NaNoWriMo | Caught Read Handed

Despite the fact that I am technically a writer in that I write for my blog and for WatchPlayRead, I am not much of a creative writer. I occasionally write short stories, but most of these are kept to myself. As much as I would like to participate in NaNoWriMo, I don’t think I could develop my stories into 45,000 words, nor would I really want to.

So when I came across BookBlogWriMo hosted by Book Bumblings, I was pretty excited. Of course, then life got a little crazy and I got a couple of days behind, but here’s my official sign up post. Basically, BookBlogWriMo is a version of NaNoWriMo for book bloggers who may not have the ability or want or whatever to participate in a month-long drive to write 45,000 words.

Here’s the schedule for anyone else who might want to sign up. Click on the picture for the official sign up page!

BookBlogWriMo Posts:

Week 1

11/1 – History of Your Blog – Tell us how you got started! When did you start your blog? Why? What have been some of your trials and tribulations? How many pigs did you have to sacrifice to get people to see your Facebook posts?
11/2 – How You Read – Paperback? Hardcover? Ereader? Smartphone? Bookmarks, note taking in the margins, or highlighting? Tell us some of your reading rituals!
11/3 – Where You Read – Pretty self-explanatory. Bonus for a picture!
11/4 – Why You Blog – Again, self-explanatory.
11/5 – Where You Blog – Bonus for a picture!
11/6 – #TBT – Favorite Childhood Books – What were some of your favorite books way back when? This could be a read from before you could read, or what you spent summers by the pool with in high school.
11/7 – #FlashbackFriday – Blog’s First Design – This one’s fun! Oh, how blogs evolve! Go to WayBackMachine.com, enter your blog’s URL, and take a screenshot of what you used to look like!

Week 2

11/8 – Your Blogging Toolkit – We could all blog smarter! Share some of the best tools in your blogging arsenal.
11/9 – Your Blogging Workflow – Lifters can take their #gymflow and shove it. Share your blogging process and rituals using the hashtag #blogflow.
11/10 – Memes You Meme – Do you #ThrowbackThursday or indulge in a little #ManCandyMonday? Share some of your favorite meme posts from your blog or social media pages.
11/11 – #Top10Tuesday – Most Popular Posts – Head on over to Google Analytics or wherever your stats are located and find the 10 most popular posts on your blog. Link to them, talk about them, tell us why we should love them.
11/12 – Advice for Newbie Bloggers – Be Yoda. Share your secrets. Do or do not, there is no try.
11/13 – Your Review Process – Do you write your review the second you finish the book? Months later? Take notes as you read?
11/14 – Your Ratings System – A lot of blogs have ratings policies or systems. Some don’t, but they really do. What makes you decide how many stars to give?

Week 3

11/15 – Favorite Book Blogging Things – Feel free to talk about the wonderful host of BookBlogWriMo and how much you love her.
11/16 – Least Favorite Book Blogging Things – Yeah, sometimes blogging is a pain in the ass. Tell us why.
11/17 – Favorite Book Tropes – Friends with benefits? Manic pixie dream girl? What cliche-type things do you never get sick of?
11/18 – Favorite Subgenres – Self-explanatory.
11/19 – #WaitingOnWednesday – TBR Books – Name some books on your TBR shelf and why you’re looking forward to reading them.
11/20 – #TBT – Best Books of 2014 – Do a top 10, top 20, or hell, top 100 list of books you’ve enjoyed this year.
11/21 – #FlashbackFriday – Your First Reviews – Link up to your some of your first reviews. Feel free to get reflective.

Author: Erin Morgenstern

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Anchor Books

Publication Date: July 2012 (paperback)

512 pages, paperback

Check out the synopsis on Goodreads.

This book was recommended to me by AT LEAST 10 people. Every one of those people raved about it saying it was amazing, etc. So of course I had to check it out. I don’t think I was a victim of the hype monster. At least, I tried to go into it with no expectations (but I suppose some of them were still there).

Overall, this book was okay. The beginning was really interesting, the middle part dragged, and the end was awesome. I’m finding it difficult to put into words how I felt about this book for that reason.

The beginning: What a COOL idea! A circus that arrives without warning as if it appeared by magic. It only opens at night and closes when the sun rises. Called the Circus of Dreams. There’s going to be a battle of sorts between two magicians/illusionists/enchanters/whatever you want to call them, and the circus will be their arena. This is a seriously interesting premise for a book, and I enjoyed that part quite a bit.

What I was more unsure of in the beginning was the writing. The novel begins in the second person. Yep, second person. I don’t find this very effective in any sort of writing except for an occasional short story. Thankfully, these sections are rare with probably only 15 in the whole novel, each only a couple of pages. Also, the sections that are the actual story are written in the present tense though they are set about a century or more ago. This threw me off too.

The middle: Jesus, the middle. I literally had to take a break from the book and read another book for two days because I honestly didn’t think I was going to be able to do it. I don’t EVER do this. I don’t like leaving one world for another while I’m reading, but I had to. I did want to find out what happened with the battle and what the endgame was and what would happen to each of the characters, but the middle section is practically pointless in my opinion.

The end: The last third of this novel is incredible. Starting with Part IV and continuing until the end of the novel. I was actually really into the novel this whole time and finished the last 120 pages or so in no time. It was exciting and had me on the edge of my seat, flipping pages as quickly as I could to see what happened. Such a difference from the middle when I was flipping pages as quickly as I could to get it over with. So it wasn’t until the last two parts that I found myself actually really like The Night Circus.

We get some beautiful scenes with Celia and Marco, the two illusionists who were supposed to be battling; they were poignant and sad and wonderful, and I just loved all of the little moments when they were together – these were some of my favorite parts. The end is beautifully wrapped up but not too perfect, which I appreciated.

So overall? It was okay. The last third did try to make up for that horrible middle section. This book is 512 pages; it could’ve been AT LEAST 150 pages shorter in my opinion. Most of that middle section could have been shortened to about 50 pages. I really did love that last third though.

This novel is very, very visual. The colors, places, characters, and circus are all easily pictured. To me, a lot of the novel read like a screenplay though; settings and characters described as if setting for a movie or TV show. Actually, this novel would be perfectly suited for either of those. Maybe a Guillermo del Toro movie or something.

The bottom line: This novel was not quite what I was expecting. It’s got a seriously cool concept but fell pretty flat for me, at least in the middle. The last third is awesome though. I do see why some people love this novel so much. Definitely worth a shot.

Rating: 6 – good, but not great