From the Bookshelf of Nothing But Reading Challenges…

The Night Circus

Erin Morgenstern

Start date: October 2, 2015

Finish date: October 31, 2015

Discussion: Books of the Month

Find A Copy At

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 164 topics — 23,390 comments total

Books of the Month

* The Names by Florence Knapp - Sep 25 Adult / Non-Fiction BOM (starts 16 Sep)
By Moderators of… , Challenger-in-Chief · 17 posts · 93 views

last updated 13 hours, 34 min ago

* The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese - Sep 25 Theme BOM - South and South East Asia (Starts 5 September)
By Moderators of… , Challenger-in-Chief · 43 posts · 76 views

last updated 4 hours, 23 min ago

showing 10 of 384 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Jun 08, 2012 Trisha rated it liked it

I've been reading this on and off for a couple of months and taking breaks to read others in between. I think any time that I take a break from a book is not a good sign. It means I got bored. But, I guess I did keep coming back so that makes it worth something.

The stories were interesting and I did like the idea and concept of the magic and the circus.

I, however, love character development through a book. I normally want to feel like I understand why someone acts a certain way or makes the choi ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Sep 22, 2013 Nancy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I really loved this book, despite it taking me an inordinately long amount of time to read. There was so much detail to it though - it actually deserves a second read. I adored Celia, who is one of my favourite characters in recent books. The magic and the whole idea was fantastic - I can only admire the author's imagination. ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Aug 02, 2013 Rebekah rated it liked it

Shelves: genre-fantasy, genre-young-adult, genre-book-club, genre-historical-fiction, genre-adult, genre-adult-fiction, genre-magical-realism, genre-romance, genre-fantasy-paranormal, genre-fantasy-magic

I'm not sure what to write about this book.

The vast majority of the time I was reading it, I was annoyed.

Oh great, here's another 1000 pages describing the Goth circus....yippee

Every time I picked it up, I fell asleep! Seriously started to wonder if the "magic" of the book was not in its ability to put me straight to sleep, faster than a lullaby.

It took me forever to read, and nothing really happens. But it is beautiful writing and imagery and I stuck with it, even through the dreamlike stu ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Dec 20, 2012 Cora rated it it was amazing

Shelves: lost-in-fire, fantasy, wizards, magic, circus

This story of a competition between two magicians and the circus that contains it is a beautifully written novel. The descriptions of the circus and the wonders found there touched all the senses. As I was listening to Jim Dale read, I was able to close my eyes and picture myself there and almost smell the caramel. Although I liked the two main protagonists, I found myself more interested in the supporting characters and wished that we were told more of their stories - but in a way the story of ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jun 04, 2012 Jules rated it it was ok

It’s true, my schedule has been busy the last couple of weeks with end-of-baseball and end-of-school activities, but if this book had grabbed me I would have found the time. I’m not sure why I didn’t absolutely adore this book. I wanted to love it, and thought I would. It had all the elements I normally love: magical realism (not really, but close enough), romance, bowler hats…

But something was off for me, and the only thing I can point to right now is the use of present/historical present narra It’s true, my schedule has been busy the last couple of weeks with end-of-baseball and end-of-school activities, but if this book had grabbed me I would have found the time. I’m not sure why I didn’t absolutely adore this book. I wanted to love it, and thought I would. It had all the elements I normally love: magical realism (not really, but close enough), romance, bowler hats…

But something was off for me, and the only thing I can point to right now is the use of present/historical present narrative tense.

Celia fixes the broken tea cup. Celia says. Celia nods. Celia fixes another tea cup.

(And then four more. There are a lot of broken tea cups.)

The glass shatters, the sound echoing through the room. The tea spills out over the tiles.

Before anyone turns at the noise, the cup has righted itself. The broken pieces reform around the liquid and the glass sits intact, the tile surface of the table is dry.

It resulted in the use of passive voice, which I absolutely loathe. It was incredibly distracting.

To say the tense of a book is bothersome enough to hamper my enjoyment of a story sounds phenomenally lame, and I almost wrote a post that simply said I found the book “just okay” to avoid sounding like an angry schoolmarm. But for me, the use of present tense narration and passive voice took the tension out of challenge. It was almost as if the narrator was telling the story against his will, and so to retain some dignity he delivers the tale as phlegmatically as possible. The end result is a conflict that simmers, not boils. The last chapter with Bailey and Mr. A. H–, Stories, made me think this was the case, and suddenly the strange structure of the book made sense. Then I remembered Baily receives the same third person narrative as every other character throughout, so that theory’s blown.

Speaking of structure, I found the changes in time confusing. We started 29 years apart and worked our way in and out and back in again. Towards the end of the book I didn’t know if I was in the past or present, 1901 or 1902, and that’s because, as we find out at the very end, 1902 isn’t the future at all, but rather the beginning.

The book wasn’t completely lost on me. I loved the tent descriptions. I want a wishing tree, a pond of tears, and an ice garden. I loved the use of tents as love letters. I loved the circus itself and I wanted to know more about chocolate mice and caramel air. Here is where the author excelled. I feel as if Morgenstern had a wonderful dream with the circus, a white-hot idea she couldn’t shake, and the book was an attempt to breathe life into this very clear, but static idea. In the end, I’m not sure she was able to do the star of the show justice.

From what I see on Goodreads, I have a feeling I’m in the minority. Okay, let’s here it. Tell me how I’m wrong. ...more

Like · see review

Dec 08, 2012 Kelly rated it really liked it

Shelves: library

I absolutely loved this book. The descriptions of everything related to the circus were brilliant. I thought it was a fascinating premise, and it was easy to get caught up in the characters. The only negative I would say is that it was a bit hard to keep the characters straight. There were lots of characters with multiple names and one in particular that was hardly ever referred to by name. So, it was a bit of a challenge. However, what I normally would have thought of as a negative regarding no ...more

Like · see review

Jan 04, 2013 Rachel N. rated it it was amazing

Celia and Marco are attached to each other in a game when they are children. Once they become adults they must play out the game in a special circus, the circus of dreams. It took me awhile to get into this book but by the end I was totally in love with it. I want to become a memebr of Le Cirque des Reves. A great love story and a magical book.

Like · see review

Jun 17, 2015 Keith rated it it was amazing

I loved this book so much, I didn't want it to end! It's Adventurous, Mysterious, Exciting, Humorous, etc. This is one of those books that I definitely want to reread again... ...more

Like · see review

Jun 19, 2013 Michelle rated it liked it

3.5, not quite a 4

Like · see review

Feb 26, 2012 Tfalcone rated it really liked it

This is a long book and it is not exactly flying along, however I really like the story line. There is some sort of comtest between two young magicians trying to outshine each other, but how the contest works is not entirely clear. Don't expect a lot of action, but I liked the intrigue. ...more

Like · see review