Water for Elephants

I have always loved reading. Though I will admit over the past few years, I have been lucky to read one or two books a year. When we went to Hawaii last Christmas, we spent a good amount of time lounging on the beach or by the pool, and I read about one book a day. We brought plenty of reading material with us, but apparently not nearly enough for 12 days. So, of all places to go shopping in Hawaii, we went to Barnes & Noble. That trip gave me the kick-start I needed, but then the next few months were shot to hell due to to busy season - I would start a book and then not get back to it for weeks, only to have forgotten what I previously read. So then I would either give up or start over, which is not very enjoyable.  Now that I have more free time with my new job, I've gotten back into reading (and finishing!) several books. Last week, I read Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen.

I've been trying to branch out and not read as many "chick-lit" books, so I was looking for something a little different this time. I typically do not read books that are so hyped up at the moment, as this book is. If something is "in" or "trendy" I tend to wait until the hype dies down before checking it out myself. I read several good reviews and kept hearing people say good things about this book so when I saw it on sale, I thought, what the heck. Turns out I really enjoyed it and it was a pretty fast read - it took me about a week. I also learned a lot about circus-lingo, something I certainly never thought I would be so interested in until I read this book. I don't think I will see the movie, unlike many other people I'm sure. I usually just end up disappointed since the books (in my opinion) are always so much better.

In an effort to find new and different books, I also joined a book club with a few friends. So far I have been a failure of a book club member. For our first book, I didn't even get halfway through it by our meeting and I haven't even started the next one yet. Honestly, I'm just not very good at being forced to read books by a certain deadline and then be able to remember enough detail to discuss it, but I'll keep trying. Thank goodness for cliffs notes or high school English classes would have been a disaster for me. Up next (hopefully!)... Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, by Jamie Ford.