The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, read by Jim Dale

★★★★★ // ★★★★★

♫♫♫♫♫ // ♫♫♫♫♫ 

[13 hours 19 mins]

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night. 

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night. 

Don't read any more summary than that. Just jump in to the mysterious world of Le Cirque des Rêves.

Like many books I choose to read, I did not investigate the plot of this at all prior to reading it. I didn't even read the book jacket summary. I like to go into books with a clear, open mind. I added it to my library queue after it made Amazon's Best of 2011 list. 

I'm not going to go into plot summary because I believe books are best enjoyed unspoiled. But when I finished this book, I had goosebumps and an inexplicable sense of loss and longing and also amazement at how beautiful it all was. Morgenstern made The Night Circus alive, focusing at times on each of the senses. She created a magical world, in whose depth and mystery rivals the feeling Hogwarts gave me as a child, a desire to inhabit the book ever after I had finished it, just to get those magical feelings back.

I read some reviews on GoodReads where readers hated The Night Circus because it was "too descriptive." But personally, I love books (and especially audiobooks) that use descriptive language to access the senses, the way these books envelop the readers, bringing them in. It is the mark of a skilled and thoughtful writer to manipulate her language to fit the needs of the story. If that doesn't sound like your thing, I would suggest you stick to the realm of popular and genre fiction.

Morgenstern has definitely made my list as a writer to follow up on after this amazing debut novel, especially after I discovered that she drafted it as part of National Novel Writing Month.

In terms of listening to this novel, I suggest you pay some attention to the dates. Chapters are from the perspectives of multiple characters and they are given out of chronological order. Once you get the hang of this, it is not too hard to follow. Jim Dale, known to many as the voice of the US version Harry Potter audiobooks, was the perfect selection to read The Night Circus. As far as audiobook readers go, he is one of the greats, if not the great. I'll be surprised if he doesn't win some award for this performance. Here's an excerpt from his Wikipedia page:

He has recorded all seven books in the Harry Potter series, and as a narrator he has won two Grammy Awards, seven Grammy Nominations and a record ten Audie Awards including "Audio Book of the Year 2004," "Best Children's Narrator 2001/2005/2007/2008," "Best Children's Audio Book 2005," two Benjamin Franklin Awards from the Independent Book Publishers Association (one of these was in 2001 for Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban). and twenty three Audio File Earphone Awards. He is also the narrator for the Harry Potter video games, and for many of the interactive "extras" on the Harry Potter DVD releases. He also holds two Guinness World Records: one for having created and recorded 146 different character voices for one audiobook, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and one for occupying the first six places in the Top Ten Audio Books of America and Canada 2005.

Recommended for: general readers not put off by magical realism, fans of Neil Gaiman, fans of Harry Potter

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen, read by David Ledoux

★★★★ // ★★★★★

♫♫♫ // ♫♫♫♫♫

[24 hours, 9 minutes]

I came away from Freedom not sure how to feel, but definitely a little more sullen that I was when I started it. I enjoyed Franzen's exploration of mankind's fallibility through his characters. However, even though these characters were compelling in their sadnesses and failings and the ways the went about dealing with conflict, I can only deal with a certain amount of hopelessness, especially in audiobook form for 24 hours and 9 minutes. I felt that there were not enough bright moments to give me the sense that the struggle of life is worth it.

This book received a lot of criticism after being called The Next Great American Novel because critics (and a lot of people writing GoodReads reviews) argued that it is only The Great American Novel for white, middle-class, green liberals. I think this is argument is a waste of breath, but here is my response to it: There are three levels to multicultural theory: 3) Universal - we are all human and share certain characteristics and sentiments as a result. 2) Group - We belong to cultural groups that tend to determine our culture, values, etc. 1) Individual - We are all individuals and thus different from everyone else. Freedom, though people criticizing it tend to focus on the book's emphasis on level 2, exists at all three of those levels. Novels should be judged for what they are, not what they aren't. Call it The Great American Novel if you want. But I think it presents a pretty bleak portrayal of America and suburban life in America. However, it is definitely worth reading or listening to. It asks a lot of worthwhile questions and captures the feelings of a particular culture during our time period. It's an important book to have read.

Though David Ledoux's reading is seamless and nearly transparent, Freedom may not be the right book for you if you are unable to devote nearly all of your attention to it. I found myself pausing or losing track of what I was doing pretty often to concentrate better on the story. Also, at 24 hours long, this audiobook may be too demanding for casual listeners.

Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks, read by Jennifer Ehle

★★★★ // ★★★★★

♫♪ // ♫♫♫♫♫
[12 hours, 10 mins)

Based on the story of the first Native American to go to Harvard through the eyes of a secret childhood friend - a puritan woman and the daughter of a minister. Wonderfully constructed. A story of one woman's quest for knowledge in a society that forbid it to her. Touches on a number of powerful themes: religion, the nature of sin, ethnocentrism, feminism, colonization. This book would have been a wonderful choice for someone to analyze with post-colonial theory for a literary theory class. It would also have fit well in a history class focusing on the settlement of the Americas. This novel tells the story of colonization from a contemporary perspective, one that brings up all the right misgivings, hypocracies, and ethical dilemmas surrounding this period of American history, and does so with heart, by telling a story that matters. 


recommended for: fans of historical fiction & early american history, general readers


While the story seemed to lend itself well to an oral interpretation, Jennifer Ehle over-enunciates her words. It comes off as unnatural and disjointed. She also uses D instead of T in certain places. I am unfamiliar with her other work and do not know if this is typical of her reading.  However, I pushed through and it became less noticeable over time. I would definitely sample this book before buying it outright. Determine your level of comfort with the language - though this book is contemporary, it takes place in the 1600s and Brooks' research into the language reflects that. Also, decide if Ehle's pronunciation, which I'm assuming is also a reference to that time period, is too off-putting to listen to for 12 hours and 10 minutes.