American Gods - Neil Gaiman

Well, I wasn't really sure what to expect here. Just out of nowhere, Neil Gaiman blew up. I'd never heard of the guy a year ago, then suddenly he's everywhere. I'd also heard that American Gods was being made into something, tv show? series? I'm not sure, but I knew of it and thought I should read it before it gets ruined into a show.
My opinion is that it is a good book, but perhaps not worth all the hype over it. The idea is fantastic, the characters are a little weird (though I believe that to be on purpose, it didn't rub me as the right kind of weird), but the pacing is good.
Overall, I would say: Eh. Perhaps a let down based on the hype, not that it was a bad book. I think I would have liked it more if I'd not heard anything about it beforehand.

The Beautiful and Damned - F. Scott Fitzgerald

This is another book that could be titled, "Why Everyone Needs a Job". It was more in line with Steinbeck's useless, pointlessly meandering characters than those of the other Fitzgerald book I've read, The Great Gatsby. That's really why I picked up this book; I really enjoyed Gatsby. However, this was a huge let down in comparison.  Lame, useless, the characters never did anything....it was just boring.
I don't recommend this book to anyone.