Fave Reads | Book Chatter

The Night Circus
By Erin Morgenstern
(Doubleday, Hardcover, 9780385534635, September, 2011, 400pp.)

The Short of It:

This novel reminds me of everything wonderful. It’s dreamy, visually stimulating and a real treat for the senses.

The Rest of It:

There is a certain excitement that builds when a circus comes to town, but this is a special circus which comes without warning and only at night. Le Cirque des Rêves (The Circus of Dreams) is a dreamland full of magical experiences. It’s spun sugar, gossamer light…tasty upon the tongue, memorable beyond words. What the participants do not know, is that this is not make-believe magic. At the center of the circus, we have Celia and Marco. Both have been pitted against each other in a duel of sorts. Both possess special talents and one of them must come out on top. The circus is the venue. The performers are real. The choice of what you choose to experience, is yours.

The Night Circus is visually stunning, yet there are no illustrations upon its pages. I’ve never read a novel as atmospherically charged as this one and to think that the world Morgenstern creates, is created with words alone. Amazing. The story itself is somewhat unique and well-crafted but what put it over-the-top for me was just how far the imagination went. Each tent, in its black and white splendor, manages to take the reader to another place. There are tents with nothing but clouds, ice gardens, tiny little bottles of scents to spur memories. There are wonderful confections to enjoy and the sights and sounds of the circus are like nothing I’ve ever experienced. Every time I opened the book, I was mesmerized.

I know I haven’t said too much about the actual story, but you must experience this book yourself and me telling you about it will simply ruin it for you. All I can say is that it was one of those wonderful reads that you drop everything for. It didn’t matter what was going on in my house, The Night Circus had my full attention and I found myself doling it out to myself in little bits to make the experience last longer. You must read it!

And with that, I will leave you with a Pinterest board I stumbled upon. This reader created a board of images while reading the book. I did not discover it until after I finished reading it and I must say, she really captured the essence of the novel. Check it out here.

Source: Borrowed (but I will be buying my own copy soon).

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

A Reliable Wife
By Robert Goolrick
(Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, Paperback, 9781565129771, January 2010, 305pp.)

The Short of It:

There is a grittiness to this story that gets into the folds of your clothes and reminds you at every turn that these people are not what they appear to be.

The Rest of It:

Ralph Truitt is a simple man, looking for an honest woman. He places an ad in the paper for a reliable wife and what he gets in return, is Catherine Land.

Ralph and Catherine, seemingly proper, are anything but. Deep down, each possess desires and wants that the other is at first, unaware of. They assume their roles without too much fuss but what Goolrick does next is strip them bare. In just a few pages, you quickly realize that these characters are more like animals than human beings. They become creatures… conniving, desperate creatures hunting for the one thing they believe can make them whole again.

This book is wrought with sexual frustration and desire. Catherine’s every move flames Ralph’s desire for her and let me tell you, frigid, she is not! Except, she has some secrets and then things get really bad for Ralph. During this dark moment in time though, Catherine and Ralph seem to evolve into something else and throughout all of it, the book is literally glued to your hands.

I could not put this book down. Catherine and Ralph fascinated me to no end. Did I tire of the endless sexual tension? Not really. I think in the hands of another writer, I would have been turned off by its relentlessness, but in Goolrick’s hands I found myself completely taken with the characters and curious about what makes them tick.

It’s not a bodice ripper, but it sort of is. It’s not a psychological thriller, but it could be. It’s multifaceted and complex and like its characters, this story could be many things. I loved this aspect of it. And the fact that I could relate to these characters, was even more surprising. Considering I’ve never quite met a character like Catherine…although she did remind me a little of Cathy from East of Eden. Notice the similarity in names? Coincidence? Maybe.

I feel quite silly for not having read this book sooner. If you have it, pull it out and read it and if you don’t, get a copy soon because I’d love to discuss it with you.

Source: Purchased