“Fairy Tale” by Stephen King

I don’t usually read Stephen King books since horror is not my genre, but “Fairy Tale” is more fantasy than horror, and the first half of the book is an intriguing story about Charley, a teenager dealing with tragedy, who begins to change when he starts taking care of Radar, a dog belonging to an elderly neighbor who fell off a ladder. In the second half of the book, Charley discovers that the old man has visited a magical, secret world, and when Charley takes Radar on a quest to that world, he experiences the powerful presence of evil, becomes friends with people disfigured by the evil, gets captured by the palace guard, and eventually leads a quest to depose the traitorous leader who sold his soul in order to become king. 4 Stars

“Dear Mrs. Bird” by A J Pearce

“Dear Mrs. Bird” by A J Pearce

If you are looking for a charming, heartwarming, sometimes hilarious story set during WWII that doesn’t take itself too seriously and reads like a 1950’s romantic comedy where the heartache of war and the terror of the London blitz is contrasted with hi-jinks, friendship, and warmth, then this is the book for you.  Emmiline is a young woman who longs to be a war correspondent and is encouraged by her lifelong best friend, Bunty, to apply for a job in journalism, but when she ends up as only a typist for an irascible and dogmatic advice columnist at a failing magazine, Emmy makes choices that backfire and put her in the middle of a mess while providing the reader with hours of delightful reading.  4 Stars

“The Ocean At the End of the Lane” by Neil Gaiman

Ordinarily I love Neil Gaiman’s books, but I was only mildly entertained by this adult fantasy story about a fifty-something narrator who travels to his hometown of Sussex, England to deliver a eulogy, and ends up recalling his childhood supernatural encounters with the neighboring Hempstock family who included a crone, a housewife, and an 11-year-old girl named Letty.  When the bookish lad became friends with Letty Hempstock, who is part of an immortal clan, and whose pond is really an ocean, he becomes enmeshed in a nightmarish series of events, and though at times the story yields sweetness and thoughtful insights, at other times it turns stark, harrowing, and disturbing.

“Stardust” by Neil Gaiman

Since I liked the first Neil Gaiman book I read (“The Graveyard Book”), I decided to give “Stardust” a try, but while “The Graveyard” was fantasy –almost magic realism, “Stardust” is more a fairy tale involving young Tristram Thorn, who enters a magical world on a quest to bring back a fallen star for the girl he loves.  If you feel like reading an adult fairy tale, it was moderately enjoyable,  and full of witches, gnomes, talking trees, animals (who are really people under the witch’s curse), spells, enchantments, ghosts, Lords of the Manor, harrowing adventures, true love, and a happy ending.

“The Night Circus” by Erin Morgenstern

Reading this book is like walking through a wondrous enchantment –while you know it can’t be true, it nonetheless it draws you in, and holds you in a state of breathless anticipation. The circus itself is only the setting, the canvas on which is drawn a host of fantastical yet believable characters involved in a plot of intrigue and magic, of a duel played over decades, and of star- crossed lovers inextricably bound to the circus, to the challenge, and to each other.

“Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” by Ransom Riggs

With such an intriguing title I wasn’t sure what to expect of this book, but what I found was an incredible fantasy/adventure filled with extraordinary vintage photographs which add a splash of exotic enigma and mystique to main character Jacob’s quest to find his sanity and the key to his grandfather’s past.  It is hard to describe this book without giving away the very secrets that make it such a colorful, imaginative tale but I can tell you that it is not a great literary masterpiece full of deep life lessons; not a gruesome horror story; not a beach read romance or a genre mystery; it’s an absorbing flight of fantasy that at least partially filled the hole I have felt since  the Harry Potter  series ended and it’s the first book I have read in a while that I simply could not put down.

PS.  Three other things you might be interested to know.

1. Don’t read this book by listening to it on CD,  the vintage photographs are an integral part of the story and wildly entertaining.
2. Tim Burton has already expressed interest in directing the movie of this book and Jane Goldman (X Men: First Class,The Woman in Black, Stardust) has already been hired as screenwriter.
3. The ending of the book while satisfying makes it obvious that a sequel is sure to be in the works.