Day: March 31, 2009

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Over the weekend I finished reading The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman on my Kindle. It is my 12th book this year. The list of books read this year is here.

This is the first Gaiman book I have read but it won't be the last. The Graveyard Book won the Newbury award this year. To quote form the American Library Association web site "The Newbery Medal honors the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children."  If you want to smile you should read Gaiman's blog about the phone call he got saying he had won the award.  In fact I would recommend reading Gaiman's blog regularly it is very entertaining.

The Graveyard Book is a children's book in the same way that the Harry Potter books are children's books. In fact Harry Potter is the closest thing I can compare The Graveyard Book to. But The Graveyard Book is also different. For one thing Bod is the only child living in the graveyard.

This is a book that you want to read. It is intriguing, entertaining. As I was reading it I kept thinking of people who I knew would enjoy it. I will be very interested to hear Allie's opinion of the book, and Shan's opinion, and Linda's opinion and the list goes on.

I usually would not enjoy a book that starts with a toddlers parents and sister being killed. In the graveyard Mr and Mrs Owens eventually adopt the baby. When I read the following my heart was warmed and I was hooked

"Mrs. Owens bent down to the baby and extended her arms. “Come now,” she said, warmly. “Come to Mama.”

Because it made me laugh one of my favorite quotes from the book is the following:

"It is going to take more than just a couple of good-hearted souls to raise this child. It will,” said Silas, “take a graveyard.”

Neil Gaiman was interviewed on The Colbert Report . He said that the moral of The Graveyard Report is "Life has meaning". I like this quote from the book about potential.

"You’re alive, Bod. That means you have infinite potential. You can do anything, make anything, dream anything. If you change the world, the world will change. Potential. Once you’re dead, it’s gone. Over. You’ve made what you’ve made, dreamed your dream, written your name. You may be buried here, you may even walk. But that potential is finished.”

I think this is the crux of why The Graveyard Book is so wonderful and why I might just read it again soon.

If you've read other Gaiman books which one should I read next? Maybe one of his adult science fiction books?