The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

I'm not a child but unlike most of my friends who have both watched the film and read the book at a young age, I hadn't done either. I can't understand why, what with it being a puffin classic and all. Anyway, I was lured in by the cover, despite the saying "never judge a book by its cover" it's all I ever do. haha

It was a little slow and I can't even understand why it's a classic-giving the impression you HAVE to read this book or else your life won't be complete! Well, isn't that what classics imply. Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Emma, Dickens etc etc aren't these the books all book lovers must read??! I think so and I intend to...

I don't think we can use in defence that it's a children's books and that is the reason why I didn't enjoy it, there are plenty of children's/pre-teens books that I can still enjoy, give my some Jackqueline Wilson any day and the prime example, Hazza!! I enjoy Harry Potter these days, as much as I did when I was 13.

Continuing with my thoughts on The Secret Garden, it was a little slow, the main gist of the book could have fit in half the pages-this is why I lost interest, all this description of the gardent and being outdoors, it just bore me. I did however adore the main characters, I especially loved Mary's transition from brat to relatively normal. My favourite parts were when she started adopting a broad lanchashire accent. V.endearing. I loved Dicken, there should definitely be more people like him in the world, if there were, then maybe , just maybe we coud have hope of making John Lennon's dream come true (see Imagine). Colin, the build up to his character was intriguing and it happened at precisely the point when I starting losing interest so I was quite excited by the apparent change that was occuring but he failed to meet my expectations. I lost interest quickly.

I liked how the book began with Mary as the main character and ended with Colin, I felt the were both equally as dominant and they were both very similar, going through similar experiences.

I'm just happy to have got through it. Book 7-done!