The Graveyard Book wins the Newbery Medal, but It’s a Better Listen

Although technically it’s not bigger news this year than any other year, geekdom claims Neil Gaiman as its own (Neil has no say in the matter, of course) and therefore it’s a particular triumph that The Graveyard Book has been awarded this year’s John Newbery Medal, the most prestigious honor in children’s literature. You can read about it at the New York Times and also on Neil’s blog. (The blog post is doubly-interesting, because he actually refers to the mother of his children in a way that implies she’s still married to him. No, I had no reason to think otherwise, but the absolute lack of reference to her over the years has led me to suppose some unkind things. Sorry, Neil.) For all that it’s a really good book, though, you shouldn’t read it. You should listen to it.

The Graveyard Book audiobook is absolutely fantastic. The narrator does a wonderful job of giving characters accents and mannerisms that soon have you recognizing a shift in point-of-view without any “he saids” or “she saids” being necessary. These voices aren’t just distinctive, mind you, they’re a heck of a lot of fun. He’s entertaining and droll, and of course the text he’s working with is pretty good, too. I listened to this on the way to San Francisco for Thanksgiving last year, and the time I spent listening to The Graveyard Book just flew by. The kicker is that the audiobook is narrated by Neil his own self. Isn’t there a law against being that good at that many things? If he wasn’t such a nice guy (or an incredible liar on his blog) he’d really make me sick. :p Still, sick or not, he’s produced a first-rate audiobook that I can’t recommend highly enough.