book review

Put it in print and I'll probably read it. With some exceptions - I haven't read anything by Stephen King since I read Salem's Lot while in high school and had nightmares for weeks. I pretty much skip that genre altogether.

But other than that, I'll read just about anything. Recently, I read a review about a new book by Neil Gaiman called The Graveyard Book, which had me logging into Ebay and searching for a copy.

It's billed as 'juvenile literature,' which is a fancy way of saying it's kid lit, but if there's one thing I learned from reading the Harry Potter books, it's that books for kids can sometimes be well worth a read. This was one of those times.

I was charmed by the story of the little boy brought up in a graveyard by ghosts. Because its target audience is young people, Gaiman glossed over the technicalities of an 18-month old boy growing up in a graveyard. There are a few mentions of sleeping in a tomb, but thankfully not many - I got the heebies from just those brief references. I found myself wishing the story had developed better some of the minor storylines - Silas, the Guardian's back story, for example.

All in all, though, it was a very good read. I was entertained and charmed, and sometimes, that's all you want in a book.