Thank you *SO MUCH* for lending this to me, it's really an incredible book. I must confess I did get a little bit tired of threatening castrating female figures after a while but I suppose David has to deal with his issues somehow or other. And Roland was great, although I think his reading of Childe Roland to the Dark Tower was overly-simplistic. I could really have done without the crap at the end of the end of the book though - the fairytales and the burblings of the author about what he really meant, man. It occurs to me that books are going the way of DVDs with special features! Home Land - the last book I read - had a lot of pointless shit in the back about the author and his opinions. And, oh look, I've managed to bring this round to Neil Gaiman and his questions for discussion all over again...

I do wonder if perhaps it's a way for authors and publishers to claim the status of 'literature' for their books, but to do it in a way that's easier on the brain than a long introduction and a cloud of footnotes.

People don't want to let a story just be a story these days. Readers want to be able to analyse it for their book club without actually putting too much thought into it, write fan fiction, draw fan art, and stalk the author. Authors frequently want to make sure that the very important message they were trying to get across is blatantly obvious, but don't want to wreck the novel in that way, so write important essays for people who've read the book and want to Learn More. Publishers want to sell books and incorporating additional content is a good way to convince people to buy yet another edition of the same novel they already own three copies of (the hardback, the paperback, and the version with the slightly weak sixth chapter reinstated).

I've finished this now - it gave me nightmares but quite childish nightmares, like being chased by wolves and the like.