Monday, January 9, 2012

The Night Circus -- A Recipe

I had every intention on posting my reaction to The Night Circus yesterday but between an evening shift at work, a sick little boy, and an inability to clearly articulate my thoughts it just didn't happen.  I feel a bit silly even posting about The Night Circus; endlessly reviewed on book blogs, this novel of magicians in love and war has been hovering on the periphery of my reading for ages.  I finally decided to delve in and tried my best to push aside all preconceived notions and expectations.  I cracked open my book on New Year's Eve and prepared to "read in the New Year".  I believed I could finish that book in one night. Oh I could have finished the book in one night, but I stopped myself.; I simply couldn't bring myself to let the book end.  It was that good. Besides the gorgeous images, my favorite thing about The Night Circus was that it reminded me of many of my favorite novels, movies, and authors.  Let me make it clear that this wasn't a case of Morgenstern's novel being a pale imitation of a favorite novel, rather it was more like she took the mythology of a myriad of magical things I love and made something new, but with a nod to the old.

Sounds delicious, eh?  It is.  And I've included the recipe for The Night Circus to better sum up my reading experience:



The Night Circus:

Ingredients:
4 Cups Angela Carter's work
2 Cups wonderfully atmospheric color palette of black and white
Dash of red
3 Cups of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
5 Tablespoons of Geek Love
4 Cups of damn fine writing
1 Cup of The Prestige
1 Quart ingenuity 
Pinch of Harry Potter
Dash of Neil Gaiman


Mix Angela Carter's work with the color palette and dash of red.
Blend in Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Geek Love, damn fine writing and The Prestige.
Create a well in the center and pour in ingenuity, fold in.
Sprinkle with Harry Potter and Neil Gaiman.


Bake at 387 pages.  Serve with nighttime, cup of tea, and page-turning dazzlement.

There you are, your very own Night Circus recipe.  Needless to say as my first read of 2012 Morgenstern's novel has set the bar quite high for my other reads!





8 comments:

Amanda said...

Love it! This book certainly set the bar high for me when I read it at the end of last September. No book came close to it in the last quarter of the year! I just now finished reading (well, listening to) a book that was my first five-star book in months. It took that long for the spell to wear off, I guess. :D

Joanne said...

I've got this on order at the library - can't wait!

Heather said...

Yes, exactly. Oh my goodness, but I adore that book. I'm pretty sure I'll figure out a way to reread it this year, especially now that I have my own gorgeous, finished copy to take my time through.

Catherine said...

I'm waiting on it right now myself. I'm catching up on last year, reading The Tiger's Wife and Swamplandia while I wait. But this recipe has me excited!!!

Linda said...

I love the recipe idea. You certainly captured the essence of the book that way!

Andi said...

LMAO! Best review of this book ANYWHERE EVER! Great job!

Lindsey Sparks said...

This is such a fun post, and now I want to read the authors you mentioned who I'm not familiar with!

Andi said...

I "linkapalooza'ed" you for this today!