The Graveyard Book

For a lot of people, this is one of Gaiman's best. I kept putting it off for no real reason, despite Gaiman being one of my favorite authors. I finally listened to the audiobook, and oh man.

First, an aside. I listen to Tim Ferris's podcast, and that man has been hyping the audiobook for this for eons. Since the dawn of time. And I should have listened to him because it definitely is one of the best audiobooks experiences I've had. The cast is phenomenal and really heighten an already fantastic story.

But onto the Graveyard Book. This is ostensibly a retelling of the Jungle Book, but I would have never picked up on that. This book follows a boy named Nobody Owens (“Bod”) who grows up in a graveyard after his family is killed and is being taken care of by a “spirit” (or is he?) named Silas. Think Harry Potter but if Hagrid was instead a ghost. Bod learns some Skillz that only ghosts n ghoulies can usually learn, and he is generally happy, but wants to learn about the rest of the non-Graveyard world, and find out what happened to his family.

The book is short, so I'll leave it at that. This is Gaiman at his best, he really shines with short books about children discovering magical worlds/realms. Ocean at the End of the Lane and Coraline were both fantastic as well. Ocean may have edged this one out a bit for me, but I'd have to reread to be sure. Definitely in my top three Gaiman along with American Gods.

9.5/10