From the Bookshelf of Romance Readers Reading Challenges…

Water for Elephants

Sara Gruen

Finish date: December 19, 2010

Discussion: Monthly Challenges

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 84 topics — 8,758 comments total

Monthly Challenges

2025 October Monthly Challenge
By LaurLa · 27 posts · 73 views

last updated 9 hours, 49 min ago

2025 Read the Month Japanese Edition - gogatsu (May)
By MountainKat , Moderator · 30 posts · 43 views

last updated 11 hours, 11 min ago

showing 10 of 126 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Jun 03, 2011 Trish rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2011-reads, own

I didn't know if I would get into this book or not, reading it amid all the PNR and UF books, but I really enjoyed it. I never really stopped to think about the lives of circus people. I've watched "The Greatest Show On Earth" several times and I like it each time. It's like you are taken into the book, into a new world that's exciting and strange.

Gruen does a wonderful job creating magnificent pictures with the words she uses. The only thing I noticed was that sometimes she uses too fancy a wor ...more

Like · see review

Sep 13, 2019 Becky rated it it was amazing

Wow, just wow! A great story of the circus and all its colorful characters in the heyday of the 30’s! What brings this story around full circle is the story of a young Jacob and his 93 year old counterpart looking back on a most fascinating well lived life from his wheelchair in an assisted living facility where the circus is about to come to town.

Like · see review

May 06, 2024 Heidi Fairbrother added it

Shelves: books-i-ve-chosen-from-m-g-36, books-i-ve-chosen-from-mg-56, books-i-ve-chosen-from-mg59, 2024-books-read, book-chosen-for-62

The book follows the movie pretty well so it was easy to follow and keep up with. The characters were a little whiny and not what I expected in the story. Overall, a quick and interesting story to get caught up in.

Like · see review

Nov 10, 2009 Kara Kelleher rated it really liked it

I found this book enjoyable. The characters were very interesting as was the fact that the book was set during the Depression. The ending left little be desired.

Like · see review