American Gods: The Epic Journey

This is not yet a book review because it's a journey I haven't finished. I think I started American Gods back in 2007. I generally read it on planes since I bought it off another grad student in a yard sale for about a dollar. Great investment, considering how slowly I've read it. It's not so much the length. At 588 pages it's a lightweight in comparison to many of the sprawling fantasy epics I read. But it's a difficult book. It's not necessarily a difficulty of comprehension. It's more along the lines of not wanting to comprehend. After a time life got difficult enough for me and I didn't need literature adding to it. But I've finally picked up the book again. I left off very near the end around Chapter 16 and I'm once again finding my way through the darkness of the next five chapters.

Still, these lines struck me most while reading again (though the first doesn't have the same impact without the context of the story):

"It doesn't matter that you didn't believe in us," said Mr. Ibis. "We believed in you."

and this one just made me smile.

"Are you scared?" asked Mr. Ibis.
"Not really."
"Well, try to cultivate the emotions of true awe and spiritual terror as we walk."

Now, perhaps I'll finally see what the end will bring.