Teaser Tuesday: The View from the Cheap Seats

Like students circling the classroom trying to figure out the seating chart, the Wheel of Time has turned ’round to Teaser Tuesday.

Just in case you don’t know, Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by Books and a Beat. Anyone can play along! All you have to do is grab the book you’re currently reading, open to a random page and share a few sentences from that page. But make sure you don’t share any spoilers!*

*I wish I could take credit for this introduction, but I shamelessly stole it from Heather over at bitsnbooks. To help me make amends, you should go check out her blog.

I was pleasantly surprised this week when, upon visiting the library, I discovered several books on my TBR on the Recent Arrival shelf. Not being a book hog With the start of school I no longer have vast amounts of reading time, so I only picked up two of them. I think I broke the sound barrier in grabbing the most anticipated of these books, The View from the Cheap Seats by Neil Gaiman.

The Goodreads’ Blurb

An enthralling collection of nonfiction essays on a myriad of topics—from art and artists to dreams, myths, and memories—observed in Neil Gaiman’s probing, amusing, and distinctive style.

An inquisitive observer, thoughtful commentator, and assiduous craftsman, Neil Gaiman has long been celebrated for the sharp intellect and startling imagination that informs his bestselling fiction. Now, The View from the Cheap Seats brings together for the first time ever more than sixty pieces of his outstanding nonfiction. Analytical yet playful, erudite yet accessible, this cornucopia explores a broad range of interests and topics, including (but not limited to): authors past and present; music; storytelling; comics; bookshops; travel; fairy tales; America; inspiration; libraries; ghosts; and the title piece, at turns touching and self-deprecating, which recounts the author’s experiences at the 2010 Academy Awards in Hollywood.

Insightful, incisive, witty, and wise, The View from the Cheap Seats explores the issues and subjects that matter most to Neil Gaiman—offering a glimpse into the head and heart of one of the most acclaimed, beloved, and influential artists of our time.

---

The Truly Random Number Generator sends us to page 217.

The complaint about Doctor Who from adults was always, when I was small, that it was too frightening. This missed, I think, the much more dangerous effect of Doctor Who: that it was viral. 

On the left is the American cover. On the right is the English cover. Why are American covers of English books usually boring? Does anyone have an answer to this?

In Retrospect

Pandemic: Tracking Contagions, from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond by Sonia Shah was a fine book, but perhaps a bit too technical at times.

In addition to diseases, the author also spends some pages preaching about global warming, animal rights, and other current hot button issues merely tangentially related to the topic at hand.

A nice afternoon diversion nonetheless.

Right now this book hits a little too close to home for a more accurate review; I may write about that in a few weeks.

What are you reading today?