his Sandman days.
Shadow gets out of prison early when his wife is killed in a car crash. At a loss, he takes up with a mysterious character called Wednesday, who is much more than he appears. In fact, Wednesday is an old god, once known as Odin the All-father, who is roaming America rounding up his forgotten fellows in preparation for an epic battle against the upstart deities of the Internet, credit cards, television, and all that is wired. Shadow agrees to help Wednesday, and they whirl through a psycho-spiritual storm that becomes all too real in its manifestations. For instance, Shadow's dead wife Laura keeps showing up, and not just as a ghost--the difficulty of their continuing relationship is by turns grim and darkly funny, just like the rest of the book.

Armed only with some coin tricks and a sense of purpose, Shadow travels through, around, and underneath the visible surface of things, digging up all the powerful myths Americans brought with them in their journeys to this land as well as the ones that were already here. Shadow's road story is the heart of the novel, and it's here that Gaiman offers up the details that make this such a cinematic book--the distinctly American foods and diversions, the bizarre roadside attractions, the decrepit gods reduced to shell games and prostitution. "This is a bad land for Gods," says Shadow.

More than a tourist in America, but not a native, Neil Gaiman offers an outside-in and inside-out perspective on the soul and spirituality of the country--our obsessions with money and power, our jumbled religious heritage and its societal outcomes, and the millennial decisions we face about what's real and what's not.
*******************************************************************************

This arrived today! Thanks karendawn for including me in the bookkring.
I'm starting this one this evening.

A magical, mystical tour of the Heartland of America. Go along with Shadow as he travels the backroads and small towns on a voyage of discovery and even more important, self-discovery.

I really enjoyed this book, the imagery is so vivid I believe it will stay with me a long time.
Thanks for the opportunity to read this Karendawn! 

Journal Entry 9 by jamieh2003 at Bookcrosser in Chicago, Illinois USA on Tuesday, October 14, 2003

Released on Tuesday, October 14, 2003 at Bookcrosser in Chicago, Illinois USA.

via USPS media mail to maddymonkey 

Journal Entry 10 by maddymonkey from Minneapolis, Minnesota USA on Monday, October 20, 2003

This will be my first Gaiman, other than the original Sandman series. Looking forward to starting it in the next few days. 

Journal Entry 11 by maddymonkey from Minneapolis, Minnesota USA on Friday, November 21, 2003

I'm really torn on this story. On the one hand, I never cared a wit about Shadow or his journey; I had forgotten half the characters from the beginning by the time I reached the end; and when it was all over, I was just "meh." On the other hand, I never had the urge to chuck it across the room and pick up something else.

I think Gaiman perhaps took on too much. For example, was the murder mystery subplot really necessary?

I did like the explanation of how gods reached America, the imagery of "driving south was like driving forward in time," and especially this:

"People believe...And then they will not take responsibility for their beliefs; they conjure things, and do not trust the conjurations. People populate the darkness; with ghosts, with gods, with electrons, with tales."

Off to Soraidh in the post today. 

Journal Entry 12 by Soraidh from St. Louis, Missouri USA on Monday, November 24, 2003

Yay! I have been waiting to read this book for ages and it finally got to me. I've heard so many good things about this from so many people that I can't wait to see what it's like. I loved Gaiman's Neverwhere so I'm hopeful I'll like this book as well. 

Journal Entry 13 by Soraidh from St. Louis, Missouri USA on Friday, January 09, 2004

Oh wow. It's hard to know what to write for this book. It's so multi-layered that it has literally taken me a month to get to this journal entry. I finished reading it during the fall semester but I just wasn't done processing it. I'm not sure I'm done processing it even now.

What an interesting take on religion and the gods. How amazing to think of them walking among us, unknown, forgotten by most. How extraordinary to be brought here by a solitary person of faith and passed on through their memories or forgotten through the dying of tales. A journey of belief most definitely, where one is never sure just what TO believe.

And the book that gave rise to one of my most favorite quotes to date. The statement of belief by Samantha Blackcrow, which I would post here but I will refrain since it is so long.

Thank you karendawn and the rest. I had to go find a copy of this for my own bookshelf because of this ring. 

Journal Entry 14 by Wandeca from Kitchener, Ontario Canada on Tuesday, February 03, 2004

Got the book in todays mail. Thank you Soraidh for mailing the book, it has arrived safe and sound. And thank you karendawn for sharing the book. I've been looking forward to reading this novel. I hoping to get to it by next week. I have two other bookring books to read first. 

Journal Entry 15 by Herrundmeyer from Heilbronn, Baden-Württemberg Germany on Monday, March 22, 2004

Received in the mail today. Thanks for passing this book along. TBR. 

Journal Entry 16 by Herrundmeyer from Heilbronn, Baden-Württemberg Germany on Monday, March 29, 2004

An outstanding, gripping read! Mr Gaiman at his very best! Most certainly recommendable!

Here's a little paragraph I'd like to share (and don't we all share this opinion?!):
"What I say is, a town isn't a town without a bookstore. It may call itself a town, but unless it's got a bookstore, it knows it's not fooling a soul." 

Journal Entry 17 by Herrundmeyer at on Monday, March 29, 2004

Journal Entry 18 by Mostly-Harmless on Thursday, April 08, 2004

Received today. Thanks ! 

Journal Entry 19 by Mostly-Harmless on Monday, April 12, 2004

It's certainly an interesting book... theoretically, because I couldn't really get into it. Maybe it was because of the "theosophical" bits, maybe because the "Gods are around us and lack believers" baskground sounds déjà vu, or because "good old time vs ugly, bad modernity" is not my thing.
Anyway, it's nevertheless a good story, with interesting characters.

-- 17th April : sent to blacksheeps99 this morning 

Journal Entry 20 by blacksheeps99 from not specified, not specified not specified on Wednesday, April 28, 2004

The book arrived while I was away on a holiday, sorry for the delay. I´ve alread started reding it and it IS a "page-turner"!

Thanks a lot for sharing it! 

Journal Entry 21 by blacksheeps99 from not specified, not specified not specified on Monday, May 10, 2004

It´s not the kind of book I read normally but I enjoyed this dark journey across America a lot. The characters are well written and you´ll find a take on religion and gods you won't have seen elesewhere. Hordes of old gods from a range of pantheons, could be living in America; getting grumpy and cantankerous. They are longing for the old days when they were worshiped and venerated. Fearing and despising the new gods and preparing for war.

Sent the book t fingerart (UK) two days ago. 

Journal Entry 22 by fingerart from Romsey, Hampshire United Kingdom on Monday, May 17, 2004

Just received. Thanks for setting up this bookring, Karendawn. I'll try and read it as soon as possible. It's next on my books to read.