good english

It took me two tries to get into The Book of Lost Things; I'm not sure why. I think I just wasn't in the right place for it the first time. The second time, I stayed attached to it until I got to the very last page, all the way through the story, through the interview with John Connolly, and the notes about the included fairy tales' origins at the end.

The Book of Lost Things is basically a coming-of-age story made up of fairy tales. David's mother dies and he retreats into the books they both loved to escape the reality of her death and the imposition of the new family his father creates. Eventually David completely hides himself in a world the books have created, where the fairy tales he's read mix with darker things and David's own fears twist their way into the story as he tries to work his way back to his own world.

While I was reading, it reminded me of "Once Upon a Time" (the teevee show) in a way, although the setting is entirely different, of course. While I thoroughly enjoyed the story told in The Book of Lost Things, the characters felt a little flat, and I couldn't let go of the fact that I was reading a book -- I couldn't get lost in the story. That didn't stop me from reading it, obviously, I just found it strange given how much I was digging it.