There’s Only One Right Way To Talk To A Crazy Bookworm
Read this if you love books, okay?
There’s a scene in Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book, two kids playing in a cemetery. Little girl all dressed in bright sunny colors. Orange and yellow, shining and bright. Like sunshine and the little boy is mesmerized. Looks at her with shining eyes because of her bright colors.
Him? He’s just so — grey. Nothing shiny or bright about him. Blends into the cemetery way more than a little boy maybe should.
How old are you? she asks him. I don’t know, he says. Well how old were you at your last birthday party, she asks. I never had a birthday party, he says and the little girl is stunned. Oh! Oh, that’s so sad, she says.
I love that scene. It’s so alive you can see it.
Here’s a funny thing about Neil Gaiman. Seems to me he writes amazing books filled with a lot of barely likeable characters. Ever noticed that?
I mean, there’s always one or two you can hang your heart on. The characters you’re crossing your fingers for. Hoping everything turns out alright for them. But most of them? Barely likeable.
Told that to another crazy bookworm one day and man, he got some lit up. Said no. No, absolutely not. He doesn’t agree. Loves Gaiman’s characters.
