Just Finished Reading Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

A few days ago I reviewed English writer Neil Gaiman's wonderful 2008 children's book Odd and the Frost Giants...today I'm discussing his latest venture, from just last year: Norse Mythology, listed in his bibliography as a novel but essentially a collection of short tales centering around the old Norse gods Odin, Thor and Loki from his own research of old documents.  In his introduction Gaiman explains that the stories he is presenting here are his own adaptations...and sometimes combinations...of what he discovered: worked for me!  He presents the Norse version of the beginning of everything...including the gods, giants, and humans...along with Yggdrasil the great tree connecting the nine worlds.  The various short stories feature primarily the exploits of Odin, Thor and Loki, some explaining how they got their treasures (such as Thor's vaunted hammer, for example), others focusing on their dealings with their foes the giants...although there seemed to be a lot of interbreeding between the two types (I'm still trying to figure out the logistics of that).  In many of the stories Loki, devious jokester, causes the problem and then has to figure a way out of it...often resulting in things unwittingly turning out better than when they began.  The stories toward the end, though, paint him in a much more sinister light as the final future battle of Ragnarok between the gods and all their foes (including Loki) approaches.  In Norse Mythology there is a lot of humor mixed in with the violence, and Gaiman in his gifted way manages to impart a sense of tenderness toward his characters...even when they're misbehaving (which is usually the case).  Odin the creator god is a conniving one-eyed wanderer, Thor the strongman has an unmatched appetite for both food and mead, and Loki often overdrinks, almost inevitably leading him into into the worst trouble.  I think you'll appreciate this latest literary effort of Neil Gaiman...but as I've said before it's hard to go wrong if you pick up any of his books...