Flying Changes

By Sara GruenSo I was reading Riding Lessons, and couldn't not go find the sequel and read that too. The books really go together as one complete story, I wouldn't recommend reading one without the other. This book picks up where Riding Lessons left off, with the wonderfully imperfect lives of Annemarie and her daughter Eva and and all of the problems that they make for themselves. While this book is still told from Annemarie's perspective, much of the drama comes from her trying to deal with Eva's riding dreams and Annemarie's fear of another horrible accident. There are some unexpected twists that I don't want to tell you about because it would ruin the first half of the book. But it makes the second half perfectly, and helps wrap the book up nicely. And by wrapped up nicely, I mean that they will still have many life problems, just like the rest of us, but that they might be able to handle them. Read it. After you read Riding Lessons.

Riding Lessons

By Sara GruenIn case you didn't catch it, this book is by the same author that wrote Water For Elephants, one of the books we read for our book club meeting. I saw this at Value Village for 2$ and thought it was worth trying to see if I liked it. And I really liked it. It wasn't as sensational as Water for Elephants, but her writing is just a good and the story she weaves is pretty compelling.

The story follows Annemarie who, after a divorce, moves her troubled teenage daughter back to her childhood home. Doesn't sound too noteworthy, but Annemarie was an Olympic Equestrian who suffered a freak accident that killed her horse and almost killed her. And she never got back on a horse. And her childhood home is a horse farm. And Annemarie's father is dying. Sounds rather depressing right? Amazingly, it is not. I think my favorite thing about this book is that it focuses on characters who are not perfect. They make a lot of dumb mistakes, just like the rest of us do. But they learn to come to grips with some of the drama/trauma in their lives and get back on a track. I also like that the story never aims to make the characters lives perfect, just normal and livable. If I had to pick a theme for this book I would say that it revolves around families (and all of the problems that come with family) and love, in all of its diffrenet forms. I would highly recommend this book, purely enjoyable.

Water for Elephants

By Sara GruenI finished my book club book! I let Andrew read it first, so I was tortured by hearing everyone say how much they loved it while I waited for my turn. Now I can be part of the "I love Water for Elephants club" and I'm glad. The book is written from the perspective of a 90 something year old man, Jacob, remembering the time when he dropped out of college and joined the circus. The chapters alternate between his current life at the assisted living home where he know lives and his memories. Jacob's reminiscing is brought on by the arrival of a circus on his block that prompts him to recall a secret that he has kept for almost 70 years. The book follows Jacob's experiences with the circus as he learns about the many brutalities of circus life, falls in love, and tries to save his friends.

I like this book A LOT. And I think it would make a very entertaining movie. It has humor, adventure, love, suspense, all of it. And the ending is perfect. Everyone that I have talked too thought that the ending was perfect, I've never heard so many people agree. Because of that, I managed to refrain from reading the end of the book ahead of time (a big deal for me!). I am amazed that we managed to pick such a good book without any of us knowing much about it. I'm even thinking about reading it again before the book club, it was that good.

I highly recommend this book and that's all I'm going to tell you, I don't want to spoil any of it for you!