arts & entertainment
Circle game
The Night Circus is a magical read
Book pick
By T. Foster Jones
IN EARLY 2011, Erin Morgenstern was in Salem,
Morgenstern says she feels a little like Alice,
having fallen down a rabbit hole.
“It’s very disorienting, very strange,” says
Morgenstern, who recently relocated from Salem to
Boston. “I’m trying my best to just live in the
moment, enjoy it and not think about it too much.”
Her ride is all the more remarkable for someone
who didn’t plan on being a writer. Although a vora-
cious reader while growing up (“I had
a perfect little nook in my closet with
pillows and blankets—I liked to get
lost and live in the book for a while”),
Morgenstern was drawn more to the
visual and performing arts.
A theater major in college,
Morgenstern found herself flounder-
ing in her 20s, wondering what to do
with her life: “I wandered around
through various theater and art
things, trying to find a role to fit me,
and always came back to storytelling
in one way or another.”
In 2005, she discovered motivation during
National Novel Writing Month, an annual writing
competition that requires participants to create a
50,000-word novel in the month of November.
“It was a really good exercise,” she explains.
“You have to write so fast that you stop being so
self-critical.”
She started writing about the circus, exploring
it as an imaginary space. However, she says, even
when finished, the book had no plot. “I was lucky
enough to have that plotless manuscript end up
with a few agents who were interested in it if I over-
hauled the entire thing, which I did,” she says.
Morgenstern spent the following three years or
so overhauling, staying mostly at home, powered by
copious amounts of tea and accompanied by her
two cats, Bucket and Tessa.
“I’m a messy writer,” she explains. “I need to
write and write and write, out of order, bits and
pieces—lots of material that I can then distill,” a non-
linear style that is very much reflected in the novel.
“There’s this idea that writing is very neat,”
continues Morgenstern, who is currently at work
on a new novel. “That you just start at the begin-
ning and finish at the end. That’s not how it works.”
And, despite the predictions of that Salem psy-
chic, Morgenstern still has trouble grasping
how far she’s come and what’s coming next.
“I never imagined,” she says. “We sur-
passed wildest-dreams territory a
while ago. I just wanted to have a
book that you could pick up and
read. The fact that people are
embracing it in such an enthusiastic
way—it’s humbling and flattering, but
still a little bit overwhelming.” C
Massachusetts, when a psychic approached her. (In
Salem, this is not as unusual as it sounds.) Upon
learning that Morgenstern was a writer, Morgenstern
says, the psychic told her, “You’re going to be big.
FRANCE FREEMAN
Anne Rice big.”
Although Morgenstern (http://erinmorgen
stern.com) is no stranger to psychics
and tarot readings and such, she still
had her doubts. The novel (her first)
that she had been working on for sev-
eral years, called The Night Circus, had
been shuttled back and forth between
agents and Morgenstern for revision
after revision, with no end in sight.
Fast-forward a few months to
summer, when her agent called her
one more time. “It was a Friday. I
expected he was going to send it back
for more revisions,” Morgenstern tells
Erin Morgenstern
KELLY DAVIDSON
The Connection. “Instead he told me it was being
reviewed by the first of several editors. The follow-
ing Friday, I had an offer.”
The subsequent months were a series of cascad-
ing events for the 33-year-old graphic designer.
The book, about a mysterious circus and two
young magicians caught up in a competition they
don’t fully understand, who complicate matters by
falling in love, was published in September. This
magically intense novel is, as of press time, in third
place on the New York Times best-seller list.
Morgenstern, who received a six-figure advance for
the book, has flown all around the country for book
tours and signings and interviews. And bidding
rights for the film option have reached a frenzied
level. (Apparently, the psychic called that too.)
I can’t help but believe
that soon this book will
have a whole cheerleading
squad made up largely of
Costco members.
For more book picks,
see page 43.
pieces—lots of material that I can then distill,” a non-
on a new novel. “That you just start at the begin-
chic, Morgenstern still has trouble grasping
FRANCE FREEMAN
.
passed wildest-dreams territory a
u
embracing it in such an enthusiastic
Pennie Clark Ianniciello,
Costco book buyer
THOSE OF YOU who pay
close attention to Costco
book picks may remember
that Erin Morgenstern’s
The Night Circus was a
staff pick when this book
came out in September.
Jonna Erickson, the
assistant buyer who made it
her pick, became the novel’s
most vocal cheerleader. Now
that I’ve read it, I, too, have
fallen under its spell.
The story unfolds in the
setting of a black-and-white
circus that appears only at
night, a circus that is ;lled
with tent after tent of
magical and seemingly
impossible performances.
Underlying this tale is a
competition between two
young magicians, Celia and
Marco, who have been
pitted against each other as
part of a wager. When they
fall in love, neither realizes
what the ultimate cost of
that wager will be.
DECEMBER 2011 ;e Costco Connection 39
COSTCO HAS 50 SIGNED COPIES of Erin
Morgenstern’s The Night Circus to give
away. To enter, go to Costco.com, search for
“Dec Book Pick” and follow the instructions.
Or print your name, address and daytime
phone number on a postcard or letter and send
it to: Erin Morgenstern, The Costco Connection, P.O. Box 34088, Seattle, WA 98124-1088.
NO PURCHASE, PAYMENT OR OPT-IN OF ANY KIND IS
NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN THIS SWEEPSTAKES.
Purchase will not improve odds of winning. Sweepstakes is sponsored
by Random House, 1745 Broad way, New York, NY 10019. Open to legal
residents of the U. S. (except Puerto Rico) who are age 18 or older at the
time of entry. One entry per household. Entries must be received by
January 1, 2012. Winners will be randomly selected and noti;ed by mail
on or before February 1, 2012. The value of the prize is $26.95. Void where
prohibited. Winners are responsible for all applicable federal, state and local
taxes. Odds of winning depend on the number of eligible entries received.
Employees of Costco or Random House and their families are not eligible.
Signed book giveaway
