Fiction Pick of the Week: The Night Circus

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern 2010

Erin Morgenstern describes all of her works as “fairy tales in one way or another”, and The Night Circus certainly can be seen as a dark and fantastical fairy tale. The story centres around two magicians and archrivals, Prospero and Alexander. For many years they have been playing a dangerous game which involves teaching their arts to protégés to determine who will come out the winner. The Night Circus takes place at the turn of the 20^th century, and the magicians have taken on a boy, Marco, and a girl, Celia, to play their game once again. The players don’t know the rules or even who their opponents are, but the game challenges them to create illusions and magic the likes of which no one has seen before.

Morgenstern studied theatre and is a visual artist, and this clearly comes out in her first novel. The descriptions of the magic, the costumes, and the circus are works of art themselves and you can clearly visualize the scenes. The book starts off more slowly but speeds up to an almost thriller-like pace by the end. Beautifully written for those who are willing to suspend belief!

Fiction Pick of the Week: Bedtime Story

Bedtime Story by Robert Wiersema 2010

I was quickly drawn into the trying life of Christopher Knox, a one-time successful author, columnist, and father. Christopher is struggling with work obligations, and is separated from his wife Jacqui. He decides to give his son David a fantasy novel for his eleventh birthday. With David being a reluctant reader, Christopher makes a habit of reading part of the book to his son every night. David looks forward to their nighttime ritual and is quite enjoying the story. Then he begins to suffer from mysterious seizures and has to be hospitalized when he slips into a coma. Devastated, Christopher is determined to continue to read to David every night until he realizes that there is a connection between the novel and his son’s seizures. It would seem that David has become trapped in the story.

Christopher’s family must work together to uncover the secrets of the novel and defeat their enemies if they are to regain their life and survive the Bedtime Story. They must save David before the story ends.

Definitely a late night page turner for fantasy readers.

Fiction Pick of the Week: A Lion Among Men

A Lion Among Men by Gregory Maguire 2008

A Lion Among Men is the third novel in Gregory Maguire's Wicked Years series, an inventive re-imagining of the OZ story as a much darker and more sinister land. This volume concerns Brrr, Dorthy's friend, the Cowardly Lion. He is portrayed as a feckless dandy, with an endless ability to muck things up. Civil war has erupted. The forces of the Emperor and those of Free State of Munchkinland are about to clash. At their centre, in a cloister, Brrr and Mother Yackle engage in a battle of wits. Each is looking for revelations. The Cowardly Lion has been assigned to find the magic book of spells used by Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. Yackle, an ancient crone, has seen her mission as being to protect the life of Elphaba. She is tired of life and is looking for both death and some explanations. An evening of questions & answers, reminiscences and discussion on the nature of Fate and Courage ends with the inevitable battle and optimism for the Lion's future.

Wednesday's Pick!

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman.
When Fat Charlie learns of his father’s death, he reluctantly returns to his Florida hometown from the life he has reinvented in England. While there, his neighbour lets it slip that he has a brother named Spider who Charlie knew nothing about. Charlie ends up contacting his brother by following the ridiculous instructions to ‘ask a spider’ for him. These odd instructions become clear as Charlie learns that his deceased father was the human embodiment of the African trickster god, Anansi, and Charlie’s brother has inherited many of their father’s powers. Spider shows up in Charlie’s life and causes a lot of problems for him – stealing his fiancée and getting him in deep trouble at work. Charlie has increasingly ominous confrontations with Anansi’s animal god enemies, and makes some risky deals in order to claim his life back. The weaving of everyday reality, wonderful characters, and vivid forays into African cultural folk and fairy tales makes Gaiman’s novel captivating.

Saturday's Bonus Pick!

The Eyre Affair is the first in a series of novels by Jasper Fforde that incorporates an irresistible mix of mystery, humour, and whimsical fantasy, and that revolves around a world obsessed with literature. Detective Thursday Next – yes, that is her name – is bumped up from Special Operations Literary Detective Division to a top secret division where she is employed to track a downright evil psychopath, Acheron Hades. Hades steals a device that allows him to physically enter the world of a written work, which means he can drastically affect the storyline in any publications based upon that text. With this powerful tool and a copy of the original manuscript, he takes Jane Eyre captive and threatens to eliminate her if his demands are not met. Thursday, at great peril, accepts the challenge and must find a way to save Jane Eyre and to keep Hades from doing any more damage. Fforde creates a quirky and wonderful universe for those who love literature. But be warned, you will be tempted to re-read many of those old classics to refresh your memory on all of the literary and historical references Fforde makes.

Also available in Large Print and Book on CD!

My Pick of the Week!

From her hiding spot in the Retiring Room, Lyra and her daemon overhear an amazing tale. I wasn't sure I wanted to read any further!! But I'm glad I did. The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman is the first volume of a fantasy trilogy that reminded me of the Harry Potter series - young heros and heroines fighting the worst that a magical world can deliver; it should not be missed! I could hardly part myself from the chilling exploits into the land of the Aurora Borealis.

I'm still looking for new authors. Let me know what you're reading!