Miss Peregrine\’s Home for Peculiar Children Trailer

Our latest book club book was Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs.  Adorning the pages of this book are photos of a strange and mysterious nature, and the resulting story is magical.

Jacob is a sixteen year old boy who, after his grandfather is killed by something quite inexplicable, travels overseas to see the home that his grandfather lived in when he was young.  What he finds when he gets there is frightening and wonderful all at the same time.

While the story itself is good, the photos of the “peculiars” make the book something else entirely.  Knowing that the pictures existed before the book makes the mystery that much more enchanting.  There is so much going on in this book that it is difficult to give a picture of the story without giving too much away.  Suffice it to say that the book is refreshingly different.  Mysterious, suspenseful, and magical.

The Drink

This drink is definitely peculiar, and the well known mind altering properties of absinthe complement the mystical nature of the novel.  It is said (from a decidedly unreliable source), that Hemingway created this concoction and named it Death in the Afternoon.  Absinthe itself is a peculiar tasting alcohol.  If you are a fan of black licorice, you should like the taste.  On the other hand, I’m not entirely sure you can get authentic absinthe in the US.  Last I heard (which was several years ago) the real stuff was illegal here.  The US absinthe is made without thujone, which is what gives absinthe its essence.  Nonetheless, with or without thujone, this is a peculiar drink.

Death in the Afternoon

1 part absinthe

1 part champagne

Happy Reading!