This month, I'm working on my reading list of 2012 Locus Award Nominees for Best First Novel (science fiction & fantasy). And it so happened that there are 2 books on this list about circuses!

Weekly Reading At 2 Circuses {The Night Circus and Mechanique} Plus Getting To Know Me (Armchair BEA Style)

The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern. "Opens at Nightfall; Closes at Dawn." The Le Cirque des Rêves is a circus unlike any other. "The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it, no paper notices on downtown posts and billboards, no mentions or advertisements in local newspapers. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. At the center of The Night Circus spectacle are two specially gifted young magicians, Celia and Marco, pitted against each other in professional competition, drawn towards one another in love.

I read this book at the end of last September, just prior to deciding to write more about books here at Girlxoxo.com, but I never did a dedicated book discussion for it - so here it is.

The writing in this novel is beautiful - the author is clearly skilled - the descriptions are lush and the imagery vivid. I'm not one to like overly descriptive books, but in this case, the words were wisely used to paint a strong canvas of not only the circus & the performers, but also the lives of the 2 magicians & their mentors. And although the story moves along at a leisurely pace (read,very slow in developing at times), that just gave me time to become connected to the characters and become invested in the outcome.

My one point of contention is that it took some time for me to get used to how the story jumps back & forth in time with each new chapter. I kept getting thrown off and having to go to the beginning of the chapter to see what year it was, and the previous chapter to see whether we were now in the past or future (so I'm glad I didn't get the audiobook version of this). Eventually though, I got the point ... pay close freaking attention to the chapter headings/ dates. I can see why some people might not like this book - the slow pace & the flip flop in time line will definitely turn a lot of people off - heck, it normally turns me off - but for some reason, I loved this book. I want to re-read it, slowly & leisurely, to pick up the subtle, and probably not-so-subtle nuances that I missed the first time around. (Amazon| Goodreads)

Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti, Genevieve Valentine, Kiri Moth (Illustrator). Outside any city still standing, the Mechanical Circus Tresaulti sets up its tents. Crowds pack the benches to gawk at the brass-and-copper troupe and their impossible feats: Ayar the Strong Man, the acrobatic Grimaldi Brothers, fearless Elena and her aerialists who perform on living trapezes. War is everywhere, but while the Circus is performing, the world is magic.

This is quite an odd book - the writing is just unbelievably stunning but it's so dark! Nobody in the damn circus seems happy - and understandably so. A war is going on/ has gone on/ will never stop going on; most of the performers aren't really human anymore - and instead have reconstructed bones & body parts made of metal ... which effectively means they are the living dead - but they don't know how to feel about that; they are just existing, the circus is just existing and I was damn near getting depressed reading about them ... and that's not a bad thing. It seems weird to say that - but it's just that the author was so good at describing the circus, the characters and the landscape of this (slightly dystopian?) world. But again, like The Night Circus, this book is slow to develop. It took half of the book before an actual plot started to materialize. And again - I didn't mind too much - I minded some though because I had a few, wtf - where is this going on here moments - but they didn't last long. This is definitely not a book everyone will love - but I can say, I'm still thinking about the characters days after reading it. (Amazon| Goodreads)

Introducing Me

Q. What are you currently reading
Grafitti Moon, Cah Crowley

Q. One non-book-related thing that I like to do
Running

Q. Have your reading tastes changed since you started blogging? How?
I pay more attention to details like character names & locations/ settings.

Q. Which is your favorite post that you have written that you want everyone to read?
Going to be a little lazy and just link to the post with the most comments - 10 Hot Dystopian Novels {on my 2012 Reading List} and 10 Must See Book To Movie Adaptations in 2012

Q. What is your favorite feature on your blog?
Bloggers Fave Books. 1 Question, 5 Answers from 5 Bloggers.