"House of Seven Gables" by Nathaniel Hawthorne

I enjoyed this book, probably more so because it was not what I expected. I thought it would be a dark and gloomy gothic novel. Instead, I found Hawthorne to have a light touch, and to be quite modern in his thinking. It is never explicitly stated in the novel that the ghosts actually exist. They are described more as flights of fancy. As far as I can tell, the movies based on this book have been overwrought.

"Norse Mythology" by Neil Gaiman

This was an enjoyable book which, in a few instances, made me laugh. The Norse gods are finally becoming concrete to me. It's amazing. Gods and Giants and structures are described in unbelievably huge proportions, and yet, in my mind, they're totally believable. I guess that’s the magic of myths.