Our household has been in the grip of a fever induced by the past two seasons of Desperate Housewives on video disc. Symptoms include lack of sleep, gasps of surprise and sudden laughter. My daughters have mutated into couch potatoes for the duration of the semestral break. My wife spends hours on end glued to the tv or the pc, following the misadventures of the ladies of Wisteria Lane (a play on hysteria ?)

My theory is that if you watch Desperate Housewives long and often enough, you begin to exhibit the colorful neuroses shown by the characters of this semi-sitcom, semi-soap opera about the implosion of American suburbia. When I tease my wife about it, she gets peeved. Which means my theory might be valid.

Read the rest of this entry »

I was looking for some light reading on a lazy All Saint’s Day afternoon when I chanced upon my daughter’s copy of Neil Geiman’s novel, American Gods. Neil Geiman is famous for his graphic novels (better known as comic books or “komics” during an earlier and more innocent age), particularly the Sandman series . I had previously read an earlier Geiman novel (written with Terry Pratchett), Good Omens, which had its good parts but was unexceptional overall.

American Gods is an altogether different enchilada. I’m three-fourths through the book and have been bowled over by the characters and the plot. Its part thriller, part horror-story, part adventure/quest.

Read the rest of this entry »