I read The Night Circus by Eric Morgenstern on the way to California. It was so well written that I didn't even mind that Keegan had to drop me off five hours before my flight so that he could get to class on time! The story is about a young man and a young woman who are taught magic using separate ideologies and then bound to fight to the death against their will by their teachers. That storyline however is pushed into the background by the setting of their fight. They inhabit a magical circus that travels around the world and the imagery is just so beautiful and fascinating that you really forget what the book is about. The circus is made up of different tents that spectators can wander through at will; you have the usual acrobats and contortionists and trained kittens, but also tents that are made up of cloud mazes and wishing trees. I've been craving caramel apples ever since I finished!!
(isn't the cover art beautiful?)
The next book I started on the flight and finished while hanging around Darcy's waiting for everyone else to get up. This book is actually our December book club book so I had high hopes. I was sorely disappointed. Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani takes place in a small town in the Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains. I guess maybe my reading was colored by The Goldfinch, which was really heavy, and the Night Circus, which was fantastic, but I just felt dumber reading this book. It would have been better suited to reading at the beach or something, pure fluff. The main character's mother has just died, and then these men are fighting over her, and she's finding mystery family from Italy; it was all just blah. I wouldn't have finished it if it wasn't for book club. And they just made this book into a movie for the Virginia Film Festival! I wonder if it was more interesting on screen…
the cover art, so girly (and not in a good way)
a photo from trip advisor from the real town of Big Stone Gap! Much more interesting than the fictional version.
On the flight back from San Diego to Boston I read Law of Attraction by Allison Leotta, a book the my friend Maria so generously sent me! I've got the two sequels waiting on my bookshelf as well :) This novel was also fluff, but at least it had some murder mystery and excitement. The author was a sexual assault lawyer in D.C. for twelve years before she started writing, so the characters have a genuine feel to them. The main woman is Anna Curtis, a new lawyer on the D.C. scene who gets swept up into a domestic abuse case that turns into a hunt for a murderer. But is everything as it seems?? dun dun dunnnnnnnnnnnnnnn. It was fast to read and I gave it to my mom when I was done! I am looking forward to reading the next two.
The final book I read yesterday and it was amazing and I have been waiting for years for it to come out: The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman. It's the third in the Magicians series, which is so great and well written. The series follows a group of friends from their high school years into adulthood. They all meet when they are selected to go to magic school (hello Hogwarts but with a lot of drinking and sleeping around and getting expelled). Basically Harry Potter for adults. This is another book where the descriptions are so well done that you forget what they are talking about sometimes. I really like that people die in this book too (not as weird as it sounds) because it feels more real. There isn't always a happy ending. My favorite part of there series are the magic libraries (similar idea to Night Circus). There are rooms that contain all the books people meant to write but never got around to. And then there's a garden where flowers bloom and fade as feelings are felt and then pass. Such awesome ideas!
I'm now starting another book that I've been waiting for for years, I'll probably read it all today (seeing as Keegan is still asleep and I am bored). Hopefully the memory card reader turns up soon!!
Also, I will be home in a WEEK FROM TODAY! Whoooo! As much as I love love love living in Virginia, I really miss my dog and can't wait to run her around on Chappy Beach. Oh also see my family.
xoxoxo
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