I liked what Neil Gaiman said in this recent interview about maintaining his enthusiasim for his work in defiance of what others may deem common sense:

I think you need to be mad. You need a certain amount of slightly focused madness that’s also belief in yourself in the face of all opposition. Without it, I would never have actually become a writer. I started out, sent things into the world, and the world sent them back explaining how they were not quite right for us. You need the kind of crazed, manic belief in yourself that means you can just keep going. LINK

Slightly focussed madness! Marvellous! Over Christmas I ordered and read in a very short space of time Neil Gaiman’s latest: The Graveyard Book.  This story inspired by Kipling’s The Jungle Books but with a novel twist (this boy is raised by spooks and ghouls in a graveyard) recently won the Newbery Award, basically the most prestigious award there is for children’s fiction. I’d say he deserves it. (You can read his immediate NSFW but exuberant reaction here.) It’s a nice book. A book about growing up, and about friendship, and about family but mostly about how people look after each other. I liked it a lot. I was pleased to hear Neil Jordan is planning to direct a film adaptation. Pretty soon we will be able to see a film adaptation of another work by Mr. Gaiman: Coraline. Having recently read that one (online for free!) I look forward to that too. Here is a most excellently creepy trailer featuring Mr. Neil Gaiman (himself) that is destined to be a classic in its own right:

The Graveyard Book available from:amazon.com, amazon.co.jp, amazon.co.uk