Summer Reading 2012

I finished two books recently that I had to blog about:

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern was a fantastic read. A friend recommended it to me, and I read in 2 days, just couldn't put it down. The story takes place via different flashbacks in the late 19th/early 20th century, following the beginnings and rise of two master illusionists, taught and raised by rival magicians.  A challenge will bring them to face one another within the arena of the "Night Circus," a magical circus that shows up in towns unannounced and only opens to the public at night.  The imagery in the novel would translate well into a movie, which I would definitely see.  Target has the book available in paperback (the image above) - do yourself a favor and enjoy a visit to the Night Circus!

I read In Cold Blood by Truman Capote a few summers back, and I've been hooked on mystery novels ever since.  Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn is definitely the mystery novel to pick up this summer. I didn't realize this, but I read another book by Gillian Flynn last year, called Dark Places, that I enjoyed. Dark Places was an dark, odd murder mystery that followed a character trying to make money off her dark past at first, and being drawn into investigating what actually happened to her family twenty five years before in the so-called "The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas". That book was definitely a hard read at times due to the grisly details of the murder, but worth it in the end. Gone Girl was a less-grisly read, revolving around the disappearance/suspected murder of a woman, Amy Dunne, and the likely suspect - her husband, Nick Dunne. Their marriage has been slowly unraveling since they moved to Nick's hometown in Missouri, and on their fifth wedding anniversary, Amy goes missing. All fingers point to Nick, who's not so perfect as he portrays.  The book moves about going back and forth between Amy and Nick's perspectives before and after the disappearance. This is definitely a page turner, with new discoveries each and every chapter. Every time you think you have it all sorted out, the author throws another twist at you. I highly recommend picking up the Gone Girl if you're looking for a new mystery novel.