Tuesday, September 9, 2008

The Book of Lost Things

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly is a 2007 Alex Award winner.

If you've read this book, please leave a comment with your review of it and whether you think other readers are likely to find it engaging (do you think they’d be eager to finish it and perhaps start reading another book when they are done). If you recommend the book, please also state any themes or topics that would be good for discussion. Thanks.

1 comment:

Lindsay said...

From Amazon:in this enchanting novel about a 12-year-old English boy, David, who is thrust into a realm where eternal stories and fairy tales assume an often gruesome reality. Books are the magic that speak to David, whose mother has died at the start of WWII after a long debilitating illness. His father remarries, and soon his stepmother is pregnant with yet another interloper who will threaten David's place in his father's life. When a portal to another world opens in time-honored fashion, David enters a land of beasts and monsters where he must undertake a quest if he is to earn his way back out. Connolly echoes many great fairy tales and legends (Little Red Riding Hood, Roland, Hansel and Gretel), but cleverly twists them to his own purposes. Despite horrific elements, this tale is never truly frightening, but is consistently entertaining as David learns lessons of bravery, loyalty and honor that all of us should learn.


All that said,for some reason I did not particularly enjoy this book. I found the twisted fairy tales interesting, but the overall feel of the novel had a sort of depressing feeling, but not in a good way that makes you glad you read it. I just really couldn't connect with this book or the characters. Unless someone else has a different perspective (very possible), I wouldn't recommend this book for our program.