A review by labyrinth_witch
The View from the Cheap Seats: Selected Nonfiction by Neil Gaiman

5.0

This book makes me laugh, it makes me feel happy, and it makes me want to cultivate a more playful orientation to life. First, it’s brilliant. I may be one of the few who usually reads intros to books and it makes me happy that Neil Gaiman essentially collected all of his introductions together and made a book out of them. And it’s all worth reading. I laughed out loud when he discussed an article about how poorly history was taught in Britain because the people polled thought Winston Churchill was myth but Sherlock Holmes is real. Rather than be indignant like most, he simply responds “what about Dracula!? How many think he is real? I do.” I laughed out loud when he reads snippets from ghost stories, “we called and her voicemail simply said, “I think I’ve been murdered, but leave a message and I’ll get back to you” and she did.” This collection also includes his make good art speech- which is inspiring in its whole. Overall, this book should be read or better listened to (Neil Gaiman reads the audio book) because then you can experience his passion for everything and everyone he’s talking about, and his childlike wonder at the absurd world we live in.

After reading it, I found myself to be less judgmental. Instead of encountering people and relating them to myself, I found I would respond like him - “what an interesting, peculiar person-make a story!” Hahaha.

As he says, “Read Books.”