Neil Gaiman says, "Thank you."

I spent the better part of last fall reading Neil Gaiman - Coraline, Stardust, Neverwhere, American Gods, The Graveyard Book.

I enjoyed all of them except Stardust. He just flat out missed this one. He had me going through the first half, but after the part about the inn (which was awesome!) it was all down hill and then it just kind of fizzled out. Maybe it was because there wasn't enough suspense in the end. It could have been epic.

He's also the author of the popular graphic novel The Sandman, which I have yet to read.

My favorite books of his, so far, are the children's books - Coraline and The Graveyard book - although I think a second reading of American Gods will convince me that there is something utterly insightful there.

I've actually had an opportunity to write some curriculum based on several scenes from the movie Coraline. It's being published through Barefoot Ministries in their Faith and Film section and should soon be available online. You can actually go there now and check out some curriculum I wrote on the film Spanglish.

In the next month or so I hope to read Gaiman's book, Good Omens. It's kind of a satirical look at the end of the world and the popular notion that there will be a war between angels and demons. In the book, an angel and a demon have been grown accustomed to the world as it is and their role within it and so they try to foil the whole end times war. It's supposed really funny, but I'll let you know. I figured this was a good book to read in light of the Mayan prediction of the end of the world set to come in December, I believe.

In any case, he recently won an award for a "Dr. Who" episode he wrote and since he couldn't be there to accept the award, he sent in this video instead. It made me like him just a little bit more.