M Is for Magic by Neil Gaiman

I somehow never read this short story collection by Neil Gaiman, possibly because it’s aimed at a younger audience.  Of course, so were Coraline and The Graveyard Book (a precursor of which is featured in this collection), which were incredible, so it only made sense to pick up M is for Magic as well when I spied it on the shelf of a friend. It’s a good book to snuggle under a blanket with and read all in one sitting.

“Stories you read when you’re the right age never quite leave you. You may forget who wrote them or what the story was called. Sometimes you’ll forget precisely what happened, but if a story touches you it will stay with you, haunting the places in your mind that you rarely ever visit.”

Gaiman primarily include fantasy short stories in M is for Magic, along with a science fiction one (which I didn’t particularly like) and some horror as well. It’s hard to review short stories since there can be such a wide gamut of quality and subject matter in one little book, but overall, these were pretty good. I think “Sunbird”, about a group of gourmets looking for a thrill, was a favorite of mine, as well as the first story: “The Case of the Four and Twenty Blackbirds”, in which detective Jack Horner attempts to solve the murder of Humpty Dumpty. That one reminded me of Jasper Fforde, and was really cute.

The book had great illustrations, too (I guess because it’s YA but this 29-year-old liked them). The story about the troll bridge, which was good and creepy, had a great drawing of the troll that really brought Gaiman’s words to life. Very impressive. I’d be very surprised if there wasn’t a tight collaboration between the writer & illustrator to create such wonderful depictions of the writing.