V is for View (from the Cheap Seats)

Something occurred to me right before I started writing this; not all books need to be fiction, and  some books are better as non-fiction.

That is a strange statement coming from me. The person who prefers fiction to reality, some days.

It  was apparent that The View from the Cheap Seats had to be today's book. There was also a mess of thoughts about how even the stories of your reality, or reality is general, can be just as fascinating as any fiction.

When Cheap Seats first came out, I was all over it. It was a Neil Gaiman book, so of course I needed it. I needed to read it. It wasn't fiction, but there was something magical about reading Neil's thoughts on books, movies, comic books, favourite author, movies of his books, his hawt musical wife, and being famous; I ate it up.

I read every single essay. No, likely I devoured every single essay. I may not have read some of the pieces that Neil wrote about, but I really got to feel like I had, or that I wanted to. Personal favourites include his essays on Douglas Adams, Ray Bradbury, one titled "Some Reflections on Myth", and  another titled "Make Good Art".

The whole book should be read, honestly, as there is something for everyone.

I may not even get the cheap seats; sometimes I get nosebleed seats and need to bring binoculars. Haha! So, I wrote my own tribute to the man and his book that gave to me something special: a love of non-fiction and essays. No one has done that before. And I have read some really wonderful non-fiction, but this one is special.

So, from my own place in the nosebleed seats, here's to you, Neil!

Musings From the Nosebleed Seats

In a book upon my shelf,

full of mysteries to delve into; 

not all stories have to be fiction,

sometimes reality is stranger than fiction.

Full of mysteries to delve into,

from a man no stranger to fantasy.

Sometimes reality is stranger than fiction

in the lives that we choose to live.

From a man no stranger to fantasy,

a writer writing on writing.

In the lives we choose to live,

and the books we choose to read.

A writer writing on writing,

yet it is the nature of the writer

and the books we choose to read,

that build our mythologies.

Yet it is the nature of the writer,

to find these connections

that build our mythologies

and to wax philosophical.

To find these connections

between our fantasies and realities

and to wax philosophical

from the nosebleed seats.

Between our fantasies and realities,

I have uncovered my own truths

from the nosebleed seats,

that maybe there is still hope.

I have uncovered my own truths;

not all stories have to be fiction,

that maybe there is still hope

in a book upon my shelf.