Sunday, March 2, 2008

'Water for Elephants': A Three-Ring Hit!

Thanks to everyone who made it to the second book club meeting: Doris, Ramya, Kendra, Krista, Marta and Amanda. Man, that's a lotta names that end in "a"! We all really enjoyed the book, especially its vivid descriptions of such a charismatic world, and how it was so well-researched. If you're looking for a fast read that's hard to put down, check it out!

If you still haven't had your fill of circus fun, you're in luck: The circus is coming to town. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey's "Greatest Show on Earth" will be in Baltimore March 12-23 and at Verizon Center March 27-30. They also usually do an Elephant Walk somewhere in town before each run.

Farther afield: I'm guessing this is the Ringling museum Ramya mentioned visiting in Sarasota, Fla. And here's Circus World, the museum in Baraboo, Wis., that Krista talked about. It's on the site of the original Ringling Bros. winter quarters. (Also, the Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Fla., is the second hit when you search "Ringling" on Google. Amanda knows someone who went there! No mention of elephants in the course descriptions.)

And to get a circusy fix without leaving home, there's the HBO series "Carnivale," which Marta recommends. It ran for two seasons in 2003 and 2005. Its Web site says:
CARNIVALE follows a traveling carnival as it wends its way across the Dust Bowl, focusing on Ben Hawkins, a mysterious 18-year-old fugitive with hidden talents who is taken in by the carnival, and Brother Justin, the charismatic, shadowy evangelist who will ultimately cross his path. The series takes place at a time of worldwide unrest, with evil on the rise around the globe and the Great Depression wreaking economic and social havoc here at home.
Spooky!

In non-circus news:
  • Stay tuned for an e-mail from Jenny about the April book and meeting details.
  • For May, Amanda and Marta (who live in an awesome house in Mount Pleasant -- with a deck!) have agreed to host.
  • We talked about being a little looser on the "first Sunday" guideline -- could be more like "first 10 days or so" going forward each month.

3 comments:

jen said...

I'm sad I couldn't make it to talk about the book! Count me is as someone who really liked it too. I thought I'd get creeped out (as I'm wont to do when it comes to circuses).

But it was vivid. It played like a movie in my head: kept picturing Ryan Gosling (a la the early part of "The Notebook") and maybe someone like Natalie Portman in the leads. Oh, and Peter Dinklage as Walter...

I loved the old photos from the museums too. It was nice to have visual cues like that to show you what it was really like.

Doris T. said...

Peter Dinklage would be perfect as Walter. And we need Frasier's Eddie to play Queenie =)

Thanks, Angie, for being a fab hostess.

See you all next time (I hope).

Doris T. said...

P.S. I feel out having a name that doesn't end in -a. However, one of The Post's writers refers to me as "Dorita." That has to count, right? =)

And kids often think my name is Dora. I'd be the perfect babysitter if I got the pageboy haircut. Heh.