Saturday, February 11, 2012

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children

Do you know those things that you encounter during your life that are very interesting or challenging in some way and you make a mental note "I'll have to do that sometime" and yet you never do?    There are many things in my life that I have a mental list for; quilts I have to make, places I have to travel to, foods I have to try, experiences I have yet to have, books, music, movies... the list has grown to immense proportions over the years to a point where I despair of ever doing any of it (especially when there are obstacles in the way like not enough time or money).  But to counterract this despair today I am pleased to announce that I am going to do one thing.  I am going to read the top ten list of "Whats Hot" on Library Thing.  Small potatoes, I know, compared to other things I want to do, but you have to start somewhere right?  And I have been bugging myself to do this for over a year (every time I go on to LibraryThing and see the list).  I have already read two:  Inheritance by Christopher Paolini and now Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs.
You have to look closely at the picture to see what is peculiar about it.  I didn't notice at first, but I was drawn to this story anyway just by the charm of the little girl in the picture and the title (plus this is a Title from Quirk Books which has become one of my favourite new publishers). This unusual title appealed to me and this book has been on my 'to read' list ever since I first spotted it last year.  It doesn't hurt that one of the categories for my reading challenge this year is Intriguingly Titled Books (the wierder the better!).

I liked this story, and was only mildly annoyed that it will be a series (or that there will be a sequel at least).  These days it has been a practice of mine not to even bother with series until they are finished.  It is too much work after a while... since I read so many books, I cannot retain every story line, so like I just did with The Inheritance Cycle, I have to re-read previous stories so that I can keep up (which explains my annoyance at Christopher Paolini when he switched from a trilogy to the four book set because I had to re-read everything first). 

This is a neat idea for this book.  The photos throughout were the inspiration for the story...

...and it adds to the strangeness.  There's nothing like some real life to add to the authenticity and creepiness of the tale.  There is this strange feeling that I experience when I look at photos like this, and not just the ones that are doctored to be unusual.  There is a mystery to the past, which is slightly unsettling because I cannot relate to the person in the photograph with the old fashioned clothes and hair.  What were they like, how did they live, how could they have lived without the conveniences that I take for granted today?  These are foreigners... people who did not live like I do.  While I know that they had the same feelings, goals, and dreams of people today, it is still a mystery and one that I will never know the answer to.  The label 'creepy nostalgia' seems to fit this novel. 
 I hope I don't have to wait too long to find out what happens next.

No comments:

Post a Comment