Ben's Book Club - The Night Circus

Ben gave us a couple of options this month for his book club.  We immediately struck down one book because it involved kid cancer.  For real Ben?!  I won't even watch Disney's Chimpanzee because I know that the baby monkey is separated from his mother. Do you really think I'm going to read a book about kid cancer?  Do you want  our children to sleep in our bed every night because I'll be terrified of something happening to them?  Obviously, I'm not emotionally capable of handling a book like that.   When I asked him why he would even present the option that he chuckled and replied, "Because I thought it would be funny to hear you sobbing in bed while reading it."  Not cool Ben.  Not cool.

We went with his other suggestion The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.  The plan is to discuss the book on May 31st.  I don't have all of the details yet, but we are hoping to include some of our readers.  Obviously if you live in Austin that means hanging out with Ben, Sarah and I.  If you are not blessed to live in Texas, then we may try to set up an online meeting.  Maybe a Google Hangout.  We will let you know.  Be sure to speak up if you want to be involved in the discussion.

I've read about a third of the book and so far I'm really enjoying it.  The style is different and the story is compelling.  In fact, as soon as I finish this post, I'm going to sit down and read.  So in an effort to get back to the book, here is the official summary via Goodreads:

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.