Reddit reviews Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions

This list needs more Neil Gaiman.


Children/YA books: Coraline, The Graveyard Book, and Stardust are my favs. Do yourself a favor and read the version illustrated by Charles Vess, it is far superior to the (non-illustrated) mass-market paperback. I would link to it, but I can't seem to find it on Amazon. Sorry.

Now, at no point did you ask for short-fiction, though I would think it fits your criteria of being able to pick up and set down at a moment's notice, so I'm gonna rec some fine short fiction as well. Smoke and Mirrors is quite good, as is Fragile Things.

Now as long as I'm here I would be remiss if I did not at least mention The Princess Bride and the Discworld novels of Terry Pratchett. I linked to the first one in the series, but it has been my experience that you can read them in just about any order you want with very little trouble. I usually just go to my local library and grab whichever one strikes my fancy. Terry Pratchett is an amazing storyteller and he also made a sword out of metal ore mined from a meteor after being knighted. That is a true thing that happened. I kid you not. Read his books. They will make your life better. Also to bring this comment full circle, he co-authored a book with Neil Gaiman called Good Omens that is just fantastic.

What kind of stories does she like? Neil Gaiman has a book of short stories and poems called Smoke & Mirrors thats pretty good :)

Hmm.......

If you're a comics kind of person, I'd suggest Sandman Volume 4. Not the first in the series, but the best early one that gives a feel for the rest of them, and a self-contained story.

For YA, Coraline is fantastic, and even better than the quite good movie.

For an adult novel? See, I'm not sure his best work is the long-format Adult novel. My favorite adult text work of his is probably Smoke and Mirrors, which is a short story collection.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane is also very good, but might not be a good FIRST Gaiman novel. It's sort-of a magical realism book, and that can be off-putting sometimes.

GAH! He's such a good author, and such a great PERSON, that I want him to make a good impression!

I honestly would not start with Good Omens. It's a brilliant book, but has very little of Neil Gaiman's writing style. His influence seems to be more in the plot and a bit of darkness here and there; whereas the writing is more Terry Pratchett than Neil Gaiman.

I highly recommend you start with one of his short story collections, like Smoke & Mirrors or Fragile Things. His Sandman graphic novels are also a great start in my opinion.