The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Title: The Graveyard Book
Author: Neil Gaiman
Genre: YA fantasy
Setting: Principally a graveyard in the present day. Big surprise there, I know.
Reason for Reading: I basically read everything Gaiman writes.
Pages: 307
Copyright Date: 2008
Cover: A tombstone with an angel on it, against a blue background.
First line: "Rattle his bones/ Over the stones/ It's only a pauper/ Who nobody owns"
Best part: It was really sweet.
Worst part: It was over too quickly.
Imaginary Theme Song: "Graveyard" by Tori Amos
Grade: B
Recommended for: Gaiman addicts like myself, fans of ghost stories.
Related Reads: Stardust by the same author. Charmed by Diana Wynne Jones. I'm trying to remember the name of a book I enjoyed as a teenager about a girl who was friends with a ghost, but unfortunately I can't remember it.

I hear that the title of this book comes from Kipling's The Jungle Book. Kipling wrote a book about a boy growing up in the jungle, raised by animals. Gaiman wrote a book about a boy growing up in the graveyard, raised by ghosts. Nobody Owens has loving parents, a mysterious guardian, and a special power - the Freedom of the Graveyard, which lets him see ghosts and work small magics. But he is not content with the small world he knows. What will he put at risk when he begins to explore the boundaries of the permissible?

I think this book is very charming, and not in a smarmy way. In a Gaiman way. If you are friends with an older child that loves weird stuff, get them this book. They'll be delighted.

Small Favor by Jim Butcher

Title: Small Favor
Author: Jim Butcher
Series: Dresden Files: #10 (It's amazing how this series flies by.)
Genre: Fantasy mystery. ("Fantastic mystery" makes it sound like they're really great. They are really great but what I mean is that there are vampires, werewolves, drugs that give you psychic powers, demons, and other supernatural complications.)
Setting: Chicago in the modern day, with a dark otherworldly feel. A bit like a Chicago version of the Buffyverse, but with creepier vampires.
Reason for Reading: I found it on a shelf at the library, and went, "Isn't this the book I read the first chapter of and then had to return?" It was, but it was no longer a new release. Ironically, I read it in two days anyhow.
Pages: 423, which includes a few pages of shilling for the Alera series.
Copyright Date: 2008
Cover: A man in a long black duster and a very nice drover's hat holds a gun in his left hand and a glowing staff in his right. There is a low-burning fire in front of him and a wall behind him.
First line: "Winter came early that year; it should have been a tip-off."
Best part: I liked the further development of some of the plot pieces from Death Masks, which was one I really liked.
Worst part: Things have gotten more and more complicated and more and more difficult for Dresden. After a while it gets hard to keep track of everything and starts to feel like more of the same.
Imaginary Theme Song: "Deeper and Deeper" by Madonna (though I am more referring to piles of shit than falling in love)
Grade: C
Recommended for: Those who have read the previous nine books. Maybe it goes without saying but by this point there is a LOT of backstory.
Related Reads: Storm Front, first book in the series. (Just in case there's anyone left in the whole world who likes this genre but hasn't started the series yet. I'm not totally convinced that's true.) The Furies of Calderon, first in Butcher's epic fantasy series. Black Magic Woman by Justin Gustainis.

tales of a bat-eared kitten

Two stories of Nightshade from this week.

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