Read it or Ditch it: The Night Circus

“Read it or Ditch it” is a new weekly feature I’ll be doing each Monday on the blog. The goal is to force myself into making a decision regarding some titles on my TBR pile. Each week I’ll select a book that has sat unread on my shelves for longer than a year and ask the question “Read it or Ditch it?”. If I still want to read it, then by posting it here I’m claiming that I’ll read it by the end of the year. If I’m no longer interested in the book, then this is a send off to the title since I’ll either be donating or selling it.

At the end of the year, I’ll do a round-up post to see how I did. If there are any titles that I said I’d read, but still didn’t, then I’ll either donate or sell those. Hopefully, doing this will help me reach my goal of only 100 books sitting unread on my TBR pile by the end of 2016.

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The Night Circus
Author: Erin Morgenstern
Published: 2011
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Series: N/A
Length of Time on TBR Pile: About 5 years.
Read it or Ditch it?: Read it

I’m so going to read The Night Circus. I’ve had it since it was first published and have heard so many wonderful things about it. I just keep forgetting about it for some reason. Have any of you read this one? Did you love it?

In case you’re interested in the summary:

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it, no paper notices plastered on lampposts and billboards. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not.

Within these nocturnal black-and-white striped tents awaits an utterly unique, a feast for the senses, where one can get lost in a maze of clouds, meander through a lush garden made of ice, stare in wonderment as the tattooed contortionist folds herself into a small glass box, and become deliciously tipsy from the scents of caramel and cinnamon that waft through the air.

Welcome to Le Cirque des Rêves.

Beyond the smoke and mirrors, however, a fierce competition is under way–a contest between two young illusionists, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood to compete in a “game” to which they have been irrevocably bound by their mercurial masters. Unbeknownst to the players, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will.

As the circus travels around the world, the feats of magic gain fantastical new heights with every stop. The game is well under way and the lvies of all those involved–the eccentric circus owner, the elusive contortionist, the mystical fortune-teller, and a pair of red-headed twins born backstage among them–are swept up in a wake of spells and charms.

But when Celia discovers that Marco is her adversary, they begin to think of the game not as a competition but as a wonderful collaboration. With no knowledge of how the game must end, they innocently tumble headfirst into love. A deep, passionate, and magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

Their masters still pull the strings, however, and this unforeseen occurrence forces them to intervene with dangerous consequences, leaving the lives of everyone from the performers to the patrons hanging in the balance.