Our September Let’s Read Rant Repeat Book Club discussion is tonight, October 18th at 7:00pm CST! If you want to join in on the discussion, head to our instagram stories at 7:00pm, where we’ll be live over on @letsreadrantrepeat!
About Let’s Read Rant Repeat
Bookstagram is such a wonderful community and I have met quite a few folks that I now consider to be friends. One of these is Jordan from @readwithwine and together we host a Virtual Book Club @letsreadrantrepeat. Our aim is to read a variety of genres, constantly switching it up to ensure we are reading something everyone will enjoy. Each month we choose 1 book that can be practically any type of story. We host a group chat with fellow book lovers on Instagram, where we can talk about the book as we read. At the end of the month (a specified Sunday at 7pm CST) Jordan and I get together for wine & an Instagram Live discussion. We generally invite guests from our group chat to share their thoughts on the book as well!
For October we decided to read The Graveyard Book. Get your copy HERE! This book falls perfectly within the theme of Halloween.
Thoughts
Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite authors. His book Neverwhere & The Ocean at the End of the Lane are two absolutely fabulous books! Because of this I was really excited when Jordan suggested we read The Graveyard Book. This may be a middle grade book and is aimed for a younger audience, but it’s still written so well that it’s entertaining for all age groups, so this is a great book to listen to or read with your kids.
We start the story with the murders of Nobody Owen’s (Bod) family. He’s a baby that has escaped death simply because he was curious of the outdoors. This falls into the troupe of ‘child-orphan’ but there is nothing generic about Gaiman’s writing. During his excursion outdoors, Bod stumbles upon a graveyard, and the inhabitants (ghosts) take it upon themselves to protect Bod from the man who murdered his family.
Bod grows up in the graveyard and he learns a mixture of magic, history, and reading from the inhabitants. The graveyard really comes together to help Bod become well rounded in his knowledge. I really enjoyed the interactions between the ghost characters and Bod but it was his relationship with Silas that really shown.
I really loved the way that Gaiman incorporated normally sinister characters and made them into morally good creatures. While Silas is a vampire his care and compassion for Bod really shines. It’s his committment to Bod that drives him and another charcter to really determine why Bod’s family was killed and to help keep Bod safe.
While this is a middle-grade book, I appreciate the way that Gaiman touches on tougher subjects in a way that younger audiences can understand them. He is truly a masterful writer and I highly recommend everyone read this book,
I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on The Graveyard Book. If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my instagram @speakingof_books.
