I haven't got Anansi Boys yet, it's going to be a holiday (vacation, for you Americans out there) book, so I daren't buy it until just before I go. But I was wondering- should I re-read American Gods before I read Anansi Boys? Would it enhance my enjoyment of the later book?
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Re: Should I re-read American Gods?
Sat, August 12, 2006 - 7:22 AMit won't necessarily enhance it except for the fact the once I've read Neil.... I want more... Immediately! And it never hurts to re-read a great book... you get more insight and make new connections that you didn't notice the first time!... So YES re-read it! -
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Re: Should I re-read American Gods?
Sat, August 12, 2006 - 8:42 PMexactly. Re-read it because it's good. But it's not a requirement for the Anansi Boys at all.
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Re: Should I re-read American Gods?
Sun, August 13, 2006 - 3:52 AMThanks guys, that's exactly the sort of advice I was after. -
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Re: Should I re-read American Gods?
Sun, August 13, 2006 - 4:19 PMAnd now I think I need to re-read "Anansi Boys" and reminisce about last year when I took my son to see Neil read some excerpts and get his copy of "Wolves in the Walls" signed for his 10th birthday. That was really fun. -
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Re: Should I re-read American Gods?
Mon, August 14, 2006 - 5:11 AMI read my students the Wolves in the Wall.... it's such great read aloud book. They love it.... Also, the Day I swapped my Dad for 2 Goldfish... Although I do have to explain some "Englsih to American" translations... but they love it too.. and they keep wanting to play the CD the came with it! -
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Re: Should I re-read American Gods?
Sun, September 10, 2006 - 6:56 PMWhen I last saw Neil, he spoke to us at the Book Passage in Novato, CA - Anansi Boys was coming out and he let us know the answer to this self same question.
He said (to paraphrase)
1: Anansi Boys is a stand-alone novel. It takes place in the "American Gods" world, per-se, but it's not necessary to re-read American Gods.
2: Where American Gods focused on the very deep apocalyptic theme meant to reflect the Norse legends, this book focuses on the more African themes of storytelling, thus it will be less apocalyptic, but just as good.
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Re: Should I re-read American Gods?
Wed, March 7, 2007 - 12:14 PMThere is a novella in Fragile Things titled "The Monarch of the Glen" that catches up with Shadow two years after the events of American Gods. I re-read American Gods before reading the novella because I had forgotten so many details from the book. In this case, re-reading American Gods was a good idea for me, it allowed me to re-connect to the main character. For Anansi Boys, well, that's pretty much a stand alone novel. You can read it any time. Cheers!
