Love a book online reading group

I have been meaning to link up to this for a very long time. From  June in fact when I was lucky enough to receive a copy of Water for Elephants from the lovely Cara over at frecklesfamily.com to kick start her online reading group.

So first of all sorry Cara that it has taken me so long ( not to read the book) but to write about it for the group.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen would not initially be the type of book I would generally pick to read myself, and with all the hype about the impending film at the time I would have taken the easy way out and watched the film instead.

However, I'm so glad I did choose to read the book rather than just go see the film. This story had me hooked from the first few pages. I love the story being told from Jacobs point of view and the comparison between the young, vibrant Jacob and the old, forgetful Jacob. Initially looking at the modern film book cover you are swayed to believe that the love story would be obvious and predictable. What you don't get until you actually start reading is that there is an underlying but more important bond between himself and the elephant Rosie.Jacobs character is warm and inviting and your empathy with him is strong from the start.

I loved reading about the hardship, hard work, difficult life that these people had during this time. How harsh real life could be for some of these characters both in the book but ultimately a lot of this had been commonplace in those times.

I enjoyed the twists of fate that occurred throughout, just as you thought you knew how the story was going, it would make you stop and take a breath!

I have since thoroughly recommended this read to many of my friends and since have been more inclined to read recommendations given to me. I felt great to get out of the rut of only reading similar books/ authors and this one has taught me to branch out at least.