Tots100 book club - Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

I'm taking a temporary break from thoughts of fitness and the zombie apocalypse to take part in the Tots100 Book Club, in association with Tesco Books.

Reading is one of my big passions in life. Other hobbies have come and gone but my love for books has remained a constant.

With life being so expensive at the moment, I've found myself making regular visits to my local library rather than downloading books straight to my kindle. The whole experience of browsing book shelves and then flipping through some of the pages of a book before making my borrowing choices has actually resulted in my reading tastes broadening and I've tried books that I probably wouldn't have even come across if I'd carried on reading purely via my kindle.

This book is one of them:

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

You can read a synopsis about Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children here. What I want to talk about is why I liked it.

I was immediately drawn to this book due to its cover art and title. It exudes a feeling of eeriness (I wasn't sure whether I wanted to bring that type of "vibe" into my house) and it also made me very curious about what I would find within the book itself.

The story itself was like a modern, dark, almost-gothic, fairytale. There was something very charming and enchanting about it, in spite of its subject matter, and I found it a quick yet addictive read.

It wasn't flawless and there were a few times when I felt the author, Ransom Riggs (how awesome is his name?!), skimmed over things or wrote something that made me think  "hmmm, that was a bit too easy and convenient" but it didn't put me off reading. Anyway, there were more than enough positives to this debut novel to make up for any imperfections in the story.

What really made this book stand out was the many vintage photographs contained within it, all of which added to the atmosphere created by the author and made the story seem like a real-life fairytale rather than something conjured up in his imagination. The photographs are both spooky and fascinating to look at and if you're of a sensitive disposition or have a very overactive imagination, I imagine they could leave quite an impression on you.

According to Ransom's website, Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children has been taken on as a film project with Tim Burton attached as director and Jane Goldman adapting the screenplay. I really hope this doesn't change as I think they're perfect choices who will do the book justice and bring the story to life.

I'm recommending Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children to my best twitter friend, Liz who blogs at Margot and Barbara. I think she'll really appreciate the story and the way it's illustrated by the photographs.

I'm looking forwards to finding out what the other Tots100 Book Bloggers recommend. Why don't you come and find out as well?