Water for Elephants

If you are reading this, I'm happy to say (although I should be sad for you) that you weren't raptured when Jesus came on meeting day, May 21st.  As it turns out, everyone I know is still with us.  This could say something about the people I surround myself with, though.

We had a small group at our meeting - only Anissa, Sunday, Lisa, Stacey, Cara, and Farrah attended.  We had circus food:  hot dogs, pizza, popcorn, and tons of candy.  Even mini-margaritas, since I completely forgot beverages, so we had to split the pre-made margarita concoction seven ways!  Ha!

Everyone who read the book, "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen, loved it.  I have recently realized how much I love historical fiction and a good writer can make you feel like you are a part of whatever time period their story is in.  Sara Gruen really makes the reader understand what it was like to live in the 1930's, and what it was like to be part of circus life in that day and time.  You could almost feel how hot and dirty they were all the time, living in box cars.

There were some areas that involved some animal mishandling, but I am usually very sensitive to this sort of thing and I think the author handled this in a way that made the reader aware of what was happening, but didn't describe things in a shocking or gorry way.  It was nothing like when Suzy talks about her history with cats. 

This book is a love story and a story of compassion for others.  The ending was so beautiful!  It almosts makes me want to join the circus, but then I realize that my house is usually hot and dirty, and there's always as much chaos as being in a circus tent, so... why leave?

After the meeting, most of us gathered our circus candies and our juice-box wines (thank you, Farrah) and went to the movies to see Something Borrowed (Water for Elephants was showing at an insanely early time).  It was a funny, although pretty predicatable movie.  The girl time was priceless, though.

Farrah is hosting June's book club and she's chosen, "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" by Amy Chua.  The book is an exceptionally fast read and a must-read for anyone who second-guesses their parenting decisions.  The author is smart, witty, funny, and selfdeprecating and is just a fantastic writer.

Hope you have had a great start to your summer and are getting in lots of reading time!

Enjoy reading,
Kristan