The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern {review and discussion}

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not.

The black sign, painted in white letters that hangs upon the gates, reads:

Opens at Nightfall

Closes at Dawn

As the sun disappears beyond the horizon, all over the tents small lights begin to flicker, as though the entirety of the circus is covered in particularly bright fireflies. When the tents are all aglow, sparkling against the night sky, the sign appears.

Le Cirque des Rêves

The Circus of Dreams.

Now the circus is open.

Now you may enter. (from the back of the book)

Melanie says: I first picked up the book while on vacation in Yellowstone, not because I wouldn’t be enjoying myself, but because I needed something for when the sun went down and my mind was still wide awake. I only mention this because I think it is a testament to the quality of the storytelling in the book. I found myself thinking about the book and sometimes hurrying back to the hotel to read while I was observing the awesomeness that is Yellowstone. The story moves a bit slow at times and the battle is much less epic than the back cover implies but the characters are relatable, despite their magical tendencies, and the plot is quite intriguing. I imagine the circus being something of a black and white Cirque du Soleil but where the action happens up close and personal - I found myself wanting to step into the pages and experience the circus myself. I also really liked the two converging story lines (but only after I realized the importance of reading the chapter description, which is not something I often do). 

Lisa says: I remember seeing this in my local store and thinking it looked intriguing, but instead of picking it up I just put it on a mental back burner. When Melanie suggested bringing back the book of the month (we’re bringing it back with a little less structure!) and it was fate that she mentioned this book! I really enjoyed this book! I agree with Melanie saying it is a bit slow at times. The circus set up reminds me of Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes (one of my favorite books). The Night Circus is definitely intriguing and felt very real! As I was reading I was like either the ending is going to be pants (check me and my British slang) or the author new what she was writing. Sometimes I feel authors have a good idea and then don’t/can’t follow through to the end. Erin Morgenstern knew what she wanted the story to be. I can’t wait to see what her next novel might be like! 

Janet says: I really enjoyed this book and found myself unable to put it down. Interestingly, I really likes Bailey's story line the best. As I read, I wanted to hear more about him! Of course I was very happy with the way his character ended up in the story. I felt a little disappointed in the climax. I think it lacked a little given the enormity of emphasis put on it.I loved what Marco and Celia made for each other, one of my favorite parts was when Celia experienced the ice tent. I felt like I was there and I wanted to explore more!Overall I recommend this book, I really enjoyed it!

And last but not least it looks like this book, yet again, is going to be turned into a movie. Yay. (note the sarcasm) 

Update Jan 6 2013: Loraine @ What I Felt About.... shares her thoughts on The Night Circus here! 

Joanne Chang ~ Book Signing

"Make life sweeter...Eat dessert first." ~Joanne Chang

About the Book: Flour is not only an excellent cookbook with a million recipes I can't wait to try, it is also a genuinely good read.  Each recipe features an introduction by Joanne about when she first encountered the dessert, how it effected her, and how she has elevated it into something divine.  My favorite story goes along with her Nutella tart.  She talks about spending time abroad, and how at breakfast they put out bread and a variety of spreads, and how she avoided the Nutella because she was skeptical of the brown goo (despite the assurances of her host that it was "schokolade"). When she finally gave in and tried it, she was hooked and amazed that people actually ate chocolate for breakfast.  The book is also packed full of beautiful color photos of each recipe that make you want to lick the pages.  Seriously.  I have yet to try any of the recipes from the book, but my one experience at her bakery tell me that everything inside is going to be phenomenal.  

About the Author: Joanne Chang, who owns the Boston bakery, Flour, is known for traditioal American desserts, muffins and other breakfast treats, rich cakes, fruit tarts, good cookies. Her trademark is a little extra crunch, more richness, caramelized edges that only come about from well-made components and enough time in the oven. Essentially she like to reinvent the ordinary and make it extraordinary.  Her oreo (I've included the recipe below), pop tart, and fig newton recipes are excellent examples of her transformations. Since Joanne didn't have many sweets growing up, she sees even the simplest desserts, that the rest of us take for granted, as something worth developing into an upscale treat.

She also beat Bobby Flay in a Throwndown with her Sticky Sticky Buns.

I find it funny how two people on opposite end of the world can be doing practically the same thing at the same time...well, almost.  Take Lisa's post about Nigella Lawson, swap in Joanne Change, remove the healthy foods in place of all-American dessert, and you have my recent book signing experience in Boston.  I was not first in line and I had no kids in toe but, like Lisa, I had been looking forward to this meet-and greet for weeks, since I had seen it advertised in the window at the Brookline Booksmith.  I stood in line for about 15 minutes wondering what I wanted to say to this Harvard-educated mathematician turned distinguished pastry chef.  When I made it to Joanne, I said hello and handed over my new book, and the post-it with my name spelled correctly, and said "I love that you began your career as a mathematician and that you were able to give up such a practical career for such an impractical one and be a success."  She smiled and said that it was an easy transition once she knew what she wanted and was willing to work for it. 

"Melanie - Eat dessert first! - Joanne Chang"

Homemade Oreos
Adapted from: Flour

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks/228g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup (200g) semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled slightly
1 egg
1 1/2 cups (210g) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (90g) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Filling:
1/2 cup (1 stick/114g) unsalted butter, softened
1 2/3 cups (230g) confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk
Pinch of salt

Method:
1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the butter and granulated sugar until well combined. You may also use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Mix in the vanilla and chocolate until just combined, and add the egg, continuing to mix until thoroughly incorporated.

2. In another medium bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda until well mixed. Using a spatula, stir the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture. The dough will start to seem pretty floury, so you can just mix with your hands if that's easier. It should have the consistency of Play-Doh.

3. Divide the dough in half and wrap each disk in plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator for one hour.

4. Preheat the oven to 325 F.

5. Remove the disks from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for 5-8 minutes to make them easier to work with. Using a rolling pin roll out each disk to about 1/4-inch thickness.

6. Using a 3-inch cookie cutter, cut out as many circles as you can out of the dough. Quickly bring it back together and re-roll the scraps, repeating the process of cutting out the circles. If it become tacky or difficult to work with, place back in refrigerator for ten minutes to firm back up. Repeat with second disk.

7. Transfer the dough to parchment-lined cookie sheets. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until the cookies are firm to the touch. Check them frequently after 18 minutes. Unfortunately, you can't judge by color because they're already black. Allow to cool completely on baking sheet before you fill.

8. To make the filling: beat the butter on low for 30 seconds until smooth. Gradually add the sugar and vanilla and beat on high for 2-3 minutes until nice and fluffy. And milk and salt and beat again until smooth - it will resemble white spackle

9. Assemble the cookies: Scoop a heaping teaspoon of filling onto the bottom cookie and press a second on top until the filling spreads to the edges.  Repeat until you have 16-18 homemade oreos.

The Sheriff of Yrnameer: A Reccomendation

"Finally a science fiction book your grandmother will love--if she's a lustful, violent lady." -- Stephan Colbert

The author, Michael Rubens is a former writer/field producer for The Daily Show and Yrnameer is his first attempt at sci-fi.  Written in the style of Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams, the book is ridiculous and illogical but delivered in a dead pan way that's quite hilarious.  Rubens has a ways to go before he is really on the same ballfield as Pratchett or Adams, but this was his first attempt and he made me chuckle so I won't complain.

From the back of the book:

Meet Cole: hapless space rogue, part-time smuggler, on a path to being full-time dead. His sidekick just stole his girlfriend. The galaxy's most hideous and feared bounty hunter wants to lay eggs in his brain. And the luxury space yacht Cole just hijacked turns out of be filled with interstellar do-gooders, one especially loathsome stowaway, and a cargo of freeze-dried orphans.

Reluctantly compelled to deliver these defenseless, fluidless children to safety, Cole gathers a misfit crew for a desperate journey to the far reaches of the galaxy. Their destination: the mysterious world of Yrnameer, the very last of the your-name-heres—planets without corporate sponsors. But little does Cole know that this legendary utopia is home to a murderous band of outlaws bent on destroying the planet's tiny, peaceful community.

Follow Cole's adventures through a delightfully absurd science-fiction universe, where the artificial intelligence is stupid, dust motes carry branding messages, and middle-management zombies have overrun a corporate training satellite. In the spirit of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett, The Sheriff of Yrnameer is sci-fi comedy at its best—mordant, raucously funny, and a thrilling page-turner.

Recommending a Recomendation

Recently Melanie recommended The Hunger Game Trilogy, over my two week vacation I managed to read all 3!!
I picked up the first one in paper back on discount and then felt dumb as I went back and bought the hardback box set as I had to read the other two! (I passed along my paperback to my sister!)

Sometimes in a series I find that when it comes to the end it's not as good as I was expecting. The ending of the this trilogy was so good I read it twice. I mean I literally just read the last few chapters again! Okay I also read the end of the book as I returned back to the UK and was in a jet lagged haze and wanted to make sure I hadn't missed anything but still an amazing serious!
I have to second Melanie's recommendation!

Here is Melanie's Recommendation.

PS I will be posting again after I've read Battle Royale. Some reviewer on Amazon says that Collins has copied scenes from it word for word. I like to look into such claims :0)

The Hunger Games Trilogy: A Reccomendation

                       

The Hunger Games takes place in an unidentified future time period after the destruction of North America, in a nation known as Panem. Panem consists of a rich Capitol and twelve surrounding, poorer districts. As punishment for a previous rebellion against the Capitol, every year one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 from each district are selected at random and forced to participate in the Hunger Games, a televised event where the participants, or "tributes", must fight to the death in a dangerous outdoor arena until only one remains. The story follows fatherless 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, a girl from District 12 who volunteers for the 74th Games in place of her younger sister, Prim. Also participating from District 12 is Peeta Mellark, a boy whom Katniss knows from school and who once saved Katniss's life by giving her bread when her family was starving. 
(Synopsis from Wikipedia)

The first book details Katniss' journey through the Hunger Games - I read this book over the course of weekend (a busy weekend where I only had time to pick up the book to get a few pages in while waiting for water to boil or sitting in my car outside a friends house before leaving to tailgate).  I haven't yet read the second two books in the (supposedly) young-adult trilogy but the person who recommended them to me assures me that they are just as good.  The second looks at life after the Hunger Games and if I tell you too much about what happens in the third, I'd have to tell you too much about the second...so if you want to know, read them ;)

Molecular Gastronomy by Hervé This

I know we usually stick to fiction here at Pages of the Mind, but I've been so thoroughly enjoying this book that I had to share it!  Have you ever wondered if salt really enhances flavours?  Or why?  What is the best way to cool a cup of tea?  Stirring or blowing?  Or, which method of hard boiling an egg most effectively centers the yolk?

The subtitle of this book is Exploring the Science of Flavor and that's exactly what This (pronounced: Teese, like geese) does in this book.  I think the phrase molecular gastronomy itself might scare some people off, but please don't be fooled by the name of the subject.  Molecular gastronomy is simply a branch of science that tried to understand the chemical processes that occur during cooking.  Understanding these processes then allows molecular gastronomers to understand how to best accomplish the cooking task. 

Each chapter is one to three pages long - 99 chapters in all.  He begins every chapter with a question and proceeds to explain the experiments that have been done to answer that question, and explains how the conclusions of those experiments translates into the kitchen.  Hervé This is French, so there are a few chapters pertaining to food or cooking techniques that I have never heard of, but I still found it extremely interesting to read about them anyway.

Eesoo by Kathleen Boettcher -- A Recommendation by Melanie

A blue-eyed red-haired lady doctor from Iowa is forced into an arranged marriage with a handsome, defiant, alien warrior and an intergalactic adventure begins. Sparks fly between them, humorous situations abound as the action moves through a web of intrigue from Iowa into outer space and concludes on the planet N’dar. Laugh and cry through a suspenseful mystery that will warm your heart and satisfy your thirst for adventure.

Science fiction novel which blends adventure, romance, humor, and mystery. The first in a series of eight. Each novel is a complete story with continuing characters.

Kathleen Boettcher grew up in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Deciding small town living was not exciting enough, she began raising, training, and showing siberian huskies. That led to nationwide travel, dogsledding and intermingling with adventurous people. Horses were added to her life and after routine household duties were complete, racing through the woods on a dogsled or galloping across fields on horseback added joy and adventure. After a move to California curtailed daily excitement, she turned inward for adventure and began writing.

Wordless Wednesday - What'cha reading?

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand -- A Recommendation by Melanie

Ayn Rand's story of Howard Roark, a brilliant architect who dares to stand alone against the hostility of second-hand souls. First published in 1943, this best-selling novel is a passionate defense of individualism and presents an exalted view of man's creative potential; it is a book about ambition, power, gold and love.

Geek Love by Katherine Dunn -- A Recommendation -- by Melanie

Lil Binewski, born a Boston aristocrat, was in her time the most stylish of geeks. That is to say she made her living by biting the heads off live chickens in front of a Carnival audience. This she gave up for doting motherhood, because she had her fairground- owning husband had a money spinning idea. Throughout each pregnancy Lil gobbles pesticides, experiments with drugs and douses herself with radiation to ensure that she prodcues infants grotesque enough to keep the turnstiles clicking. She does. Arturo the Aqua Boy is a limbless megalomaniac, Electra and Iphigenia are musically gifted Siamese twins with a penchant for prostitution and Fortunato is possessed of stange telekinetic powers. Their story- by turns shocking, tender, touching and cruel- is narrated by their sister Olympia. She is a bald, hunchbacked, albino dwarf.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card -- A Recommendation -- by Melanie

Another outing for the classic legend of the boy who journeys to the stars to defeat an alien horde and save the human race. Ender Wiggin is Battle School's latest recruit. His teachers reckon he could become a great leader. And they need one. A vast alien force is headed for Earth: its mission, the annihilation of all human life. Ender could be our only hope. But first he must survive the most brutal military training programme in the galaxy... With its explosive storyline, pump-action excitement and hugely engaging central characters, Ender's Game is a sure-fire winner. Orson Scott Card is the multi-award winning and bestselling author of a host of groundbreaking SF novels, and his storytelling acumen is well to the fore here.

Life Of Pi by Yann Martel -- A Recommendation -- by Melanie

Some books defy categorisation: Life of Pi, the second novel from Canadian writer Yann Martel, is a case in point: just about the only thing you can say for certain about it is that it is fiercely and admirably unique. The plot, if that’s the right word, concerns the oceanic wanderings of a lost boy, the young and eager Piscine Patel of the title (Pi). After a colourful and loving upbringing in gorgeously-hued India, the Muslim-Christian-animistic Pi sets off for a fresh start in Canada. His blissful voyage is rudely interrupted when his boat is scuppered halfway across the Pacific, and he is forced to rough it in a lifeboat with a hyena, a monkey, a whingeing zebra and a tiger called Richard. That would be bad enough, but from here on things get weirder: the animals start slaughtering each other in a veritable frenzy of allegorical bloodlust, until Richard the tiger and Pi are left alone to wander the wastes of ocean, with plenty of time to ponder their fate, the cruelty of the gods, the best way to handle storms and the various different recipes for oothappam, scrapple and coconut yam kootu. The denouement is pleasantly neat. According to the blurb, thirtysomething Yann Martel spent long years in Alaska, India, Mexico, France, Costa Rica, Turkey and Iran, before settling in Canada. All those cultures and more have been poured into this spicy, vivacious, kinetic and very entertaining fiction.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon -- A Recommendation -- by Melanie

Critically acclaimed author Mark Haddon, a two-time BAFTA winner, crafts a stunning masterpiece that is funny and incredibly moving. Fifteen-year-old Christopher has a condition similar to autism. He doesn’t like to be touched, meet new people, or make small talk. But when his neighbor’s dog is killed, Christopher begins a quest that shakes the very foundation of his perfectly ordered life.