4) The Sandman Companion by Hy Bender: Great stuff, this, very much helping one understand the series much better. Structured very nicely as well so as to avoid spoilers – one could easily read the series a book at a time and cross-refer to the relevant chapters here. Obviously there’s much more to say about Sandman, and plenty of room for debate – for instance, I really rather liked the Cluracan’s story about the city of Aurelian from World’s End, though Gaiman reckons it one of the weakest of the series; and I wasn’t particularly gripped by Ramadan which seems to be a general favourite. Basing the book around interviews with Gaiman about what he thought he was doing is a risky tactic – Theodore Krulik’s book about Roger Zelazny is a yawn a minute as a result of doing the same – but Bender is not afraid to debate Gaiman’s own writing with the author. It really does enhance one’s enjoyment of the books. (But is Gaiman claiming too much when he seems to imply that with Death he invented the Goth look?)

5) Ask Me Anything about the Presidents by Louis Phillips: A harmless little book picked up at the Smithsonian shop in Washington National Airport. I did not know that two nineteenth century presidents were arrested during their terms of office for offences involving horses. You learn something new every day.