The Book of Speculation came as a pleasant surprise. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I really enjoyed the story from start to finish. The narrative follows Simon, a librarian whose house is falling into the sea, as he is given a rare book that will help him understand his past and ultimately transform his future. In the mysterious book, Simon learns about a traveling carnival in the 1700s and is shocked by the parallels to his current life.

Parts of the novel fell flat for me, and the plot seemed to wander at points, but altogether it was a delightful story. I've never read Ericka Swyler before; however, I liked her writing style and plan to read more of her work in the future.

One of the many reading challenges I'm doing this year is the Monthly Motif Challenge, and for October, the challenge was "Read a book set in a theater, an amusement park, a circus, or a book involving magic, illusions, or characters with special powers." This was pretty much the only TBR book I had involving a circus. It features a lot of things I usually like, librarians, old books, intricate family histories, folklore, mysterious curses and a romantic subplot, yet it failed to really wow me.

Simon spends pretty much all his time not working in a library desperately trying to keep his childhood home from falling apart. After his mother committed suicide in the water nearby, his father just refused to do any work on it, and now it's getting so bad Simon's no longer sure he can save it. Nevertheless, he keeps trying, as he doesn't want to lose the connection to his past, and he wants his younger sister Enola to have something to come back to when she's ready for it.

He's sent a mysterious old book by an antiquarian who claims that it is relevant to his family history. While he initially dismisses the claim, he gets more and more caught up in the tales told in the book's pages, and as he keeps digging, he discovers that his mother is just the last in a long line of women in his family who, despite being absolutely amazing swimmers, able to hold their breaths for unprecedented amounts of time, they have all died by drowning, on the exact same date. As Enola suddenly returns after several years' absence, and the fateful date is approaching fast, Simon becomes terrified that the curse will strike her as well, unless he finds a way to stop it.

I liked the historical bits of the novel, the ones exploring how the curse came to start in the first place, to be the most interesting, but even those sections failed to entirely hold my attention. I also found some aspects of the story to just be too difficult to suspend my disbelief about, and I genuinely couldn't understand why Simon would spend so much time, money and effort to try to save a crumbling old house, especially considering his memories concerning it were more negative than happy.

It's a definite downside when I fail to entirely connect with the protagonist of a novel. Here, I just didn't care all that much about Simon. I liked Enola a lot better, as well as his fellow librarian/childhood friend (although I think she could do way better romance wise). Still, a lot of the Eastern folklore bits in the historical sections of the book, as well as the depictions of the travelling circus were good.

I don't regret getting this book in a sale, or the time I spent reading it, but I doubt I'll ever feel the need to re-read it, either.

Judging a book by its cover: I'm wondering the publisher made a conscious choice to have a woman holding a stack of old books on the cover is because this book is clearly aimed more at a female than a male audience, and it was assumed that this would be more appealing? We basically see the story through the eyes of several men, our protagonist himself being a librarian. It seems a bit odd to me to have the pile of books being carried by a woman (even though, yes, there are lady librarians in the book, as well).

This book did not live up to my expectations. I will always want to read a book with books on the cover about books, but The Book of Speculations wasn't for me. It didn't hold up to its promise. The characters were flat and the plot was anticlimatic if not boring. I will try again with this author.

This is a book that proves you need to at least read a couple of chapters before giving up. It was about 50 pages into it when the book grabbed my attention. Of course, as a librarian, reading a book that features a librarian searching for a mystery in his family past should be interesting, Its hard to talk about this book without giving it way, but it involves a traveling circus in the 1700's that featured a mermaid.

I am a big fan of books about books, and I remember liking this book when I read it. Some characters fell a little flat, and some parts dragged, but overall the mystical elements and the storyline kept me engaged

As a librarian and a lover of fantasy, I was really looking forward to this. There is some really beautiful narration in here and I loved the carnival setting. It's what I would call realistic fantasy, a new genre I'm coming to appreciate.

Absolutely riveting. I could not put this book down and I read it in one sitting. Great writing style and I would highly recommend it.

I like to read books about books. But this book didn't meet my expectations.

Simon, having just lost his job and his home in much needed repair or it will fall into the sea, is captivated when a long lost book arrives in the mail with his grandmother's name. And so unravels a thread about mermaids, carnivals, drownings and love. Can Simon figure out the great mysteries of his family before it's too late?

I love the writing of this book. It reminds me of the magic and tone of The Night Circus, except without all of the sugar descriptions. The dark and ominous tone of the book balances well with between the two timelines as we read about current day Simon, struggling to find unravel his family history and possibly the reason of his mother's suicide, and the long ago carnival that housed a wild boy, a mermaid, a fortune teller and company. I loved going bak and forth between the timelines, allowing us glimpses of life between both worlds. Each chapter pulled me in so that at the end, I was always sad to leave that story and go to the other one. (Both were well written.)

But the book did drag for me in places, mainly towards the end. Everything in Simon's timeline was supposed to be coming to a big conclusion, but it felt like a let down. On the other timeline, with the circus, the closing of that storyline was beautiful and bittersweet, but also felt too fragile and soft. I would have liked to know more about what happened to them after we leave them, though we have a hint form the current timeline's research. Still, I invested so much time in those characters, I would have like a more complete circle between the two stories. Also there are worlds and generations between the two stories and while they were mentioned and played an important role, there wasn't enough detail on them which made me sad. I would have liked something!

Overall, The Book Of Speculation is well written and a dark bittersweet fairy tale that many will enjoy.  Even though I'm not a fan of the ending, I think the overall tone, writing and imagery of the book is well worth the read.

This book looked really great to me, but sadly, it didn't quite deliver. I found everything from the characters to the storyline to the setting to be so-so. I didn't dislike any of it, but thought it could have done so much more. I'll try the author again, and I hope that the next book will be better suited to my taste.

I really enjoyed this book. Its different to the books I would usually choose, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

The plot moves pretty slowly, but I enjoyed the historical parts of the story, as well as the research that Simon did into the book and his family history.

Thank you for the opportunity read and review this title! I didn't enjoy it as much as I"d hoped, and rather than post a negative review, I chose to not feature it on my blog. I look forward to seeing what new releases you have in store!

This seemed like a perfect blend of two of my favorite things, libraries and circuses, but was more about one than the other. I loved the circus history and how the families were intertwined, but I I found myself wanting something more after it was all over. I can't quite put my finger on it. Enjoyable nonetheless.

In retrospect, I enjoyed the reading of this book very much but the pacing was a bit odd and the characterization a bit flat for the most part.

Goodreads: A dark, quirky family saga with circus ties & a touch of magical realism. Surprised me & I enjoyed it. FTC disclosure: I received an e-ARC from the publisher in exchange for my honest review on my blog.

Blog:
FTC Disclosure: I received an e-ARC through NetGalley from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. I check out the audiobook from Overdrive through my local library.

For some reason, when I read descriptions of this book, the circus and eerie, magical elements of this book didn't jump out at me. What I remembered about the descriptions was mainly that Simon is a librarian in a small town, living in a crumbling house, who is given a mysterious book. All true, but far less interesting than this book actually is.I missed the parts that would have made me read this much, much sooner - namely, that it alternates between the present-day and the past, with the portions set in the past taking place in a traveling circus that has implications for the main character, his family, and his book.

So, Simon is in the present, tracing the history of this book & worrying about his sister who recently returned home after running away with a circus herself. Back in history, we meet the crew of a traveling circus and the young "wild boy" who comes to live and perform with them. This wild boy is trained by the circus's fortune teller, who warns him against the young, enchanting "mermaid" who entertains spectators by holding her breath. Simon tries to make the connections and figure out how his family came to be in this book. In the past, the circus reels from new developments among its members. As Simon pieces together the history of the book & readers figure out how the traveling circus is connected, Simon must figure out how to avert disaster in the present that stems from his family's history.

This quirky book sparkles with magic lying beneath the surface. It sneaks up on the reader - I didn't realize I was dealing with a bit of magical realism until it had already ensnared me and had me pondering odd coincidences and warnings of tarot cards on their own terms. The audio narration was excellent, with Ari Flaikos capturing Simon's frustration, bewilderment, and curiosity throughout the novel, even when listening on 1.5 speed. This was just the audiobook to take my mind off finals while walking the dog & I'm glad I finally got around to it.

Verdict: Affirmed. I only wish I had gotten to this dark, offbeat family saga sooner.

"The Book of Speculation" by Erika Swyler, published June 23, 2015 by St. Martin's Press. Audio narration by Ari Kliakos, published June 23, 2015 by Macmillan Audio.

Better than the Night Circus, and I loved the Night Circus.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I ended liking this book. At first I though it might be a bit "out there" for me and it was little difficult for me to get involved with the characters. Eventually I became engrossed in the mystery of Simon's history. I thought the author did a great job of tying the two storylines together. I liked the way it ended.

ARC from Netgalley