Monday Musings: Scented Candles, Rocking-Chairs and "The Night Circus"

As the wind begins to carry a chill, as the leaves turn red or gold and scent that chill wind, as the Halloween candy causes spontaneous cavities in grocery stores, and people start looking for the perfect Turkey (or buy their Worthington Dinner Roasts) - my thoughts turn to books. 

To be fair, my thoughts are never far from books.  I was blessed with parents who imbued me with an almost unnatural love for the written word, for a well-turned story.  And the stubborn "do it myself" spirit that had me reading quickly and well long before I started school.  (I'm told I'm a speed-reader - but I think of it as merely wanting to find out how it all ends as quickly as possible.) 

Here are the notable books  is one of the books that provided me, and my evening cup of hot chocolate, with amiable company over the last week and weekend. 

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The Night Circus is listed by Powell's Books under "literature" and "metaphysics", so is somewhat outside of the regular "fantasy" genre from which I glean my reading material.  But searching the stacks at the library, row after row, from shelves far above my head to those at my feet - can be a frustrating and fruitless search at times.  So I have taken to browsing through recommended reading on Barnes & Nobles and Powell's websites and searching for titles that catch my eye. 

This particular book is the debut novel from Erin Morgenstern.  It's black, white and red cover is beautiful in design - both stark and ornate - hinting at a mindscape reminiscent of a Tim Burton movie.  The story itself did not disappoint. 

Be warned - the author tends to jump about between present and past.  It's a bit confusing at first - but you'll get used to it, and feel quite clever for figuring it out.  The author certainly doesn't assume her readers are dumb - which is a very pleasant thing.  The story takes its time and although I was tempted to take a break from it, I found myself wanting just one more sentence, one more paragraph, . . . walking forward, dreamlike, through the pages to the end of the story.

Haunting, magical, lyrical prose.  If you enjoyed the story and writing style of books such as The Historian, Labyrinth, and Sepulchre, I highly recommend this book.

Things of Note:

1. The last paragraph is where the new Blogger setup completely shafted me.  I had written two more reviews - which I can't be bothered to re-write. Although I saved and published, blogger didn't, therefore I lost everything I'd written about the next two books.  Some angst ensued.  Get it together, blogger.
2. Three different colors of candles all standing together?  Very pretty.  Three different scents of candles in one spot?  Headache-inducing.  Why can't I have one lovely scent in three different colors of candle?  
3. Moving a slider rocking-chair by yourself, when you are my size (5'6" if I stand up veeeeeerrry straight) can cause odd bruising that you don't notice until later and puzzle over the cause of.  In this case, on the inside of my upper arm.  Very strange.
4. It's hard not to stare at coworker as though you've been pole-axed when they show up to work in what amounts to a culotte-length romper suit.