In case you don’t know already, let me preface this post by telling you all that I am a BIG Neil Gaiman fan. So it is with great excitement that I have to tell you to run out and buy the audio book version of his latest book – The Graveyard Book. This is one of his children’s books, or as Mr Gaiman likes to call them, a book for all ages. The printed book comes in a range of cover options, and was released a few weeks ago. The audio version was released on Thursday (30th) and I downloaded mine from Audible.co.uk yesterday.
Why am I so excited about this? Well I’ll tell ya. It’s because this particular book has Neil Gaiman himself as the narrator. He doesn’t always do this (Stardust yes, American Gods and Anansi Boys no) so when I saw he was the narrator I snapped it up. The main reason being he has such a wonderful voice for reading aloud, and he’s a natural storyteller, so even if he was reading a shopping list it would be interesting, but since he’s reading one of his own books, it is a delight! It is also one of those rare opportunities to hear the author read the book the way they intended it to be read, so I would thoroughly recommend this audio book to everyone who loves to listen to a good story being read by a wonderful author.
Also available in printed form with a variety of covers including the one on the left by Dave McKean.
Here’s some info about the book:
Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn’t live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead.
There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for a boy-an ancient Indigo Man beneath the hill, a gateway to a desert leading to an abandoned city of ghouls, the strange and terrible menace of the Sleer. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack—who has already killed Bod’s family. . . .
