From the Bookshelf of Summer Reading Program…

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children, #1)

Ransom Riggs

Start date: July 9, 2014

Finish date: July 31, 2014

Discussion: Book Thoughts

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Book Thoughts

Book Thoughts! One Second After
By Sarah · 2 posts · 4 views

last updated Jun 17, 2015 05:56AM

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Book Thoughts! The Hammer & The Blade
By Sarah · 2 posts · 5 views

last updated Nov 07, 2014 02:07AM

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What Members Thought

Mar 18, 2014 Sarah rated it liked it

Shelves: 2014-challenge-books, read-with-hubby, book-club-reads

Edit! On a re-evaluation over a year later I've decided I still enjoy this book but it's definitely not for everyone. It's good, but the best of it's series. It's still strong for all of the reasons below but after a reread and a graphic novel read I found it a little dense in places. So amazing for me at the time but simply good on a reread.

Lately I have been avoiding any content heavy reviews of books before I read them. I don’t want to know the plot, I don’t even want to know the idea. As lon Edit! On a re-evaluation over a year later I've decided I still enjoy this book but it's definitely not for everyone. It's good, but the best of it's series. It's still strong for all of the reasons below but after a reread and a graphic novel read I found it a little dense in places. So amazing for me at the time but simply good on a reread.

Lately I have been avoiding any content heavy reviews of books before I read them. I don’t want to know the plot, I don’t even want to know the idea. As long as it fits the genres I enjoy I’ll try it. In fact I’ve taken to skimming the back cover and inside summaries of books to avoid too many details. I went into Miss Peregrine’s the same way. I was (surprisingly, due to the amount of hype on this book) able to avoid so much as a back cover review. I picked it up on a whim and didn’t read the back cover till several pages in. That, I have to say, was the best idea I’d ever had. Especially for this book in particular.

The physical book itself is a treat. Even without reading it I was engaged. It is filled with vintage photographs, many haunting or peculiar. Even the cover, showing a girl in a tiara floating off the ground is strange, not to mention the beautiful font and title work. I really could go on and on about how much I love the physical aspects of this book. In fact while at work if I wasn’t reading the book and on a phone call I was flipping the pages absently or just feeling the paper. I am quite smitten with it.

The story itself, and I’m going to avoid details as much as possible, is about a boy named Jacob and his search for truth. Jacob grew up on stories from his grandfather about the strange orphanage he lived in as a child off the coast of Wales. Jacob, and his entire family, chalk the stories up to his grandfather not being able to cope with the things that happened to him WW2. Abe, his grandfather, becomes much a character as Jacob does even with his lack of physical presence later in the book. In fact, some of my favorite tidbits or reveals in the book deal with Abe.

The setting for the book is dark and at times it’s frightening; a great deal of the time I was reading I was left wondering just where this was going. I was so enthralled and puzzled with it I hardly marked any passages for quotes! In fact even once you find out the truth of the island and it’s inhabitants you are dying for more. One question would be answered only to raise at least three more.

Overall there were a great many things I loved about this book. The characters, the story, the setting (The largest hunk of the story was set on an island outside of wales, and wow guys. Just wow.) the composition and writing style. It’s all beautifully done. The photographs that had me so enchanted are within the novel themselves. They are true vintage photographs that Mr. Riggs collected and gave new life and a new story. Nothing seemed out of place or tacked on, even with the strange backstories and plot lines running through the book. This was a great read, and honestly I cannot wait to pick up Hollow City. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Feb 05, 2014 Mackenzie rated it liked it

Mar 15, 2016 Christe Ultra marked it as to-read

Jun 15, 2013 Jessica rated it it was ok

Jul 28, 2014 Becky McKinney rated it really liked it

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