2001: American Gods
Author/Editor: Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman’s American Gods is a fantastic road-trip novel, following the adventures and tribulations of one Shadow, ex-con, as he serves as bodyguard to Mr. Wednesday. Those of you with a knowledge of etymology or mythology can postulate what sort of things happen next.
Among many interesting things about American Gods, there are two I’ll mention. One, it’s a really fantastic exploration of all the many, many faith and ethnic traditions that make up American culture all wrapped up in a solid novel package. Two, Gaiman’s publisher asked him to start blogging about the process of writing the book, which eventually gave rise to the Neil-Gaiman-social-web phenomenon, and also was an early instance of an author writing blogs about what they’re writing—a practice that is practically obligatory these days.