First off, I'd like to open with this: I've never really had an avenue to express my views on the things I've read, so now that I have this, Y'ALL BETTER PREPARE TO BE SICK OF ME.
I'm kidding, you might actually enjoy it.
Or not. I'll be here anyway.
Back to the original point of this post!
I'm an escapist, which means that instead of facing the supposed harsh realities of this life, I stick my nose in a book and read. Escape this world for another one. Easy schmeezy.
Anyhoo, my favourite sort of world to escape to, is a funny one. Humour is, in my expert experienced personal opinion which everyone should adopt, the greatest genre. Anything can be funny. Everything SHOULD be funny.
Okay, maybe not everything, but my point still stands.
So this is where I'm really going:
In my search for the wonderful world of funny, I have chanced upon many authors, some great, some woeful, others pitifully mediocre. (Yes, I too, am uncomfortable at how mean that sounded, but it had to be said.)
In 2020, I came across Douglas Adams (Honk if you're a HG2TG fan. If you're not in a car, use your mouth.) and I absolutely loved him. Then a friend of mine recommended me Terry Pratchett, which I also loved (even though it took me 3 and a half months to get through the second chapter of The Color of Magic. Shameful, but true story.)
And theeennn, I chanced upon Neil Gaiman, and he's kind of trying to ruin my life.
Okay, he's just ruining the genre for me. But that wasn't too much of an exaggeration, in my opinion.
Quite frankly, I think he's just boring. I think, (and this is my personal expert opinion which everyone should adopt.) that he's just recycled Terry Pratchett. Good Omens wasn't edgy, it was just irreverent. The Graveyard Book was very meh. I've tried to read a couple of others, but they just plain sucked.
The problem though, is that everybody ELSE thinks he's the best thing since sporks. And this irks me, because I KNOW I'm right.
But even if I'm wrong, somebody, somewhere, in this big old world, should agree with me. Atleast.
So I've brought my wahala to you.
What do you think of Neil Gaiman? If you don't agree with me, change my mind.
I dare you.
Vickie! Your post read like a mini-blog. I unfortunately don’t read satire either (joins @nwaChinwe in the walk of shame) but if the genre is nearly as good as the way you write - I’ll give it a go :) I will say though that there is nothing worse than thinking someone‘s writing isn’t that great but the rest of the world acting like they walk on water. I have found that sometimes, the only way to quell my dissatisfaction is to write my own story. Perhaps you need to be the one to de-throne Mr Gaiman (what a surname) and show the world what satire really should be. I dare you. 😜
Vickie, you had me at satire. But I'm sorry to disappoint that I am not familiar with any of the names and titles you shared. I am a big fan of El Nathan's Be(com)ing Nigerian. Effortlessly funny and super on point with its caricature of Nigerianness. It and Chuma Nwokolo's Diary of a Dead African are the only satire titles I've read. Insert shame emoji. But what made me really fall in love with satire was Charlie Hebdo. Terrible what happened to the magazine in 2015. But, that their craft was so provocative made me want to go into satire so badly. Lol. Of course nothing came out of it, for good (cos I'd have probably been killed for how bad I was at it.) Anyway, thanks Vickie. I'll check out your recommendations. And who knows, one day, you may recommend my work (spoiler alert: that'd almost certainly never happen).
Hey hey!!! I’m really an upcoming reader lol; So I haven’t read any of Neil’s books. I did try watching a video of his but I didn’t make it to the end and you know why :( However, I’ll read some of his short stories and come back to tell you what I think :) I’m really hoping I’ll disgaree with you and have to convince you. Fingers crossed.