By Neil Gaiman
When and where I read this is a little fuzzy, but I think it was between May and June in 2021. I got it from Blackwell’s - I’d seen it in other bookshops and I decided to take the plunge, and I’m so glad I did, what a marvellous book.
I was drawn in immediately - most books take a while to hook me but this was nigh-instantaneous. The settings in and descriptions of London, the constant wordplay, especially with the Underground stations, and the utterly beautiful ideas - classic Gaiman.
I finished it that the same night I got it - I stayed awake until 5, and then I just sat and stared for a while, revelling in the taste of the novel.
I read this for a second time at the start of December, 2023, while in India. I forgot what a love story it is, to London.
The depth of history, the endless time, the mists and smog pooling and scurrying in a space too large for its walls. The other book that springs to mind which also captures the layers of old London (or England) is The Buried Giant. This book also has that peculiar charm from The Graveyard Book, in that it is fantastical and dreamlike and yet melancholy and dark to its very core. This is also possibly true of Coraline but I can’t remember that clearly enough.
Also chock-full of stunning lines, particularly a digital twist on the sci-fi classic: “the sky was the clear blue of a television tuned to a dead channel”, or something of the sort.