Miss peregrine's home for perculiar children

[tiggy114]

Has anyone read this? I love wierd and victoriana, freak shows etc. So this looks right up my street. But very mixed reviews on goodreads. Plus i'll be getting on kindle so unsure if the images will be good ( kindle fire that is)

[KatieLily12]

I liked it initially but the last third kind of trails off into nothing.

[tiggy114]

It's between buying this and the night circus. I may go with the latter.

[scurryfunge]

I initially enjoyed it but having read it I would say it is more of a teen- book.

[KatieLily12]

The Night Corcus is fab. I really enjoyed it

[KatieLily12]

*circus!

[CoteDAzur]

If you haven't read Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, you really should.

[tiggy114]

I actually owned jonathon strange and gave it away without reading it!

[CoteDAzur]

Get it back! It is a great book - brilliantly crafted in intricate detail, beautifully written.

I've totally missed the Harry Potter saga because I've just never been interested in magic stuff, but JS & Mr N won me over. Amazing book written for grown-ups, and written very well.

[Fadqueen]

I've read Miss P book.
It held great promise, just the sort of genre I like, but it failed miserably.

It started ok ish, but I thought the writing was very poor and not well edited.

I struggled to just over halfway and skimmed the rest and I didn't feel as if I'd missed out on anything.

I would second the recommendation for Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell - well written and crafted book. Clever and intricate. I might just dig out my copy and read it again...

[notactuallyme]

Ohh, I am joining this ! Was weirdly upset by the photos in the book; hate teenage stuff so may avoid it. Is there any modern magic realism around (angela carter type thing) ?

[Pooka]

Have you read Geek Love by Katherine Dunn? If not, then do - its excellent. About a travelling side show family. Really weird.

[tiggy114]

Ooo very excited at how this thread has turned out. Lots of recs for weirdy magical books. Love it. Love everything about side shows, magic, and def a fan of weird. Will be looking these up

[CoteDAzur]

You might also like The End Of Mr Y.

[CoteDAzur]

Is there a kind of weird you don't like? Would you be interested in Zj G Ballard's "Crash", I wonder? Hard core weird

[CoteDAzur]

J G Ballard, rather.

[tiggy114]

Yeah probably. I love chuck palahniuk kinda weird right through to freak show horror weird. I'm not choosy i just like unusual stories that make you go "wow, that was interesting" i'm also looking for factual stuff on lunatic asylums as well at the mo.

[tiggy114]

Just looked up geek love on goodreads. Looks well good. My own recommendation if no-one has read it is "jim giraffe" by Daren King. Very obscure and funny. Especially if you were into computers of the eighties. a ghost giraffe sex therapist Is one of the main characters. Weird is not the word.

[AmelieRose]

I've read it - it's definitely a book for teenagers. Two of my pupils (aged 15) read it on my recommendation when I had read the start and loved it. I agree with many of the posts above - begin promisingly, but tailed off in the last third. I wondered if the writer was busy setting up for a sequel - that's what it felt like anyway - and thus the last section suffered in my opinion.

Definitely read The Night Circus - excellent.

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

Absolutely loved the photographs and the idea. But as a story, it fizzled out somewhat. I liked it though - it's the sort of thing I would have loved aged around 10-11 (geeky child).

There's a book called 'Bedlam' which is okay, though not terribly well-written and lots of it covered elsewhere and probably better (but I can't remember titles, sorry).

The End Of Mr Y had flashes of genius but was ultimately quite silly, I thought. I've given up on Jonathon S &Mr N several times.

Have you read Lemony Snicket's Series Of Unfortunate Events? They are children's books but just the right sort of circus freak type stuff. And there's a book called 'Freaks' which is v interesting, about The Irish Giant, Siamese twins etc etc. And you must visit the Hunterian museum in London! John Hunter acquired the skeleton of the Irish Giant, even though the poor man had begged his friends to keep his body safe from the surgeons.

[CoteDAzur]

tiggy - If you are not just a "mild" kind of weird fan, I have some recommendations for you

J G Ballard - The Atrocity Exhibition
Strange and brilliant. Vaguely about the thoughts of a doctor in a mental asylum slowly going insane himself iirc. The book starts with this sentence:

"A disquieting feature of this annual exhibition - to which the patients themselves were not invited - was the marked preoccupation of the paintings with the theme of world cataclysm, as if these long-incarcerated patients had sensed some seismic upheaval within the minds of their doctors and nurses."

If you know of any other books like this, do let me know.

As for films...

Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas with Jonny Depp & Benicio del Toro, about a trip Hunter Thompson takes to Las Vegas with his lawyer/friend. He is a journalist supposedly there for work, but they are both on multiple potent drugs at any given time and their perception of the world is nowhere near normal. If you like weird, you will like this film. No drug experience needed to love the film

Fur with Nicole Kidman, about the photographer Diane Arbus who was known for her interesting photos of dwarves, transvestites, and others on the fringe of society. I really liked this film and think it's totally up your street.

Naked Lunch directed by David Cronenberg, back when he was edgy and brilliant. It is a sort-of adaptation from William Burroughs' book of the same name. I can't even begin to tell you what it's about without sounding insane myself You will probably look all your life and not find anything more curiously and brilliantly bizarre than this film.

[FreddoBaggyMac]

I liked the Miss Peregrine book for its originality. It has its faults but on balance I'd say it's worth reading. The Night Circus is probably a slightly better book imo so if you have to choose between the two I'd go for that!