baci's book club - May 2011 - Water for Elephants

I'm so excited about today's first official baci's book club discussion :o) It's great timing because all the baci's book club eMembers are receiving their free baci's bookmarks this week in the mail!! You can still sign up and receive yours, too!

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Baci's book club met at my home last Thursday, May 19th and discussed Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants - "An atmospheric, gritty, and compelling novel of star-crossed lovers, set in the circus world circa 1932, by the bestselling author of Riding Lessons {source}.

WARNING, the following discussion may act as a Spoiler Alert!!

There were a few people (myself included) who had read it when it originally came out a few years ago, but most everyone was reading it for the first time. All in all everyone loved the book! A few of us (me this time, too) felt that the circus history was a bit dull, but when we all sat down and thought about it again we realized that it really was so interesting to see what the circus was like in the past - all the drama, death, murder and betrayal really opened our eyes. We all really liked the times with Jacob living in the nursing home - he was an adorable, ornery old man :o)

The most impacting events we felt were the animal abuse (it really broke our hearts, terribly!), Rosie "speaking" Polish (I just wanted to squeeze her!!) and the passing of Walter (we all truly grew to love the rotten guy throughout the book). The book truly had a little bit of everything - drama, romance, sadness - it is a great read and we would most certainly recommend it!

We honestly can't wait to see the movie - there are plans in the works to see it together as a group in a few weeks :o) Have any of you seen the movie? How does it compare to the book?

Feel free to join in the conversation below with your thoughts on the book!! The more chatting we get going, the more successful baci's book club can become :o)

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Now for next month's read: Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin - also a current movie!! We'll be meeting Thursday, June 30th so the next baci's book club post will be on Thursday, July 7th - be sure to read ahead of time so you can discuss with us :o)

Stay tuned Tuesday for the next baci's baking recipe - a seriously tasty recipe for Hot Artichoke Dip from baci book club member, Teri :o)