leov's review against another edition
4.0
I love Neil Gaiman's writing and have read almost every book he has published. It has been a absolute pleasure to get a tiny glimpse into his mind and feel connected to those he wrote about.
Some speeches/essays held little of my heart, but some grabbed hold of my entire soul. The way he speaks about his friends and loved ones made me cry.. How lovely it would be to know someone writes/talks about you the way Neil does about his own.
Some speeches/essays held little of my heart, but some grabbed hold of my entire soul. The way he speaks about his friends and loved ones made me cry.. How lovely it would be to know someone writes/talks about you the way Neil does about his own.
bigdreamsandwildthings's review against another edition
4.0
“Honesty matters. Vulnerability matters. Being open about who you were at a moment in time when you were in a difficult or an impossible place matters more than anything. Having a place the story starts and a place it’s going: that’s important. Telling your story, as honestly as you can, and leaving out the things you don’t need, that’s vital."
I read this for a class I'm taking on writing for children, so I'm going to post the review I wrote for class as my review here as well. I enjoyed this, despite not being a great lover of nonfiction. I think Gaiman could write a how-to manual on flossing and I'd read it and be completely absorbed in his words.
Whether you’ve read one of Neil Gaiman’s many books, seen his work as a movie or a television show, or stumbled across an article written from his journalism days, the man is clearly a prolific creator, and The View from the Cheap Seats provides insight into his influences as well as hints at how he has lived such a creative life. It’s a book about writing, about reading and libraries and bookshops, but it’s so much more: it covers the world of comics, children’s literature, and SF (science fiction or speculative fiction, depending on your preference). It delves into music and movies and their influence on his life. It provides insight into Neil as a human, rather than just Neil as an author, particularly in the sections of his writing about his friends and fellow creators. Essentially, it’s a book about life, and Neil writes it as beautifully yet approachably as he does the rest of his fiction.
As it is written in Gaimanesque style, this collection kept me up late, wanting to read on, to be absorbed into his worlds even if they aren’t the usual fantastical ones. The essays are collected into sections, ranging from “Some Things I Believe” to “Make Good Art” and include content that ranges from introductions to books by other authors to personal essays to newspaper articles to speeches he’s given. His style is interesting, flitting from flowery purple prose to grounded, simple words within the span of a paragraph, and the variation and unexpectedness of it kept me engaged. In terms of content itself, there were some essays in the collection that I did not connect with, simply because I was unfamiliar with the subject matter. However, because of his style, I was still able to read and enjoy them and to take something from each one, whether an anecdote about the subject or a tidbit about writing or life itself. Gaiman is witty and sincere, and his nonfiction comes across as whimsical yet grounded. I particularly enjoyed the first section of the book, “Some Things I Believe”. This is not a book with hard-hitting writing tips, but it is inspiring, well written, and entertaining, and really, what more could a person ask for from a book of nonfiction?
I read this for a class I'm taking on writing for children, so I'm going to post the review I wrote for class as my review here as well. I enjoyed this, despite not being a great lover of nonfiction. I think Gaiman could write a how-to manual on flossing and I'd read it and be completely absorbed in his words.
Whether you’ve read one of Neil Gaiman’s many books, seen his work as a movie or a television show, or stumbled across an article written from his journalism days, the man is clearly a prolific creator, and The View from the Cheap Seats provides insight into his influences as well as hints at how he has lived such a creative life. It’s a book about writing, about reading and libraries and bookshops, but it’s so much more: it covers the world of comics, children’s literature, and SF (science fiction or speculative fiction, depending on your preference). It delves into music and movies and their influence on his life. It provides insight into Neil as a human, rather than just Neil as an author, particularly in the sections of his writing about his friends and fellow creators. Essentially, it’s a book about life, and Neil writes it as beautifully yet approachably as he does the rest of his fiction.
As it is written in Gaimanesque style, this collection kept me up late, wanting to read on, to be absorbed into his worlds even if they aren’t the usual fantastical ones. The essays are collected into sections, ranging from “Some Things I Believe” to “Make Good Art” and include content that ranges from introductions to books by other authors to personal essays to newspaper articles to speeches he’s given. His style is interesting, flitting from flowery purple prose to grounded, simple words within the span of a paragraph, and the variation and unexpectedness of it kept me engaged. In terms of content itself, there were some essays in the collection that I did not connect with, simply because I was unfamiliar with the subject matter. However, because of his style, I was still able to read and enjoy them and to take something from each one, whether an anecdote about the subject or a tidbit about writing or life itself. Gaiman is witty and sincere, and his nonfiction comes across as whimsical yet grounded. I particularly enjoyed the first section of the book, “Some Things I Believe”. This is not a book with hard-hitting writing tips, but it is inspiring, well written, and entertaining, and really, what more could a person ask for from a book of nonfiction?
milenabates's review against another edition
4.0
A few of these didn't age well. But I enjoyed this as a peek into the mind of a writer. Sort of. I was hoping to get ideas for more things to read but a lot of it is about old school fantasy which is not my thing. I do have at least a couple of leads. I related to his childhood anecdotes.
theshonz0705's review against another edition
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
3.5
i_platypus's review against another edition
5.0
After reading something so eloquent, my only refuge lies in the vulgar: "Holy sh*t, that was a good book."
kellylynnthomas's review against another edition
4.0
The first half of this book is STELLAR. The second half consists mostly of introductions Gaiman has written for other books, music albums, and even some articles. These were all also good and interesting, but hearing one after the other got a little tiring, and my preference would have been to have them spread out throughout the book instead of all in one place. (I was also speed listening to this because my library copy was set to expire, so if you listen/read at a more leisurely pace you might not have that issue).
Definitely worth the read for Gaiman fans and creative types, especially writers.
Definitely worth the read for Gaiman fans and creative types, especially writers.
roxanamalinachirila's review against another edition
4.0
I was expecting something more, I guess, or maybe just something different. Non-fiction pieces Neil Gaiman wrote on all sorts of occasions, little essays, what-have-yous, things I didn't know about, the sort of things I vaguely recall his blog containing - but then, it turns out that most of the things Neil Gaiman wrote were either stories, or introductions to other people's stories. Some were speeches, it's true, and some were little bits about his life or an industry or another, but most of it is him using the best of his craft to fanboy about things he loves. When you finish reading this book, you'll have many new things on your wishlist and you'll be searching for all sorts of things, just to experience them.
I thought about it for some time and decided this was fine, although "The View from the Cheap Seats" isn't the sort of book I'd recommend to others, unless they were fans of Neil Gaiman already. It's not that the introductions aren't nice, but that there are so many of them, and often very personal. There are beautiful words about other people here, and new things to discover, but it's a bit hard to go on reading them after a while, especially if you don't really know what or whom he's talking about, and then you put the book down and leave it there for a while, and come back to it when you want to discover someone new.
Conversely, I now wonder if someone who knows all the things and people Neil Gaiman talks about, without knowing Neil Gaiman himself, would find a strange kinship with him. I wonder if this would be a page-turner then, a mystery of sorts, as they try to find out who this he is, and how come he came to meet all these people and love all these things, and show his love in such splendid ways.
So it's a beautiful book, but a difficult one, too. Very dense, and it will have you writing things down for later, and then you'll read something else, and come back to it. It's all good.
(Well, most of it is good. My particular edition, the paperback Headline one, already has a peeling cover, which is not precisely what I was expecting.)
I thought about it for some time and decided this was fine, although "The View from the Cheap Seats" isn't the sort of book I'd recommend to others, unless they were fans of Neil Gaiman already. It's not that the introductions aren't nice, but that there are so many of them, and often very personal. There are beautiful words about other people here, and new things to discover, but it's a bit hard to go on reading them after a while, especially if you don't really know what or whom he's talking about, and then you put the book down and leave it there for a while, and come back to it when you want to discover someone new.
Conversely, I now wonder if someone who knows all the things and people Neil Gaiman talks about, without knowing Neil Gaiman himself, would find a strange kinship with him. I wonder if this would be a page-turner then, a mystery of sorts, as they try to find out who this he is, and how come he came to meet all these people and love all these things, and show his love in such splendid ways.
So it's a beautiful book, but a difficult one, too. Very dense, and it will have you writing things down for later, and then you'll read something else, and come back to it. It's all good.
(Well, most of it is good. My particular edition, the paperback Headline one, already has a peeling cover, which is not precisely what I was expecting.)