Another favorite for 2008

I've got to admit that since I've joined Library Thing, I've bought several books I would not have considered buying before if I'd simply stumbled upon them in a bookshop, and I've bought books I'd never heard of because I live in the back hole of civilization.

Because of Library Thing, I bought The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly. It is a wonderful book about a 12 year old boy coming to grips with the death of his mother and the inclusion of a stepmother and half brother into his family by withdrawing into a fantastical world. The blurb on the back of the book says it all:

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 he family falls apart around him, David is violently propelled into a world that is a strange reflection of his won -- populated by heroes and monsters and ruled by a faded king who keeps his secrets in a mysterious book, The Book of Lost Things.