Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman. I usually LOVE Neil Gaiman. I love his world-building and the intelligence of the language he uses. I also love mythology. When I was a kid, I would take out all the mythology books in my grade school library; I especially liked Greek, Egyptian and Norse, reading the myths and stories over and over again. Perhaps that's why I didn't love Gaiman's 2017 Norse Mythology: I already knew all the stories he told, so none of it was new. I also didn't feel like his voice came through at all, which would have freshened the myths up a bit. For people who don't know the old stories about Thor, Loki, Odin, Baldur, Freya and the rest, this is a nice, accessible introduction. But for me, it was a bit of a waste of time.
Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell. This one, a short story collection by the author of Swamplandia (which I know I've read but apparently didn't review here), was not a waste of time. Each story is touched with a bit of fantasy - vampires, human silkworms, American presidents reincarnated as horses - and each is very different from the other. Some agreed with me more than others but all were very original, building specific, interesting worlds in just a few pages. Lots of fun, that one.
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