The Scarlet Letter

First published in 1850.
Personal rating: I didn't finish
Page count: 228 pages

In short
The Scarlet Letter is about a woman being punished for having had an affair and becoming pregnant because of it.
In a puritan town, she is made to wear a red scarlet A on the bosom of her dress so she and all around her keep being reminded of her crime.
While she is being publicly punished, the man in question is going through the motions quietly but not less harshly and the wronged husband is trying to find out who the culprit is.
And behind all that guilt and scheming, there is a little girl trying to grow up.

My two cents
Not so long ago, I saw a movie (Scary stupid love) in which one of the characters responds to her son having to read the scarlet letter for a school assignment: 'I would've thought someone had written something better by now.'

I had just begun in this novel, and I'm not easily scared, but I should've taken the warning.
Damn, this is a boring book. I don't cuss a lot, but I just need to express how excrutiatingly bad I found it. I managed to read just over half of the book, but I regret doing so because I could've spend that time on another possibly better book.
I've never had a book where I read whole pages and couldn't remember what I had read just after finishing it so many times as with this novel.

Sorry, but not impressed, not in the least. I feel like I'm in the right for asking my money back.

Review of American Gods

Page count: 656 pages
First published in 2001
Personal rating: Fine

In short
American Gods is about religion. And not only the current religions. Just imagine the gods we worship and used to worship exist for real. What would happen if we moved on and forgot about them? Can a god exist without someone who believes in him? American gods  tries to answer that question.

My two cents
Too long, the novel was too long. I didn't dislike it, but it dragged on a little beyond what I felt was comfortable. Of course for the Gaiman fan that's nothing but A-okay.. (as I tend to feel about a Stephen King novel) but I'm not overly impressed with his writing.
Don't get me wrong, his style and technique are rocking, but I just can't seem to get into that story of his. I feel like I'm watching the story from above, or feel like I'm watching it on telly but with words. The graveyard book gave me the same feeling.

Not to mention that I went in expecting a whole other story. I actually thought it would be someting a little more apocalyptic, but in the end it even had the good ending.. Not a big fan of those.
All in all, not a bad story if you're into it, but I'm glad I finished it. I'm actually happy I finished it, it looked bleak at some time.