John Connolly

Taking refuge in fairy tales after the loss of his mother, twelve-year-old David finds himself violently propelled into an imaginary land in which the boundaries of fantasy and reality are disturbingly melded. By the author of The Black Angel. 75,000 first printing.

A Novel

The Book of Lost Things

A (very) dark fairytale for adults. I loved spending time in this creepy and exciting world.

Laura Hurst

Eva Ströberg

John Connolly - The book of lost things
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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This is a sweet fairy tale book that I didn’t know I need. It’s a coming-of-age story about a boy who lost his mother and felt jealous of the arrival of a step mother (though a loving one) and a baby brother. 
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David, the boy, who had to move to a cottage outside of London with his family during the WW2 had discovered a new fairy tale world among the books that he read, but also in real life when he discovered a Crooked man sneaking and checking around his things and lured him into his “dream world”
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I feel like a child again reading this book, eager to know what story the next page may hold as the book succesfully intertwined some of the tales you had heard into the story. It’s really a sweet book and I enjoyed it
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#johnconnolly #thebookoflostthings #fairytalebooks #currentlyreading #2023reads #2023readingchallenge

Moth

Jessica Ford

I really liked this book. It was a little dark, but a great story. The bit with Snow White is very funny!

Jeannette Ordas

The truth is that I took this book from the library for the cover alone. It's a beautiful cover and lucky me because I found the insides to be quite engaging and interesting - a pull into a very dark, dark fairy tale world. At first the story seemed lighthearted but then it gets quite violent and horrifying and very, very dark. I could have done without a couple of the retold tales (like Snow White & the Seven Dwarves), but other takes were quite clever. 3.5 stars.

Janice Hopper

I'm kinda of two minds about this book. I wasn't really sure through part of it if the author's intention was to subvert the idea of stories and their influence, or something else. I wasn't quite sure I liked that bit. 

Then it seemed like it was a psychological coming-of-age story, except not quite. I wasn't too sure about that either. 

Then there was the ending, which was about as perfect as it was possible for an ending to be. I quite LIKED that bit. 

So, 4 stars, a qualified "like pretty well." Curious now how similar/different the author's other books are. 

The narrator on the audio I listened to (Steven Crossley), is quite good.

Anna Troughton 

This was such an incredibly engrossing read! It is very, very, very dark but the story of the main character evolving from a boy to a man is so very charming. The adventure throughout the book was like none that I've read before. I already know this is going to be a book I will recommend to anyone and everyone.

High in his attic bedroom, twelve-year-old David mourns the death of his mother, with only the 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 reflection 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. Taking readers on a vivid journey through the loss of innocence into adulthood and beyond, New York Times bestselling author John Connolly tells a dark and compelling tale that reminds us of the enduring power of stories in our lives.

Anna Olivia

3.5 stars rounded up, because I really loved the ending despite some of the book dragging for me. As a whole, the message was thoughtful and powerful, but the reading experience would be more delightful for someone who enjoys reimaginations of classic children's stories and fairytales.

Read this book when i was 12, and it traumatised me. I can’t even explain my rating tbh, but I remember liking the world building 

Lina <3

'Once upon a time, there was a boy who lost his mother . . .' As twelve-year-old David takes refuge from his grief in the myths and fairytales so beloved of his dead mother, he finds the real world and the fantasy world begin to blend. That is when bad things start to happen. That is when the Crooked Man comes. And David is violently propelled into a land populated by heroes, wolves and monsters, his quest to find the legendary Book of Lost Things.

Celeste Richardson

Actual rating: 4.5 stars, rounded up.

I have always been fascinated by fairy tales. From an early age, any book I could find filled with fairy tales or fables, myths or legends or fables, immediately drew me in like a moth to flame. I have well over two dozen collections of such stories in my physical library, and I’m scared to even count those on my Kindle. Something about these stories, from the morals they attempt to convey to the questions they seek to answer. about the ways in which the world works, tells readers just as much about the society they come from as an historical text. And I’ve always had a soft spot for more modern tales inspired by these stories. Because of this, I’m not really sure why it took me so long to pick up The Book of Lost Things, but it was every bit as whimsical and melancholy and lovely as I hoped it would be. Some fairy tale retellings, or stories inspired in some way by fairy tales, can come across as too saccharine, but that was certainly not the case here. There was a charm to the story, for sure, but it was by no means sweet. 

I was immediately reminded of The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman and A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, both of which I absolutely adore. Both of the aforementioned books, as well as this one, managed to be melancholy in tone without being depressing, and there’s something beautiful about it. It’s a storytelling choice that, when done well, makes my heart ache in a wonderful way throughout the entire narrative. I love a book that can make me feel and feel deeply, and The Book of Lost Things managed to do that superbly within the first ten or so pages.

David’s superstitions at the beginning of the novel, doing whatever small things he can in hopes of saving his mother, rang so true to me. As did the blame and shame he heaped upon himself when those routines failed to keep her alive. I was heartbroken for David before I was even 5 pages into the book, and that heartbreak fostered a deep caring and a fierce love for his character. I was amazed by how quickly and completely Connelly coaxed me into wholly investing myself in this twelve year-old boy. This book is David’s journey through grief and his struggle to come to terms with change and learn that loving new people doesn’t mean that you love those you lost any less. 

You can tell within a scant few pages that this novel is a love letter to stories, which is something I adore with every fiber of my being when done well. Connolly does it very well indeed. In my copy of the book, the final 120 or so pages are the author’s explanation of which fairy tales he included in his story and why, along with copies of the original tales themselves from their source material. I’m sure some readers would skip right past this section, as it’s not actually part of the narrative and isn’t even included in every edition, but for me it was an unexpected bonus that I very much enjoyed. An additional tale that this novel reminded me of was the movie Labyrinth, but I think that’s largely due to similarities between Rumplestiltskin and The Goblin King that I had honestly never considered.

 The story actually lost a little bit of steam for me in the middle of the book, which should have been when it was at its most exciting. Somehow, the more adventurous parts of the book didn’t feel quite as special and unique as the more thoughtful, philosophical sections at the beginning and end of the novel. However, that’s a very subjective, nit-picky opinion. It’s my only real complaint, and why I didn’t give the book a full 5 star rating.

The Book of Lost Things is a dark, delightful return to and fracturing of stories that I’ve loved since I was a small child. And yet it’s very much its own story. This is a book that could be read my a mature child, a teen, or an adult of any age. It won an Alex Award, which is given to adult novels that appeal to a younger audience. If you’re a lover of fairy tales, or a lover of books, or a lover of deep thoughts and emotions running through your reading material, I think you would enjoy this novel. But if you’re like me and a lover of all three, I have a feeling that this book will become something special to you should you pick it up. I know it’s now special to me.

You can find  this review and more at Novel Notions.

My earlier prediction was correct: easily in my top 5 fractured fairy-tales. Young David leaves his air-raided London for another land's war; one filled with ravenous Loups, sadistic hunters, and the shadow-lurking Crooked Man... A character who legitimately sent shivers down my spine even in broad daylight. The entire novel has a wonderful yarn-like tone while still threading through compelling themes about grief, forgiveness, and coming of age. David may be a young boy of twelve, but this far from a children's book-- that anyone would label it otherwise (including the B&N from which I bought my copy) baffles me.

I am disappointed by the lack of positive female characters-- besides his practically deified mother, the novel is steeped in mistrust, anger, and even revulsion at the few women who appear. Of course, there is a point to this; part of David's coming-of-age is that he comes to terms with his relationships with the women in his life, and that's illustrated well enough by the end. But if anything could have tipped the scale into being one of my all-time favorite novels, it would have been some lady positivity. 

4.6 out of 5

Mirella Hetekivi

Okay so... After reading this book in a (to me) quite insane 10-hour swoop while forgetting to eat, drink and do all the things normal humans usually do - what ever that is - I think I need to get dressed up in a full body cleaning suit, equip av belt stacked up with various dust extinguishing-... things... and venture into an old, dense library in search of such a facepunch fantastic book equal to this. 

It's hard to come by such a perfectly balanced epic-dark fantasy/gallows humor/why the fuck can't I put this down/note to self: don't eat while reading this at all/woooooo-... YUK - I didn't need to read that disgusting detail-s.. okay it's getting worse/OMG YAS that kind of FOLKLORE and MYTHOLOGY-ISH combined with both horror twisted fables, communist dwarves that actually makes sense and the urge to bitch slap Snow White/think I just peed my pants-book that's as unique as John Connolly's "The Book of Lost Things". 

You know, THAT combo? I'm sure you get what I mean. 

Like, where in Gods name do I find more books like this?

Mia Kern

Stories wanted to be read, David's mother would whisper. They needed it. It was the reason they forced themselves from their world into ours. They wanted us to give them life. p. 2 

I  really  wanted to like this book - dark versions of classic fairytales, yes please. Unfortunately, this book did not live up to expectations.

I'll start with what I enjoyed, which were, predictably, the twisted versions of the tales that I grew up with. Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, Red Riding Hood - these dark and gruesome versions were a ton of fun. I also particularly enjoyed reading about the men who helped David along his journey, they made the tales all the more compelling. (I did not, however, think that Connolly had any decent female representation. Rose, the stepmother...maybe? The memory of David's mother? (view spoiler)[ Otherwise we got... a fat and rude Snow White, a mad witch who experimented on children, and a female Beast for no particular reason, and the enchantress in the fortress who also attempted to murder David. Great.  (hide spoiler)])

All that being said...whew, almost 70 pages before David made it to the fairytale word. 70 pages with very little dialogue, just Connolly telling and re-telling us how David was feeling about his new situation with his father's new family. So much telling and not showing, had I not been so intrigued about the fairy tale parts, I would've DNF-d the book twenty pages in. Near the end of the book, Connolly fell back into the habit of over-explaining the villain's plan, as if he didn't trust the reader to make the connection to David's situation on their own.

I don't recall how old David was, but he was certainly a young boy. However, Connolly alternated between writing him as a 10 year old and as a 40 year old. Seriously, what child thinks like this:

 How could he explain his sense that the Beast was familiar to him, that there was a corner of his imagination where the creature had found an echo of herself? What frightened him most of all was the feeling that he had somehow been responsible for her creation, and the deaths of the soldiers and the villagers were now on his conscience. p. 217 

Now, certainly young children can be insightful and intelligent, but I don't even know any adults that think like this? That's part of what made those first six chapters so frustrating; not only were we being  told  everything that David was thinking and feeling - very little of it was realistic for a ten-ish year old who'd just gone through a traumatic event. Even the feelings that were realistic for a kid in his situation were over-explained multiple times.

(view spoiler)[ My last complaint is that the ending just didn't make sense...? Don't get me wrong, as far as endings go, it was fairly good - David lived out the rest of his life in his own world and then, upon his death, returned to the land of the fairy tales as a sort of heaven. But what's the message Connolly is meaning to send here, with the enchanted forest having been twisted and corrupted since literally the beginning of mankind. Is this meant to be some commentary on religion? Honestly, I doubt it. I think Connolly wanted a beautiful ending (note the parallel to The Chronicles of Narnia) and didn't think about the fact that this ending would make no sense.  (hide spoiler)]

Tl;dr This book's concept was so so intriguing, but I didn't love the execution of it.

Cindy Lieberman

A dark tale of a young boy grappling with the death of his mother. Filled with Grimm-like fables. Well constructed and engaging.

This book was buckets and buckets of wonderful.

Do not be put off by the summary. The protagonist may be young, but his development is, plainly, brain candy-- he may start out as a young thing, but he sure does mature.

Connolly gives a gruesome twist to each of the classic fairytales, and for me, that was the great selling point. These newly-created fables are anything but light and cheery. Saying anything else would be spoiling it, though!

To quote someone who recommended it to me on Reddit, it "...goes down like sexy, sexy hot chocolate!"

Rumplestiltskin. That creepy, creepy little f******. After this, you're never going to be able to look at him the same way, ever.

This is an excellent installment to an already masterful writer's reputation. Recommended for late teens to adults of all ages.

lauren carla

i think i was expecting something else out of this book that i didn’t get, and no offence, but it was kinda boring 😭. my favorite parts of the novel where the fairytale re-tellings (like hansel & gretel), but it’s not like the author came up with those stories, so how much should that really count towards the overall rating of the book? a lot of the time I was skimming, I’ll probably forget over half of the book by next week. wish I liked it more. it’s overall rating on goodreads is pretty high, so i’m surprised 😔

Lizzy Grayson

Be aware that this book did have some more graphic descriptions of violence, however . . . Wow! This is one of those books that will stay with you for a while. It is beautifully written and mixes a wonderfully fantastical tale with the deeper story of a boy's journey of growth. It is both dark and beautiful and will keep you turning the pages and frantically underlining all of your favorite quotes. When I read a book like this, I have to stop reading for a few days to let the book leave my system because I just can't seem to let the theme and characters go. I cannot recommend this book enough! Read on!

Allison King

This is a fantasy book, though definitely not for children, which is what intrigued me in the first place. In fact, the first eight chapters rather scared me. That said, the first eight chapters are also rather slow, with a lot of setup and a bit of a frustrating protagonist. 

There are stories within the story- twists on classics (Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, etc.) which I thoroughly enjoyed. These stories, while entertaining, actually say a lot about the development the main character goes through. The ending notes by the author about each of the stories really made the book for me. Before that, the book did not stand out to me much though Connolly is brilliant in his incorporation of these classic tales.

Ultimately it's a book of growing up that will resonate more with adults than with children (except maybe the beginning). I just wish there were more adult fantasies around!

Kim 

** spoiler alert **
           Pretty decent book. I enjoyed all of the twisted fairytales and the people David encountered along his way. My only issue with this book was David's first thoughts after he had learned that Roland was a homosexual. David felt that he was unnatural and his father told him to stay away from them. I almost put the book down at that point but decided to continue just in case this was one of those books where the character realizes he was wrong. Well that didn't really happen so much in words than it did in gestures I suppose. Still kind of turned off by that. Also, while in the Crooked Man's lair he comes across all of the torture rooms. One of them is completely dark but has a naked man and woman in it, whispering all of the naughty things their parents do in the night. Um, huh? Otherwise it was a decent story.

Maria

книжка про то, как мальчик попал в страну сказок, а у сказок немного отъехала кукуха

главный минус этой книги - it is overwritten (всё еще пытаюсь найти русский эквивалент этого термина). очень много слов не по делу, каких-то деталей ненужных, описаний, тормозящих действие. хорошо, что читала по-русски, и можно было быстро сканировать и пропускать страницы с водицей (иногда по 3-4 за раз)

что хорошо - некоторые моменты реально кринжовые, особенно в первой трети. мне всю ночь снились жуткие сны (на книжку еще наложилась побочка от прививки). да, мне трудно объяснить, почему кринжовые моменты - это хорошо, но вот такое вот чувство

самый лучший кусок - про стерву-белоснежку и угнетаемых ею гномов революционеров. он, правда, вообще как будто из совсем другой книги и по настроению, и по стилю, но зато смешной:

(view spoiler)[— Так вы хотите сказать, что это вы пытались отравить Белоснежку? 
— Мы просто хотели, чтобы она какое-то время поспала, — сказал Собрат Номер Два. 
— Какое-то очень долгое время, —уточнил Номер Три. 
— Но зачем? —спросил Дэвид. 
— Скоро сам увидишь, —сказал Собрат Номер Один. — Как бы то ни было, мы скормили ей яблоко: ням-ням, баюшки-баю, ах-ах, «мы ее теряем, но жизнь продолжается». Мы положили ее в гроб, окружили цветами и маленькими рыдающими крольчатами —ну, сам знаешь, все эти штучки, как вдруг появился этот долбаный принц и поцеловал ее. У нас тут и принца-то никакого поблизости не было. Он возник черт знает откуда на своем чертовом белом коне. А потом слез и набросился на Белоснежку, как гончая на кроличью нору. Не знаю, о чем он там думал, когда решил мимоходом поцеловать странную, вроде как мертвую женщину. 
— Извращенец, —фыркнул Собрат Номер Три.  (hide spoiler)]

Kerry Gibbons

This is one of the darkest, most beautiful, most disturbing, most poignant books I've ever read. Really is up among my favorite books.

Taking refuge in fairy tales after the loss of his mother, twelve-year-old David finds himself violently propelled into an imaginary land in which the boundaries of fantasy and reality are disturbingly melded.

noha

Buddy read with the best buddies to read with: Asma and Roufida <3

“As a child you saw things only in black and white, good and bad, what gave you pleasure and what brought you pain. Now you see everything in shades of gray.”


 This book surpassed my expectations for it! I thought it's just another quite predictable story of a boy trying to cope with the world after the loss of someone he absolutely loves.. but boy oh boy, how much i loved how unpredictable it is, how so many different fairytales are woven into the story. And yes, I actually enjoyed the dark twist lol.
 The ending was perfectly written, and as Asma said "it's a beautifully sad ending" this won't make sense unless you've read the book.
I don't want to talk much; won't spoil it. I would recommend it to everyone who likes Neil Gaiman' style, as in John's writing you can feel a little bit of Neil's vibes. Also, to everyone who have read (A Monster Calls) and loved it, chances are you'll like this one too.

 Lastly, in one of the chapters, there's a sentence that captured my attention. I can't fully remember it, but it says something like how impressive it's that a mind can create such fantasies, and honestly, to Mr. Connolly: your mind is something else! cause all this you created is.. is just really impressive. 
 
I'll never forget this book and all the stories it contains. It will haunt me forever.

Heather Killeen

Wow, this one really got me in the feels! Such a beautiful story about stories :)

The Book of Lost Things A Novel

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