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Have you read any of Gaiman's other works?

How does Neverwhere compare?

If you haven't would you read something else by him, or did Neverwhere turn you off completely?

I've read all his non-GN works except Coraline (which I am actually working on right now) and Anansi Boys. Stardust and Neverwhere were my first Gaiman novels, so I wasn't prepared for American Gods and was quite shocked at how different it is. I will definitely need to reread it with different expectations - it's so much darker and gloomier and more tightly written. If anyone hated Neverwhere, I'd recommend they try AG before writing Gaiman off forever.

His two short story collections (Fragile Things and Smoke and Mirrors) were the best short story collections I've read.

I read "American Gods" several years ago. I still don't know whether I liked it or not. I found it dark and confusing. It's like I imagine a drug trip would be. Yet, it also wormed its way into my brain. I did feel like a lot of it was style over substance and some scenes seemed to be in there just for shock value. At the time I read it, I had a lot going on and was hardly reading any books, much less anything as avant-garde as "American Gods". I'm beginning to think I should read it again.

Last year, my daughter lent me a copy of "Stardust" and I enjoyed it. It did seem a little light and fluffy to me though. In February, I read "Good Omens". I loved it. It was one of the funniest books I've ever read. I really loved the baby switching scene. "Damian is a nice name."

Of the Gaiman solo efforts, I think I like "Neverwhere" the best. It's more complex than "Stardust" and not as confusing as "American Gods."

Having read Stardust and Neverwhere, and not enjoying either very much, it is unlikely I'll try another. I'm not sure why, but he just doesn't pull me in. I had that feeling that I was wasting my time, and I just wanted to get to the end so I could read something else.

I've read all of Gaiman's novels and more-or-less enjoyed all of them. I think Stardust and Neverwhere have a semi-broad medium level appeal, while American Gods has a narrower high level appeal. What I mean by this is that fewer people may have enjoyed American Gods, but those that did really loved it, while more people may have enjoyed the other books but not as deeply.

Anansi Boys and Good Omens (cowritten with Terry Pratchett) are much more humorous than the others and are more reminiscent of books by Douglas Adams. If you are a Hitchhiker's fan I'd definitely recommend those two (particularly Good Omens) before his other work.

I love, love his Sandman series.

I guess I was part of the narrow, high level appeal, because I loved American Gods but indifferent enough to Neverwhere that I'm not re-reading it this month. I would have to disagree with Sandikal's assessment of it as style-over-substance. Granted that I haven't read everything Gaiman's written, but I found it to be the most substantive of his books.

I have read Stardust and Neverwhere. Personally I loved Stardust, and Neverwhere was so-so. I really want to check out the Sandman series, people are really into that so I want to give it a try. I love Graphic Novels so I think I really will enjoy that one.

Anansi Boys is wonderful. We'll written, great character development, and a fun/interesting story. Easily his best solo effort. American Gods certainly includes more challenging concepts and a more substantive storyline, but it wasn't as well written.

I LOVED Good Omens. It's laugh out loud funny. And although I'm sure Gaiman contributed a lot... considering when it was written and Gaiman's skill at that point with prose (not much), I have to think that Terry Pratchett, his co-author, is the main reason behind it's success.

I have to agree, Jen...I'm currently in the middle of Good Omens and I've recently just read the first four books of Discworld, and it's exactly the same voice.

The FAQ in the back of the book confirms this: it says Pratchett actually physically wrote most of it, but that he couldn't take the credit because he'd write after discussing it with Gaiman and it was impossible to tell whose idea was what at that point.

I first heard of him through the Good Omens book he did with Terry Pratchett and I liked the book so much, I am a very big Discworld fan anyway, I had to see what he wrote. He is definately darker than Pratchett and I was surprised to see they worked together on this after reading his books, but I liked the books and found them appealing enough to read more.

I am about to read his 1602 graphic novel. It looks real interesting to me, has anyone read this?

I read 1602 & loved it. I thought it was really cool.

I've read most of his stuff (there are some graphic novels I'm having trouble finding though.) I love American Gods. I just love the characters so much. Ditto on Anansi Boys. I've read his kids books & loved them all. Truthfully, Neverwhere is probably my least favorite Gaiman novel, though I do still enjoy it. I just don't like the main characters that much. I love Fragile Things, I think it's his best collection of short stories thus far.

1602 and Gaiman's other graphic novels are definitely worth it. Though I have to say 1602 is one of my favorites.

I have read American Gods and Anansi Boys and really enjoyed them but I haven't seen any of his graphic novels. You say they are really worth it?

I've read the entire Sandman series, including related volumes like Death and the Endless books, 1602, and maybe one other graphic novel. Sandman and related books are great, 1602 was fun (although I think you really need to be familiar with the Marvel universe to appreciate it), and the other one (which I can't recall off the top of my head) was sort of specialized and mediocre. I've heard some of his other graphic novels are very good, and I would like to read them at some point--just haven't had a chance to read them yet.

I just started re-reading "American Gods". After one chapter, I'm remembering why I can't decide if I like it or not. I recall that I felt brutalized at the end of the book. I felt dirty. But, I FELT. It's rare for a book to have that visceral emotional pull. Even if it's negative emotion, at least it's emotion. I think "American Gods" is very good on that level.

Donna, that's exactly it. One of the few other books I can think of that did that to me was "Beloved" by Toni Morrison. No other book has made me feel what that book made me feel.

The Sandman and Death series are definitely worth it. Gaiman does an incredible job of creating this pseudo-pantheon of what he calls "The Endless" and the world they live in. And the way he relates them to our world through story is unlike anything else I've ever read. He's incredible.

He has also done some other fun stand-alone graphic novels, including 1602 and Mr. Punch.

I've read all of his graphic novels and comics (I think) - and those above are easily my favorites.

As I have said in other posts, American Gods is one of my favorite books. It is my quintessential recommendation. Whenever someone asks me what to read I always ask, "Have you heard of American Gods?" I have gotten only positive feedback. It is an incredible adventure that sucks me into its world. I've read it three times over the last four or five years.

I also enjoy his graphic novels. 1602 is really interesting. I especially like how he adds dinosaurs in the background without the slightest explanation. The Sandman series are also wonderful, though I will confess that I've only gotten through Book IV.

I'm going to hear him speak next month. Any fans in the Boston area should be aware that he has an appearance at MIT on May 23rd. Tickets are $8 (cash only) and are available at most any comic book store in Boston.

neverwhere is my favorite neil gaiman book barring good omens (written with terry pratchett) and his graphic sandman novels.

i enjoyed american gods, stardust, and anansi boys...but i didn't find them as intellectually interesting and complex. they absolutely made me laugh and i enjoyed them...i just wanted more.

smoke and mirros and fragile things are brilliant. short stories appeal to me less because i want something that is going to keep me busy for a while, but they are brilliant.

his children's stuff just doesn't really do it for me.

On the second reading, I'm finding much more complexity in the craft of writing in "American Gods" than I did the first time. It's reminding me of Gustave Flaubert who made every word and every sentence in his masterpiece "Madam Bovary" important. It's what he called "le mot juste" or "the perfect word". It's pretty impressive.

I loved Stardust, probably because I like Fairy Tales (the origional Grims and such.) I am enjoying Neverwhere.

Neverwhere was actually a novel that I had to put away for a couple of weeks in February because I couldn't get the feel for the book. But I couldn't ignore it any longer, so I turned off all distracting things in my room and started from page 1 and amazingly read through it in one sitting.

I'm glad this wasn't my first Gaiman book. Because if it was, I wouldn't have even thought of reading his other works. I started off with American Gods, then I probably went on to reading The Sandman, and then mysteriously found my bookshelf full of most of Gaiman's works in a matter of weeks. The last Gaiman work I read was MARVEL 1602, which I found at LHR last month.

The only childrens work I've read (the only one availabe at my Indigo) was Coraline, but want to track down his other works also.

I am currently reading American Gods and Stardust, though nowhere near as fast and constant as Neverwhere. My first introduction to Gaiman was Coraline. Excellent book!

I just finished "American Gods". While I do appreciate it better now that I've read "Neverwhere", I still don't know if I liked it. I don't think "like" is really a word you can use for this book. A lot of us have read it. Should we start a new thread to discuss it?

I'm all for it, Sandikal, since I longed for people to discuss it with after I finished reading it. I don't know either, whether "like" is a word you can use for it, it's a very heavy story.

My firs one was Stardust - which I'm sorry to say I really didn't like. I didn't hate it but was not thrilled with it either - it seemed "to fairytale-ish" to me and the love afair really was not working for me - more of a let's throw two people together and of course they will fall in love.

My next Gaiman was Good Omens that he co-wrote with Pratchett - I thought it was VERY FUNNY. I enjoyed that quite a bit.

My third and most recent was Neverwhere. I did enjoy this. I thought the plot and the twists were good- I was not all that invested in the characters but I thought the story was a good one.