Riding Lessons (Sara Gruen)

Enjoying this book at Kettle Lakes Provincial
Park!  (But it wasn't until I was relaxing
on beautiful Manitoulin Island that
it got finished!

I first bought this book because I was looking for a fourth book for a "Buy 3, get the 4th free" sale.  I had already read Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (which I loved), so I decided to give her another try. 

In Riding Lessons, Annemarie Zimmer and her teenage daughter, Eva, move back to Annemarie's childhood home when things start to get difficult - she has lost her job, is going through a divorce, and her father is dying.  When she returns home, she's reminded of a past that she'd left behind - riding horses - since, as a teenager she was an Olympic contender until an accident crashed all hopes of her dreams coming true.  It all becomes a lot to handle and she struggles with all of her relationships (with her mother, daughter, and old love interests).  Throughout all this, enter a white striped horse that reminds her of the horse she used to ride - will this help her to regain some of the passion she had lost or just make everything more difficult?

I wasn't disappointed with Riding Lessons, but I found it didn't entirely live up to my expectations, probably because I remember how much I enjoyed Water for Elephants.  If you're comparing the two books, Water for Elephants would definitely come out on top.

If you look at this book for what it is, without comparing it to other works by Gruen, then I would say that I really enjoyed it.  I'm not a huge fan of horses - while I enjoy looking at them and think that they are beautiful animals, I think that they're giant and they kind of scare me a bit - and there was a lot about them in this book (obviously).  I've never been a rider, so some of the terminology was a little bit foreign to me, but the overall concepts in the book were heartwarming.  The book demonstrates the rollercoaster of Annemarie's life and really shows how deep a person's love for an animal can be.

I thought it was a great, quick summer read.  There is a sequel, Flying Changes, which maybe I will dive into someday...

Water for Elephants (Sara Gruen)

In an attempt to catch up on writing about some of the books I read this past year, I shall write this one.  I was inspired last night after finally watching the movie version of Water for Elephants. This past winter, I was encouraged to read the novel Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.  I'm still a believer that 90% of the time, the book is better than the movie.  The movie, in this case, reminded me so much of the story that I read a few short months ago. 

The novel goes back and forth between the nursing home, where a ninety year old Jacob Jankowski is currently residing, and his earlier days, when he is 23 and working for the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. 
Jacob started working for the Benzini Brothers after he finds out that his parents have passed away.  Jacob was due to take his final veterinary exam and begin working with his father, but now decides to leave before he graduates from the program.  Once on the train, he gets hired as their veterinarian.  He becomes wrapped up in a love triangle and is engulfed in the life of the show.

I loved everything about Water for Elephants.  What kid doesn't think about what it would be like to work for a circus?  This gives you a somewhat behind the scenes look at some of the challenges that Jacob faced on the road.  I loved the back and forth of the story between the nursing home and the circus.  I loved the relationships that Jacob created on the train.  I loved the love triangle.  I loved the ending.  I loved that I didn't want to put the book down.

I would definitely recommend the novel, for a few extra stories from the nursing home and for some great opportunities to use your imagination and create your own images of what is being so wonderfully described using words.