So much to say! I've been putting off this post until AFTER we had book club so I could tell you about it.

Being in a book club was seriously on my bucket list. I crave talking to people about books. It is one of my one true passions in life. Obviously you guys share the same passions as well or else you wouldn't be reading this. I love blogging, and having this online community who understands my love for books and participates in that, so to sit with a group of people face-to-face and do it is really a dream come true for me.

We read Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants. I didn't particularly LOVE the book ( 3/5 id say) so I was a bit nervous about our discussion. I had a hard time believing in the love between Marlena and Jacob and found the characters to be lacking. To be honest, after reading The Night Circus, no circus will ever be able to compare. And, if you're looking for an Elephant fix, the movieOng Bak 2tops my list. So really, after reading Water for Elephants, I found it only sub-par.

The women at the book club however seemed to just LOVE it. I didn't want to be the Negative Nancy of the club, especially on my first meeting.

Once we got to talking about the book I was SO into it. We didn't just say who liked it/didn't, we actually talked about certain aspects of the characters, and themes of the books. Hearing the ladies thoughts and perspectives was fascinating to me. It didn't end up being a question of whether the book was good or not, but more of the whole picture.

This didn't really change my initial opinion of the book itself. It's still not really my style of a read, but it definitely helped me to appreciate the book more, and also to gain a bit more perspective. I was so satisfied just to be able to discuss a book, good or not!

And with that, I'll leave you with the Goodreads synopsis for Sara Gruen's Water For Elephants.

Though he may not speak of them, the memories still dwell inside Jacob Jankowski's ninety-something-year-old mind. Memories of himself as a young man, tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Memories of a world filled with freaks and clowns, with wonder and pain and anger and passion; a world with its own narrow, irrational rules, its own way of life, and its own way of death. The world of the circus: to Jacob it was both salvation and a living hell.

Jacob was there because his luck had run out - orphaned and penniless, he had no direction until he landed on this locomotive 'ship of fools'. It was the early part of the Great Depression, and everyone in this third-rate circus was lucky to have any job at all. Marlena, the star of the equestrian act, was there because she fell in love with the wrong man, a handsome circus boss with a wide mean streak. And Rosie the elephant was there because she was the great gray hope, the new act that was going to be the salvation of the circus; the only problem was, Rosie didn't have an act - in fact, she couldn't even follow instructions. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and ultimately, it was their only hope for survival

Paperback, 335 pages
Published April 9th 2006 by Algonquin Books

Another one of my resolutions was to FINALLY read all of Harry Potter! I just finished book two! I can't believe it has taken me so long to read these books. They truly are wonderful and magical, and even though the second book isn't as exciting as the rest of them, I was still flipping pages like a mad fool to finish it. It's has been a while since I've even seen the Chamber of Secrets movie and I had completely forgotten what was in the chamber of secrets. Well I know partly was was there of course, but I don't want to spoil anything so I will stop there. So now we sit and wait for book three to show up at the library. Harry is pretty hard to get hold of in these parts. Actually ordering anything in to the library seems to take much longer these days. Which brings me to why I bought Water for Elephants.

At the top of my mental bucket list sat" Join/Start a book club" and about a month ago, one of my good friends and I just started a facebook group. Were reading Water for Elephants this month. I have no idea how to run a book club but the members seem to be really excited about it. I particularly don't care to much for the subject matter of the club, just to be around other people who have read the same book I have, to drink a few glasses ( or bottles!) of wine, and to talk about what we liked and didn't like about the book are just fine and dandy to me. I am SO excited. It's finally a bridge between my online life, my free time life and my social life. I couldn't be happier.

And lastly for this post- one more thing I MUST tell you. As you may have read in my last post- I read and loved Snow Flower and the Secret fan by Linda See. I recommend that book to all women, I love it THAT much. I was skeptical to see the movie but last night I had the chance to rent it. It was the worst book-to-movie translation I have ever seen in my life. A totally abomination of the book. Yes,it focused on friendship- the main theme of the book, but the book had so much deep,and dark,and beautiful cultural aspects that the movie didn't even glance upon. I was SO appalled. I would be furious if I was Linda See. Even as a stand alone film, it was bad. I still cant get over how bad it was. I'm almost hurt that this beautiful book was totally destroyed in the movie. Ruined my Night
So that's my rant of the day. I havent had much time to write a quality blog post in a while but I just want to stay connected!
Love.