A Must-Read

Numerous people in my recent past have told me that they always see me reading something – a newspaper, blogs from my internet-enabled phone, and, of course, fat and slim books with colorful to plain vanilla covers. From Beverly Cleary’s beloved and naughty Ramona to V.C. Andrew’s and Christopher Pike’s spooky and dysfunctional stories, I’ve always been a hungry reader.

Two out of my three kids are also eager-beaver-readers. I’m still working to make that three out of three because I really believe that good readers make the world go around, and I don’t want a dummy kid. OK, that’s a bit dramatic but consider that my husband admittedly only reads his email and computer manuals here and there. In no way am I calling my husband a dummy because of course he’s not. He himself wishes he enjoyed reading more but he just doesn’t. He just can’t get lost in a book like we readers do which is quite surprising because he is a talented story-teller. But I digress. Onto a book you absolutely must read…

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Although in deep denial most of the time, I am old or at least quickly getting old. Every year, I add another candle to the chocolate-fudge with butter cream icing birthday cake in my head because it’s a day I no longer celebrate. And every year, I’m one year closer to sitting in a dreary nursing home like the sweet old-man narrator in Water for Elephants. Seriously, the first page and a half of this book succinctly explains exactly what I’ve been feeling the last few years as time and again I find myself looking at one of my kids and calling him everyone else’s name and as my mind fervently searches for the exact word I’m thinking of and oftentimes not finding it.

The story itself – past the first page and a half – is an absorbing look at circus life in the Depression-era as Jacob Jankowski looks back on his life as an accidental-veterinarian for a pathetic circus quite unlike the infamous Ringling Brothers. The author, Sara Gruen, weaves love and railcar adventure intricately throughout the book making it impossible to put down without finishing just one more chapter. Needless to say, it’s a must-read book and one I’ll make my two-out-of-three kids read if they ever think of joining the circus. Or of putting mom in a nursing home.