I loved this book and the concept behind it. Unfortunately, this seems to be unique for this author. It's a great story about a boy who finds courage and learns to cope with the loss of his beloved mother by finding a fairy-tale world. The only thing is, the fairy tales are out to eat him. A dark take on all of our favorite fairy tales. ( )

7 stars: Good

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High in his attic bedroom, twelve-year-old David mourns the death of his mother. He is angry and alone, with only the books on his shelf for company. But those books have begun to whisper to him in the darkness, and as he takes refuge in his imagination, he finds that reality and fantasy have begun to meld. While his family falls apart around him, David is violently propelled into a land that is a strange reflection of his own world, populated by heroes and monsters, and ruled over by a faded king who keeps his secrets in a mysterious book... The Book of Lost Things.

An imaginative tale about navigating the journey into adulthood, while doing your best to hang on to your childhood.

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"This life is filled with threats and danger. We face those that we have to face, and there will be times when we must make the choice to act for a greater good, even at risk to ourselves, but we do not lay down our lives needlessly. Each of us has only one life to live, and one life to give. There is no glory in throwing it away when there is no hope." ( )

Not the style of book fantasy/ fairy tales for adults that I usually read, but John Connolly wrote it, so I gave it a try.
Definitely different, but in a good way, and worth a reading. ( )

En su dormitorio del desván, David, un niño de doce años, llora la muerte de su madre. Está enfadado y solo, con la única compañía de los libros de sus estantes. Pero los libros han empezado a susurrarle en la oscuridad, y, mientras se refugia en los mitos y los cuentos que su madre tanto amaba, descubre que el mundo real y el mundo imaginario han empezado a mezclarse. Mientras la guerra se extiende por Europa, David aterriza de golpe en una tierra que es producto de su imaginación, pero aterradoramente real...

The Book of Lost Things starts out very similar to a lot of other classic fantasy tales. David in an ordinary boy who has a connection with another world, that he finally enters. This is a melding of some of the most beloved fairy tales, folk tales, and stories of our childhood. Part Narnia and part Never Ending Story, David's story is a much darker twist to a familiar tale. Childhood stories like Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Beauty and the Beast are turned on its head, made more adult and very pertinent to David's own life. The Book of Lost Things was completely engrossing and I couldn't stop reading. Some have complained at the 150 pages of notes at the end, which retold the stories used in the book with some explanation for the changes. While very self-indulgent on Connolly's part, I found his notes very interesting because it offered a lot of insight into David's thought processes and journey, and ultimately made me see a whole other layer in the story. ( )