Retrospective Wednesday is a new feature at My Head is Full of Books designed to give bloggers a chance to highlight a book that was published in previous years, in the hope that it will cause others to go back and read it. The featured book must have been published one or more years ago. Please leave a comment and link back to Headfullofbooks from your blog post. Join in the fun highlighting favorite old books.
Retrospective Wednesday #2---The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly
John Connolly's The Book of Lost Things is one of those books that is "clutch-the-book-to-your-chest-when-you-are-finished good. When I tell students about this book I admonish them to NOT tell me if they don't like it because it is so special to me. I don't want anything to tarnish it's reputation in my mind. This 2007 Alex Award book appeals to older teens, and those teens who enjoy reading fairy tales or those whose taste in books runs a little toward the warped or to satire.
"High in the attic bedroom, twelve-year-old David mourns the death of his mother, with only books on his shelf for company. But those books have begun to whisper to him in the darkness. Angry and alone, he takes refuge in his imagination and soon finds that reality and fantasy have begun to meld. While his family falls apart around him, David is violently propelled into a world that is a strange refection of his own---populated by heroes and monsters and ruled by a faded king who keeps his secrets in a mysterious book, The Book of Lost Things...John Connolly tells a dark and compelling tale that reminds us of the enduring power of stories in our lives."---from the book jacket
Published in 2006 this book deserves another look on the retrospective Wednesday. Both teens and adults will find something within that will both delight and demand closer attention. I find myself chuckling aloud when recalling passages from this special book. I hope you, too, find it just as delightful.
If you have an old, favorite book you'd like others to read, feel free to join in and add a book to Retrospective Wednesday on your blog.
I loved this book! I read it years ago, but it's still one I think about fairly regularly!
ReplyDeleteI started this one over a year ago. Never finished it. It was too slow for me in the beginning, but then started to take off, but something got in the way of me finishing it. I will, eventually, go back and finish it, because I think it will be a good book. But, right now one of my students pulled it off my shelf and is engaged in reading it. I hope he enjoys it and I look forward to his comments on it.
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