book eater: the night circus

My favorite kind of book is the kind that takes you away, pulls you out of real life and into the world created in the story. I like to get lost in a book... I imagine myself being part of that world and the characters become my friends for the time it takes me to read it (which could be days, but could just be hours). When the story ends, I always feel a little bit sad; I want to stay with my friends and continue their journey. In my supremely nerdy life, this has happened a few times... Obviously with Harry Potter and, more recently, the Hunger Games, but also (when I was much younger) with Little Women. I could add a few more books to this list... Water for Elephants and The Time Traveler's Wife come to mind as well... But I think the thing they all have in common is a sense of place that I can create in my mind that stays with me like a dream. Was I there? Was it real? What happened to my friends?

can you believe I borrowed it from the library... as an e-book?

The Night Circus was exactly that kind of book. As usual, I was reading in transit and it was always hard to shake myself out of the magic and mystery surrounding le Cirque des Reves. The story is about a magical competition, and the "arena" is the circus. The two main characters, Celia and Marco, seem to dance around each other, creating beautiful illusions. The rest of the characters, who make up their friends and family, each bring something special - there are fortune tellers, a talented architect, a clock-maker, two stylist sisters - they all contribute to the wonder to the circus.  I would tell you more, but the details of this book are best kept secret ;-)

I've been gushing about this book to anyone who will listen since I started reading it. I even recommended it to my sister before I ever read it myself (I had seen it on a blog and it seemed like her type of book). If you want a book to read on a lazy rainy day or a hot summer day at the beach read The Night Circus, and set aside several hours (or days?) so you can just finish it all at once... there's no way you'll be able to put it down.

<3 barb