Book the Fifty-Sixth: Neverwhere
Title: Neverwhere
Author: Neil Gaiman
Page Count: 336
Status: New read
Synopsis: Richard Mayhew is an unassuming young businessman living in London, with a dull job and a pretty but demanding finacee. Then one night he stumbles cross a girl bleeding on the sidewalk. He stop to help her -- and the life he knows vanishes like smoke. Several hours later, the girl is gone, too. And by the following morning Richard Mayhew has been erased from his world. He has become invisible, and inexplicably consigned to a London of shadows and dakrness -- to a city of monsters and saints, murderers and angels, that exists entirely in a subterranean labyrinth of sewer canals and abandoned subway stations. He has fallen through the cracks of reality and has landed somewhere different, somewhere that is Neverwhere.
My Thoughts: So, there are two Londons. There's London Above, which is the place anyone can visit or live, and there's London Below, which is for all the people and all the things that fall between the cracks. Richard is part of London Above until he spots a Below Londoner bleeding on the sidewalk and stops to help her. In helping this girl, Richard himself falls between the cracks. And once you've fallen, there's no going back.
London Below is like nothing Richard has ever seen, and his only hope is to find the girl he helped, a girl named Door. Door's life is in danger, her entire family has been murdered, and Richard has suddenly found himself part of a group of people dedicated to keeping her alive even though she knows more about surviving in London Below than he does. All he wants is to be able to go home, to return to the world he left behind and actually be a part of that world again, not just a ghost who no one can see, a once-person who no one remembers.
But keeping Door safe is the only way that might happen because Door is an Opener; she can open doors that don't exist. She can get Richard home. But first they have to evade assassins Croup and Vandemar, find the Angel Islington, win a key from the Black Friars, ride Court with a ghostly King Lear, find a way through the Labyrinth, and best the Beast of London Below. And in the end, it may still not be enough because things in London Below are never what you think, and the only people you can trust are the thoroughly untrustworthy.
This book is really rather creepy, in a way only Gaiman can pull off. It's wonderful. Gaiman has created this entire world in abandoned Tube stations and sewer tunnels, and what's creepy is how real it all could be (especially if you've ridden the London Tube line that goes through Blackfriar's recently, since it's closed until 2011, I think. I've ridden through it. It's creepy). It's really, wonderfully done, but that was to be expected.
Also, I've got to read more books set in London now that I've actually been there. It gives me little thrills to be able to picture what the Tube stations actually look like. :) Yes, I'm a nerd.
Book 57 will be Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling or Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.
Tally: 56
Books Read: 38
Books Reread: 18
* = New Read
1.* The Calder Game by Blue Balliett
2.* Alphabet of Dreams by Susan Fletcher
3.* The Wizard's Map by Jane Yolen
4. Looking for Alaska by John Green
5.* {Catalyst by Laurie Halse Anderson
6.* Foundation by Mercedes Lackey
7.* Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
8. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
9.* The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
10.* Mondays are Red by Nicola Morgan
11. Paper Towns by John Green
12.* Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde
13.* Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin
14.* The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde
15.* Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
16.* Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde
17.* Turnabout by Margaret Peterson Haddix
18.* The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
19.* The Girls by Lori Lansens
20.* The Declaration by Gemma Malley
21. Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
22.* The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines
23. Beauty Sleep by Cameron Dokey
24. The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey
25. One Good Knight by Mercedes Lackey
26.* The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
27. Belle by Cameron Dokey
28. Nine Days a Queen by Ann Rinaldi
29. Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce
30. Wolf-Speaker by Tamora Pierce
31.* Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos
32.* Castle Waiting by Linda Medley
33.* Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Friend by Christopher Moore
34. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
35.* Romeo's Ex: Rosaline's Story by Lisa Fiedler
36. Emperor Mage by Tamora Pierce
37. The Realms of the Gods by Tamora Pierce
38. Darcy's Story by Janet Aylmer
39.* I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak
40. Terrier by Tamora Pierce
41.* Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce
42.* 13 by Jason Robert Brown and Dan Elish
43.* The Diamond Secret by Suzanne Weyn
44.* Wild Orchid by Cameron Dokey
45.* The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
46.* The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
47.* The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
48.* The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan
49.* The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
50.* The Demigod Files by Rick Riordan
51.* The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
52. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
53.* Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd
54.* Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede
55. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling
56.* Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
50 Books = July 13, 2009
Author: Neil Gaiman
Page Count: 336
Status: New read
Synopsis: Richard Mayhew is an unassuming young businessman living in London, with a dull job and a pretty but demanding finacee. Then one night he stumbles cross a girl bleeding on the sidewalk. He stop to help her -- and the life he knows vanishes like smoke. Several hours later, the girl is gone, too. And by the following morning Richard Mayhew has been erased from his world. He has become invisible, and inexplicably consigned to a London of shadows and dakrness -- to a city of monsters and saints, murderers and angels, that exists entirely in a subterranean labyrinth of sewer canals and abandoned subway stations. He has fallen through the cracks of reality and has landed somewhere different, somewhere that is Neverwhere.
My Thoughts: So, there are two Londons. There's London Above, which is the place anyone can visit or live, and there's London Below, which is for all the people and all the things that fall between the cracks. Richard is part of London Above until he spots a Below Londoner bleeding on the sidewalk and stops to help her. In helping this girl, Richard himself falls between the cracks. And once you've fallen, there's no going back.
London Below is like nothing Richard has ever seen, and his only hope is to find the girl he helped, a girl named Door. Door's life is in danger, her entire family has been murdered, and Richard has suddenly found himself part of a group of people dedicated to keeping her alive even though she knows more about surviving in London Below than he does. All he wants is to be able to go home, to return to the world he left behind and actually be a part of that world again, not just a ghost who no one can see, a once-person who no one remembers.
But keeping Door safe is the only way that might happen because Door is an Opener; she can open doors that don't exist. She can get Richard home. But first they have to evade assassins Croup and Vandemar, find the Angel Islington, win a key from the Black Friars, ride Court with a ghostly King Lear, find a way through the Labyrinth, and best the Beast of London Below. And in the end, it may still not be enough because things in London Below are never what you think, and the only people you can trust are the thoroughly untrustworthy.
This book is really rather creepy, in a way only Gaiman can pull off. It's wonderful. Gaiman has created this entire world in abandoned Tube stations and sewer tunnels, and what's creepy is how real it all could be (especially if you've ridden the London Tube line that goes through Blackfriar's recently, since it's closed until 2011, I think. I've ridden through it. It's creepy). It's really, wonderfully done, but that was to be expected.
Also, I've got to read more books set in London now that I've actually been there. It gives me little thrills to be able to picture what the Tube stations actually look like. :) Yes, I'm a nerd.
Book 57 will be Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling or Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.
Tally: 56
Books Read: 38
Books Reread: 18
* = New Read
1.* The Calder Game by Blue Balliett
2.* Alphabet of Dreams by Susan Fletcher
3.* The Wizard's Map by Jane Yolen
4. Looking for Alaska by John Green
5.* {Catalyst by Laurie Halse Anderson
6.* Foundation by Mercedes Lackey
7.* Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
8. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
9.* The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
10.* Mondays are Red by Nicola Morgan
11. Paper Towns by John Green
12.* Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde
13.* Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin
14.* The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde
15.* Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
16.* Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde
17.* Turnabout by Margaret Peterson Haddix
18.* The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
19.* The Girls by Lori Lansens
20.* The Declaration by Gemma Malley
21. Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
22.* The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines
23. Beauty Sleep by Cameron Dokey
24. The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey
25. One Good Knight by Mercedes Lackey
26.* The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
27. Belle by Cameron Dokey
28. Nine Days a Queen by Ann Rinaldi
29. Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce
30. Wolf-Speaker by Tamora Pierce
31.* Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos
32.* Castle Waiting by Linda Medley
33.* Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Friend by Christopher Moore
34. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
35.* Romeo's Ex: Rosaline's Story by Lisa Fiedler
36. Emperor Mage by Tamora Pierce
37. The Realms of the Gods by Tamora Pierce
38. Darcy's Story by Janet Aylmer
39.* I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak
40. Terrier by Tamora Pierce
41.* Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce
42.* 13 by Jason Robert Brown and Dan Elish
43.* The Diamond Secret by Suzanne Weyn
44.* Wild Orchid by Cameron Dokey
45.* The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
46.* The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
47.* The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
48.* The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan
49.* The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
50.* The Demigod Files by Rick Riordan
51.* The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
52. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
53.* Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd
54.* Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede
55. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling
56.* Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
50 Books = July 13, 2009