Graveyard Book a Chapter a Day

I mentioned Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book yesterday. I went out and bought it last night. In my local Barnes and Noble, I found the book in the big kid’s section, in a pretty nice cardboard display.

I’m ten or so pages into it right now, and am enjoying it so far. What you may not know is that Neil’s doing something pretty cool to promote the book. He’s reading a chapter of the book each day while he’s on tour. These readings are being videotaped and released on the Internet. At the end of it all, he will have released the entire book for free. If you haven’t heard Neil Gaiman read yet, I suggest you check it out. It really does feel like he’s reading to you. Plus, British accent.

Here’s a link to The Graveyard Book readings. Enjoy!.

Happy Birthday Pappy

Today is my Grandfather’s birthday. He turns 91. For a guy that started work in the coal mines at age 14 in order to help support his family, he has done pretty well. Like many of his contemporaries, he fought in World War Two, but doesn’t like to talk about it. I do know that he got some type of medal for his service and rather than display it in some case prominently in his house, he had the diamonds removed from it and made into earrings for my Grandmother.

Another thing about my Grandfather. He has been living the past few years with a broken heart. I think everyone in my family knows this. When my Grandmother got sick with ALS, he kept as good care of her as she had of him for so many years. When she died, he could’ve given up. He hasn’t.

In fact, just last week, my Mom was talking to my Grandfather about my daughter. He remarked about how smart she is. Then he said something interesting. He said he hoped he would be around to see her graduate from High School. She’s two years old right now. So, he would be around 107 years old when she graduates! I love that optimism.

So yeah, he’s a pretty cool guy. We’ll no doubt give him a call tonight and sing Happy Birthday over the phone. I think he’ll really like that. Happy Birthday, Pappy!