My eyes are tired, by body aches. I want to look at anything but the pages of my book, but I have to push forward. I find myself wanting to focus on everything but the book in my lap, like the crack in the wall or the mysterious rug stain under the coffee table that looks kind of like a rabbit. When my hand dives into the party-sized bag of Cheetos to only find a few cheesy crumbs left, I realize that it is time for me to crack down and binge on reading rather than eating.
As I read, I keep thinking about the question "what do you find more compelling, characterization or setting?" During the TV binge, I was intrigued by both characterization and setting. However when I am able to construct my own appearance of this world, I find this question much harder to answer. I think that the characters in American Gods are appealing, but what I love about reading is the ability to build off of the words an author gives me to then create my own world beyond the text. So I think that in this case, I would say that setting is more appealing because I can utilize the tools in my head to create my own setting. I can use the descriptions Gaiman provides to give these people and places the faces that I want to give. By having this creative license, I can really dive into the world of the book.
There have been numerous times when I have gotten upset over a movie or TV rendition of a book because I had imagined that the world of that book would look different. There is less room for one's imagination to flourish when a visual world already exists and represents another person's vision. It will be interesting to see how the American Gods TV series compares with the American Gods I have established in my head.
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