The Night Circus

“The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it, no paper notices on downtown posts and billboards, no mentions or advertisements in local newspapers. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not.”

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is a fantastical love story set during the turn of the century. Historical fiction with a magical twist! I successfully completed reading it with five days to spare on my CLAMS rental! Gotta love Christmas break! Although slow in the beginning, the beautiful writing style and unusual storyline held my interest. Once the love story kicked in, I was hooked.

Is it so bad that my life is so dreadful that all I want to do is get lost in the pages of a good book? I definitely identified with the elements of longing for a connection between the main characters in this book and the sense of melancholy woven throughout.

”He longs to reach over and touch her, but he resists, fearful of destroying the delicate camaraderie they are building. He steals glances instead, watching the way the light falls over her skin. Several times he catches her regarding him in a similar manner, and the moments when she holds his eyes with hers are sublime.”

Do moments like these actually exist in real life or are they just in our imaginations?

The Little Prince

I know I’ve read The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupéry before. I know it’s a classic, but I couldn’t remember why. Thought I better refresh my memory since it’s the book we chose to gift all our fifth graders this year for the holidays.

I finished rereading it on Christmas Eve, and I actually hope some students will give it a chance because it has a nice little message about following your own heart and discovering what's really important in life. 

"All men have the stars . . . but they are not the same things for different people. For some, who are travelers, the stars are guides. For others they are not more than little lights in the sky. For others, who are scholars, they are problems. For my businessman they were wealth. But all these stars are silent. You—you alone—will have the stars as no one else has them—"

Extra credit for students who took the time to read it during their break and can complete a short, meaningful assignment about it!

“A lovely story . . . which covers a poetic, yearning philosophy—not the sort of fable that can be tacked down neatly at its four corners but rather reflections on what are real matters of consequence.”
—The New York Times Book Review