Our first book club meeting: The Night Circus

I'm one of those nerdy girls who has always wanted to be in a book club. A lifelong reader, I am instantly drawn to others who share my passion for the written word. Several years ago, I read a book called Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons, a book about several women in the 60's who start a book club and chronicles their lives together. Long story short, I was so intrigued by the idea of meeting up once a month to take time out of our schedules and dedicate it to each other and good discussion.

And wine. 

Anyway, fast forward a few years to this past June. For some reason, I got this wild hair that it would be a great idea to start a book club. My friends read. I read. It would be perfect. So I did what any millennial would do and posted my proposition on Facebook, offering to host the first one.

We picked a book (well, Random.org did because we were so indecisive) and settled on the Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. 

“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. But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, 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. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands. True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.” (Excerpted from: http://erinmorgenstern.com/)

In my opinion, it was a good opener. It was intriguing, magical and had a decent story line. Compared to our second month's pick which we just finished (Let's Just Pretend This Never Happened by The Bloggess), the Night Circus was the best book ever. AKA, our second book was TERRIBLE. No offense, it just wasn't my style and totally unrelatable. 

So, in case you're all interested in what I did to host, I thought I would give a little recap...I may or may not have gone a little overboard. The theme colors were white and black for the circus and of course, red for the reveurs. I tried to sprinkle little bits of circus in without going too crazy.

The front door --

The discussion table -- I removed the cards as it was mostly irrelevant to the story line.

Pre-food set-up -- [Welcome to the Night Circus FELLOW REVEURS]

Post food set-up: crackers, nuts, cheese, apples, carrots, crackers, chips//dip, chocolate mice, kettle corn and fruit kabobs [pictured in other photos].

Apple ginger ale, wine, and champagne were on the drink menu. 

Oh, and chocolate mice. Cannot forget the chocolate mice. If you would like, you can find the recipe here.

And of course, the discussion questions. No book club would be complete without a set of discussion questions, so I pulled mine randomly from different lists on the internet. If you happen to be hosting a Night Circus meeting, you can find an array of provoking questions to pose to your friends with a simple Google search.

I designed the questions and all the framed quotes that you see lying around. Our overall impression of the book was good and if I had to rate it, I would say it would get 3.5 out of 5 stars. The ending was sort of predictable in that I assumed what would happen, even if I didn't know exactly how it would pan out, but it was a nice read. I prefer a little fantasy mixed in so this was a nice mix for me. 

I'll admit something to you guys, most of the things I used to host were actually from the Dollar Store! The popcorn holders, table clothes and ticket stubs were DS finds, straws and string were Target and food from Vons. Very basic, very easy. All of the printables were created by yours truly and that was it!

Our second book was a horrific flop, but our third book, which we just chose on Monday, is the Secrets of Mary Bowser. I will give you my thoughts at the end of the month!

Have you ever been in a book club? Any desire to participate in one? On that same note, have any books you would recommend we add to our queue?