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    The Book of Speculation: A Novel
    The Book of Speculation: A Novel
    The Book of Speculation: A Novel
    Audiobook11 hours

    The Book of Speculation: A Novel

    Written by Erika Swyler

    Narrated by David Pittu, Katherine Kellgren and Ari Fliakos

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    "Dazzling...[a] quirky, raucous, and bewitching family saga." --Sara Gruen, author of Water for Elephants

    Simon Watson, a young librarian, lives alone in a house that is slowly crumbling toward the Long Island Sound. His parents are long dead. His mother, a circus mermaid who made her living by holding her breath, drowned in the very water his house overlooks. His younger sister, Enola, ran off six years ago and now reads tarot cards for a traveling carnival.

    One June day, an old book arrives on Simon's doorstep, sent by an antiquarian bookseller who purchased it on speculation. Fragile and water damaged, the book is a log from the owner of a traveling carnival in the 1700s, who reports strange and magical things, including the drowning death of a circus mermaid. Since then, generations of "mermaids" in Simon's family have drowned--always on July 24, which is only weeks away.

    As his friend Alice looks on with alarm, Simon becomes increasingly worried about his sister. Could there be a curse on Simon's family? What does it have to do with the book, and can he get to the heart of the mystery in time to save Enola?

    In the tradition of Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants, Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus, and Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian, The Book of Speculation is Erika Swyler's moving debut novel about the power of books, family, and magic.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Audio
    Release dateJun 23, 2015
    ISBN9781427261441
    The Book of Speculation: A Novel
    Author

    Erika Swyler

    ERIKA SWYLER is a graduate of New York University. Her short fiction has appeared in WomenArts Quarterly Journal, Litro, Anderbo.com, and elsewhere. Her writing is featured in the anthology Colonial Comics, and her work as a playwright has received note from the Jane Chambers Award. Born and raised on Long Island's North Shore, Erika learned to swim before she could walk, and happily spent all her money at traveling carnivals. She blogs and has a baking Tumblr with a following of 60,000. Erika recently moved from Brooklyn back to her hometown, which inspired the setting of the book. The Book of Speculation is her debut novel.

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    Reviews for The Book of Speculation

    4/5

    111 ratings85 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I loved this book! I loved the story- very interesting and intriguing! And the narrator did a great job on the audiobook!
    • 5/5
      COMING SOON: June 23, 2015Carnival Side-Show Performers and Librarians...Does it get much better than this?! Carnies and book-jockies are two of my favorite subsets of the human race, and their powers combined make for one hell of a delightful book, Fortune-telling tarot readers, computer-savvy information professionals, tattooed jugglers who emit their own electrical charge, modern day mermaids - this book has it all. Mermaids?! I mean, the last time I gave a crap about mermaids was in the nineties when I was singing along with Ariel and Sebastian on VHS; but, this book made me care about mermaids (and those men doomed to love them) all over again. I love this book. A lot. And I can't wait until other readers can love it too.The Book of Speculation isn't due to hit the shelves until June, so I don't want to ruin any of the surprises that this beautiful book has in store for the legion of readers who will, no doubt, run to discover its secrets. I'll try to gloss over the nitty-gritty details and big reveals, but this is a sprawling family history with back-story out the wazoo.Simon is a youngish librarian living in a decrepit house teetering on the precipice of certain disaster and the raging waters of the Long Island Sound. Simon's mother drowned in those very waters when he was just a boy. She, presumably, committed suicide - because Simon's mother was able to hold her breath for upwards of ten minutes (a feat she displayed as a sideshow Carnival act). His father died of, quite literally, a broken heart shortly thereafter, leaving Simon to care for his sister, Enola. Only, now that she's grown, Enola has chosen the life of a travelling tarot card reader, leaving Simon to care for the crumbling family homestead all by himself. His solitude is interrupted with the delivery of an unexpected parcel: an ancient diary that appears to be tied to an early 19th century circus show. In reading and researching this unusual artifact, Simon begins to unknowingly uncover disturbing truths about his family history. The most frightening of these revelations is that seemingly all of the Watson-family women, the merwomen of the circus circuit, meet their death by willful drowning on the same day, July 24th. Their suicides stretch out over the years, claiming the matriarchs' lives with pin-point precision. When his sister Enola makes an unexpected trip home, mid-summer, acting strange and claiming to be troubled, Simon realizes that the past may still hold a very powerful hold on their future.This book shifts between two stories: that of Simon and that of the lives of the people contained in the ancient book he has inherited. As Simon researches the history of the book, the reader is transported into the past, into the very pages of history, to travel alongside Amos and Evangeline, performers in Peabody's traveling circus. I was equally interested in both stories. The switch between the present and the past created tension, a delicious anticipation, that simmered throughout the entire book. When I was with Simon, I longed to be with Amos; when I was with Amos, I longed to be with Simon. I was hooked, though and through. Like I said, it doesn't get much better than circus tents, decrepit beach houses and dusty libraries. Plus, librarians (I love me some librarians). And fortune tellers. And mermaids.The Book of Speculation is a well-balanced, finely-woven family history. I'm going to go out on a ledge here and say that this may be one of my favorite reads of 2015. But, it's only February, and time will tell. Definitely worthy of a re-read in the future. I wouldn't mind adding a physical copy of this book to my library when it comes out!
    • 3/5
      Overall predictable, with a traditional American ending. Not nearly as good as Night Circus, though both deal with magic realism and love. It is alright, but not magical and does not suck one in the way Night Circus or Harry Potter does (different magic, I know). The flip flop between now and then gives too much away. I wonder what it would be like to read all of one story and then all of the other, and which order should they be read?
      Too much power is given to the cards and their curse; you have to buy into that or the whole thing falls apart. I don't buy Frank and his secret, either. He is the flatest character for me. I don't buy the romance of the men just giving up on life when the women die. Too much romance for me, but others may enjoy it more.
    • 5/5
      “Once you’ve held a book and really loved it, you forever remember the feel of it, its specific weight, the way it sits in your hand.” The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler

      There are only a few books I’ve encountered in my reading life that have left that kind of mark on me, and I am always surprised when a new one gets added to that category. The Book of Speculation is one of those unexpected gifts.

      I didn’t go looking for it. I was browsing in B&N, killing time between some meetings a few days before my much anticipated July vacation, when I happened upon TBOS on the New Releases rack. I recognized the title as one I’d added to my GoodReads a couple weeks ago, and it looked promising. I liked the feel of it in my hand and I loved the way the text looked as I flipped through the pages, so I bought it and tossed it in my vacation book bag.

      Days later, unpacked and at ease on the shore of a Northern NY lake, I opened TBOS and lost myself completely in this lovely story of a librarian, a bookseller, and a mysterious book that served to blend past and present, fairy tale and tragedy.

      Simon Watson is a reference and archival librarian living in an ancient house perched precariously on the north shore of Long Island. Simon receives a mysterious book from an unknown bookseller just as he is let go from his position at the library. The bookseller has sent him the book because it has in it the name of one of Simon’s great-great grandmothers. The book piques his interest, as it recounts the movements of a traveling show which apparently included the women of his family, all of whom died by drowning on July 24, including his mother. Simon becomes obsessed with the idea that his sister, now also a performer in a traveling show, will suffer the same fate as July 24 comes closer. Using his library connections and his own research skills, he pieces together a lovely, tragic, and ultimately frightening story of love and loss that reconnects the family first established in that 18th century traveling show.

      Swyler skillfully blends the past and present in a way that doesn’t jar the reader, but floats you gently along two parallel currents that eventually meet in a fury of a storm. There are plenty of unexpected events that surprise, delight, and sometimes frighten, keeping the readers attention throughout. Swyler’s use of water as a metaphor knitted into the fabric of the story successfully binds the past and present, and her details around circus and show life are wonderfully colorful.

      I savored each sentence of TBOS, pacing my reading to draw it out over a few days because I loved it so. This is a book I will come back to again, without a doubt, and is one of those books I will remember long after this reading. In that way, The Book of Speculation joins Jane Eyre, Peace Like a River, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and a handful of others on my “Read and Read Again” shelf.

      Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      Family history encroaching on current lives. A layered mystery to solve, to save lives. Serious book hangover with this one...
    • 3/5
      book read for BookBrowse...I don't mind immersing myself into a book that is a little bit magical and wonderfully weird.Fortune tellers,mermaids,doomed lovers,a family curse and ocean storms preceded by horseshoe crabs.I will not be reccommending it to my book club,an unadventurous bunch that hated my selection of The Night Circus. to read such a book. I found it very interesting that the author studied book binding and offered her manuscript to publishers as a replica of the antique book that Simon receives.What a way for her to get noticed! Wouldn't it have been fun and an adventure
    • 4/5
      Tolstoy may have noted that “each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way”, but it may also be true that each family that loves each other loves in its own way.That’s certainly the case in Erika Swyler’s The Book of Speculation, a whimsical, magical and yet well-grounded novel about mermaids who drown and a heritage that finds each generation without them even seeking it.In the present day, Simon Watson seems the quietest and dullest of men. He works as a reference librarian and lives in his late parents’ house, which is starting to fall apart around him as it perches on the edge of an inhospitable Northeastern coast. His retired neighbor Frank is over constantly, mending the house and cajoling Simon into having serious work done on it. Frank’s daughter, Alice, also works at the library.The only things not grounded about Simon’s life are his own relatives. His mother drowned when he and his sister, Enola, were young. He raised his sister while his father took years to die, sitting at the kitchen table. He and his sister can hold their breath underwater for unreal lengths of time. Enola travels with a carnival, reading Tarot cards. She’s getting near the age when their mother walked into the ocean and she’s finally made one of her infrequent phone calls. She’s coming home.Simon also receives an old book from a rare books seller in the Midwest. It’s not a normal book. There are sketches and tales of a traveling show on the road. There is the story of a mute boy who wandered into Peabody’s traveling menagerie, an old fortune teller and a young woman who arrived in terror. Each member of the troupe has suffered loss and each can do something no one else can. The boy, who the fortune teller names Amos, can breathe slowly and disappear. The fortune teller has an affinity for a hand-drawn Tarot deck that goes beyond sideshow tales. The woman was enchanted by a carnival man who disappeared, and who killed the one who tried to prevent her from repeating her mother’s sorrowful mistake. Peabody makes her a mermaid act.The mute and the mermaid fall in love, but it is not a happy tale.In alternating chapters, Simon’s life is starting to fall apart. He and Alice realize they are even closer than they have always been, but Simon loses his job in these days when libraries are not treasured.And the book he was sent -- it draws him in as surely as the water has drawn in generations of the women in their family.Swyler’s alternating stories veer more toward the magic than the real. But whether the things that happened can be explained rationally or not, what remains real and true are the ways in which the characters care for each other. Motives are revealed that explain characters’ actions and enrich their personalities. There are few villains -- even the most selfish are seeking love or forgiveness. There is evil, however, and at one point Simon fears it lives in the objects he loves most, including books. It’s a terrifying notion for anyone who loves books as Simon does.For a novel in which many of the characters are hurting deeply, there is little that is morose, in part because Swyler can rely on a narrative voice that resembles a fairy tale.Like a fairy tale, by the time The Book of Speculation has come to an end, connections are made and resolutions have come to pass. Unlike many fairy tales, there is the knowledge here that things go on and that the characters still have life to experience. And that whatever that experience is, it will include each other.
    • 3/5
      The Book of Speculation by Erika SwylerSource: NetgalleyMy Rating: 2½/5 starsMy Review: Every reader has a stack or list of books titled “The Ones I Wanted to Love but Didn’t” and Erika Swyler’s The Book of Speculation now finds itself on my list. What I Liked:The concept of this book is pretty sweet: a mysterious book with little to no identifying information makes its way into the hands of librarian, Simon Watson. Simon is drawn to the book and once he begins to research it, he discovers his family is intimately tied to the book and its history. Simon’s family has a long and tragic history he is desperate to not only understand but overcome. If Simon can pull all of the puzzle pieces together, he just might be able to save himself and his sister from a tragic fate that has befallen so many before them. The alternating time periods/chapters is also a favored writing device for me. The Book of Speculation moves back and forth between the present and the past as described in the book Simon has been given. The alternating time periods allows the author to weave the past and the present together into one cohesive story and I generally find this a most entertaining form of storytelling. What I Didn’t Like: I really struggled with the pacing of this book and it took me a lot longer than necessary to get through this read. The pacing is very slow and even in moments when there is considerable action, the pace barely picks up. I found myself only able to read 2-4 chapters at a time because of this.In most books I like the majority of the characters (and dislike those the author wants me too) but I found it very difficult to like any of the characters in this read. Every character in this read is seriously depressed (or angry) over one issue or another and as the plot unfolds and the past and the present begin to merge, the sadness (and anger) becomes overwhelming. Yes, I totally appreciate these characters are dealing with a tragic past and current set of circumstances but even in the darkest of times, something good happens once in a while. This is not the case with this read. Repetition makes me crazy and The Book of Speculation is riddled with repetition. In nearly every chapter at least a portion of the information is repeated and while that is sometime necessary (in a very complicated plot, for example), it certainly isn’t necessary in every chapter nor is it necessary for this read. At some point I realized I could skip over parts of the chapter because I already knew what was coming. Did this in any way cause me to miss a part of the read or not understand some aspect of the story down the road? No. Finally, though there is no cliffhanger to this read I still found the ending to be thoroughly unsatisfying. Yes, all of the major questions are answered and the mystery is solved but the fate of the characters doesn’t feel at all settled, as if there is something more that needs to be explained about their circumstances. The Bottom Line: The synopsis for this book drew me in instantly but I found it very difficult to stay with this read. To be clear, I finished this book but I found it hard to want to read and that is generally a very good indicator regarding how much or how little I like a book. Based on the book’s concept, The Book of Speculation should have been a book I was sucked into and only spit back out of after a single marathon read. Unfortunately, too many issues kept this book from being something I enjoyed and will keep it from being a read I would recommend to others.
    • 4/5
      Simon is a research librarian who is suddenly let go from his financially struggling library. His sister, Enola, a circus performer/tarot card reader, suddenly returns to visit, just as their home is in jeopardy of falling over a cliff due to erosion. When a mysterious antique book which chronicles the history of a circus is sent to Simon with little explanation, Simon's research into the book unexpectedly leads him to the history of his own family. Alternating chapters are used to tell the story of the circus performers, including the leader, a tarot-card reader, a mute young man, and a diver, who can hold her breath for long periods of time under water. As the book moves towards the historic date when Simon's mother and grandmother both drowned, Simon fears that his sister's life is in jeopardy from some long forgotten curse somehow related to the circus in the book. I found this to be an interesting and well-written story about early circus life, which was both suspenseful and engaging. Our book club members all enjoyed this one as well.
    • 5/5
      For people like me who love stories about old books, old libraries, old tales, this novel is delightful. The beginning, a tiny abandoned child, drew me in immediately. His story is interspersed with a modern-day story about someone who was unexpectedly sent an old book that may have something to do with his family.There are mermaids who drown, carnivals and hustlers, tarot cards, people more than a bubble off normal, a touch of curse and supernatural, and too much water. There is a lot of love and caring, and a little hate, some sadness. I cared about the characters, I cared about the slowly revealed story, and the writing is lovely. What's not to love?
    • 4/5
      a strange but interesting story...where this was dreamed of I cannt imagine
    • 4/5
      Kept me reading. It reminded me a bit of Water for Elephants - at least the carnival chapters did!
    • 4/5
      We carry our families like anchors, rooting us in storms, making sure we never drift from where and who we are. We carry our families within us the way we carry our breath underwater, keeping us afloat, keeping us alive. I’ve been lifting anchors since I was eighteen. I’ve been holding my breath since before I was born.The Book of Speculation, the debut novel by author Erika Swyler, is divided between two time periods two hundred years apart but tied together by blood, the circus, the tarot, drowning despite an uncanny ability to breathe for long periods of time under water, and by a curse that has followed the women of this bloodline over successive generations.In the present, everything in librarian Simon Watson’s life seems to be about to fall off a cliff both literally and figuratively. His house is situated on an eroding cliff and is going to fall into the Long Island Sound if he can’t find the money to fix it which is a problem since he is losing his job to budget cuts. His parents are dead; his mother, who had been a mermaid in the circus and ‘made her living by holding her breath’ had drowned, his father has died of apathy and grief, and his sister, Enola, who has the same talents as their mother left home years before and joined the circus. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, he is sent a very old book by a complete stranger, a bookstore owner, who says he had bought it on speculation but damage made it useless to him. However, he saw a name inside that seemed to link it to Simon’s family and he hoped it would find a good home with him. The book is a log kept by the owner of a travelling circus in the late 18th c. Among the entries are those about Amos, a young mute, whose love for the circus ‘mermaid’ leads to tragedy .The arrival of the book coincidentally (or not) coincides with a message from Enola that she is taking a break from the circus and coming home.There’s just something so enticing about books about books and The Book of Speculation, the debut novel by author Erika Swyler is, for the most part, no exception to this rule. It is well-written and, if at the beginning, the pace seemed a bit slow and uneven in parts, it eventually picked up and, by the end, it completely grabbed my attention. It is a story about family and memory and what, in the end, really matters. As a debut novel, The Book of Speculation is very impressive – I look forward to seeing more of Ms Swyler’s work in the future.
    • 5/5
      First of all - it's about a book. It's about a librarian, and it's all about the reference and research functions of a library. What's not to like? A delightful give and take flight of fancy and fantasy. Often I dislike books that try to wrap an ancient family history into a present day reality. However, this time Erika Swyler held my interest from the start. The fascination of the old book, the traveling circus, the tarot readings (a subject I knew little of), together with the present day romance, the looming disaster of the crumbling house, and the just below the waterline mystery of the identity of the antiquarian bookdealer all combined to keep me up late for two nights while I finished this one.The subject matter: the antique book, the storm damage, the loss of job, fortune telling, ancient circus tales combines with eloquently drawn characters: an out-of-work librarian, a tattoo'd circus strong man, neighbors who may be more than just neighbors, a mute wild man, a human 'mermaid' who can hold her breath underwater for more than 10 minutes. All of these disparate elements are woven into a colorful, soulful tale of life before and life to come, of unrequited love, lost love, and love recovered. An engaging first novel. I will definitely be on the look out for more by this author.
    • 4/5
      This novel started out strong and captivated my interest. It follows a common structure of alternating chapters between viewpoints, only they are parallel stories of different time periods. Although I enjoyed some of the writing, there were a lot of unanswered questions and the reader is left with a jumbled feeling.
    • 5/5
      The house on Long Island Sound is deteriorating but librarian Simon Watson can neither afford to repair it or bear to sell it. Memories of his deceased parents linger and it’s the only home to which his wayward sister Enola might someday return. Simon’s thoughts are consumed with this dilemma when he receives an old, damaged book, apparently a record of a traveling carnival in the 1700s, with fanciful stories of wild boys, tarot card readers, and mermaids. Exploring the book, Simon discovers an unsettling connection to his ancestors. Erika Swyler’s debut novel moves gracefully between Simon’s worries about the house, his sister, and his own future and the carnival’s adventures, mishaps, and tragedies. A sense of foreboding infuses both stories as July 24, a date with an ominous history in Simon’s family, edges closer. The novel is a delicious mix of the mystical and practical and, while often bleak and tense, the story is filled with life and love, too.
    • 5/5
      This is an enchanting and beautiful book. It actually has some different colored ink, boarders, and an occasional illustration. I enjoyed the story as my mind went off in many directions with all kinds of predictions. The author does a good job of weaving the past and the present in a way that kept me wanting to know more about each, and not disappointed when she switched back and forth.
    • 4/5
      Pretty good. I was really loving it until the last couple of chapters where it started to drag for me and I became impatient for it to end. A very, very fine performance by Ari Fliakos, however, really outstanding!
    • 4/5
      A somewhat mystical book that runs in parallel in the current day and in a traveling circus in the late 18th century. The current day protagonist, Simon, lives in the NE USA, is a librarian, and soon to lose his job. Simon is not a very forceful character, nothing too much to endear him, and his part of the story is in the third person. His counterpart, Amos, is "adopted" by the circus and his story in the third person. There are a number of other characters close to the protagonists. Simon is given an old book from the circus, heavy into tarot cards, and yes tarots are important in the circus and the current day. As in Simon's dysfunctional sister. The two periods start off in parallel but during the story start to converge with unfortunate circumstances. The story ends in one way cataclysmic, I won't say how, and, on the other hand, a handed down curse is avoided.So very nicely written, while mystic it's not at all fantasy like and surprisingly not implausible. but I felt the ending could have been a little stronger.A very nice read though.
    • 4/5
      The story of Simon and his sister Enola, in the present day. And the story of Amos and Evangeline, in the late 1700's and early 1800's. Simon is a librarian, living in his childhood home on the Long Island Sound. His home is crumbling around him after years of neglect. His sister travels with a carnival as a tarot card reader.

      Simon receives a mysterious book from Martin Churchwarry of Iowa, an antique book dealer. The book is an old logbook from Peabody's traveling carnival, dating back hundreds of years. In it, Simon discovers the story of Amos and Evangeline, two of his ancestors. He also discovers that he comes from a long line of "mermaids," women who made their living holding their breath for minutes at a time underwater in the carnival. All of these mermaids have died on July 24th, of drowning. As July 24th rapidly approaches, Simon becomes more and more worried about the fate of his sister.

      This was an interesting book. I enjoyed the story of Amos and Evangeline the most. Reading about their lives in the traveling carnival was fascinating to me. Amos starts out as the Wild Boy before learning the art of Tarot cards. Evangeline joins the carnival as a mermaid.

      The story of Simon and Enola was a little less compelling. They both have depressing lives. Simon loses his job. His house is slowly sliding into the ocean. He does not seem happy in his life.

      I did like this book. I wanted to know what would happen to the characters, and I liked exploring the interconnectedness of them. Life in a carnival has always seemed so fun, and reading about it made me jealous I couldn't travel with them.
    • 5/5
      Having just finished The Night Circus, which wasn't exactly my cup of tea, my first thought once I got into the first few chapters of The Book of Speculation was: "Oh, crap, another book about circus people with paranormal circus people!" Fortunately, it was a lot more and a lot better than that. The book's chapters alternate between the present day, in which the protagonist, research librarian Simon Watson, is about to be permanently laid off due to budget cuts and his house about to fall into the sea, and the late 1790s, when Peabody's Portable Magic and Miracles, a menagerie of contortionists, clairvoyants, a miniature horse, a counting pig, a wild boy, and a mermaid, travelled the eastern US states.The story begins when Simon is sent a strange book full of odd names and sketches, by Martin Churchwarry, an antiquarian bookseller. Neither seems to know exactly what it is, but Churchwarry has noted the name "Verona Bonn" in it and tracked down Simon as one of her descendants. Indeed, this was the grandmother he never knew, a woman who at one time worked as a circus mermaid and who--oddly--drowned at a young age. Simon recalls how his mother, also an excellent swimmer, had taught he and his sister how to hold their breath underwater for up to ten minutes. But she, too, drowned young, assumedly a suicide--on the same date as her mother.If there's an upside to getting laid off, it's that Simon has plenty of time to conduct research into his family's past and track down more information about Peabody's and the mysterious book, which seems to be a carnival record book of sorts. And if there's an upside to being an about-to-be-unemployed research librarian, it's that you have plenty of contacts and resources, as well as time. Even after his last official day of work, Simon still has that access through his longtime friend (and maybe sometime girlfriend) Alice McAvoy, who still works in the small Grainger Library.On top of all this, Simon has two other major worries: the historic childhood home in which he still resides is crumbling, and his sister Enola, a highly strung drifter who works as a carnival tarot card reader, is coming for a visit. Not to mention that the ominous date on which his mother and grandmother both drowned is fast approaching.So--I don't want to give any more than this--all of which you will learn in the first few chapters. There are a lot of mysteries to be sorted out, and along the way, you'll meet a number of wonderfully drawn, intriguing characters, including: Enola's boyfriend Doyle, The Electric Boy; Hermelius Peabody, carnival manager; Amos, the mute, who transforms from Wild Boy into several new incarnations; Madame Ryzkhova, the tarot reader; Benno, the contortionist; and the beautiful Evangeline, mysterious mermaid extraordinaire. Not to mention about a million horseshoe crabs.
    • 4/5
      I could not put this book down and would have read it in one sitting if I read faster. Engrossing, charming, captivating, lovely, slightly scary, tender and satisfying. This is a debut novel shrouded in magic much like Chocolat (sp?), the girl with no shadow and the rest of Joann harris' lot of magical books. I can only hope that Ms. Swyler continues her stories with this cast of characters. Like the tarot cards, they are too intetesting, too multi dimensional, too magic to not allow us to continue along with their stories!
    • 4/5
      This book was recommended by several librarians and after reading the description I decided to give it a try. I am glad I did! How would I not like a book about a historic carnival, a librarian, and a mysterious old book? I thought Amos was such a great tragic character. Fans of the Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern will want to pick this one up. Even if you didn't like that book I think people will enjoy this. A curse, family secrets, and a race to solve the mystery will make this one of the hot Summer reads.
    • 5/5
      Magical tale! Loved the back and forth between past and present. And the narration is great.
    • 3/5
      An intriguing plot line, mysterious characters, vibrant circuses, old books, and distorted family histories - and yet I just couldn't get into this book. I like the start well enough - a soon-to-be unemployed librarian unexpected receives a book in the mail about his own family's past. But I struggled to get thought this book, especially the last half (although that could be the fault of my own stressed-out existence). My recommendation is to read this book quickly - I think it really helps to keep the characters and the curses straight!
    • 3/5
      The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler is an interesting book. Simon Watson is a librarian in Napawset. He receives a book in the mail from Martin Churchwarry of Churchwarry and Sons. The book is very old and, unfortunately, suffers from water damage. Simon starts reading the book because his grandmother’s name is written in it. The book was started by Hermelius Peabody who ran a type of traveling carnival called Peabody’s Portable Magic and Miracles. There was the wild boy, the fortune teller, the mermaid, and etc. The book turns out to be an owner’s log. It is supposed to always stay with the show. The book has ideas for acts, the names of the performers, accounting information, items obtained, and so on. The book makes Simon research his family history. Simon discovers that there is a trend. Simon lost his mother when he was a little boy. His sister, Enola, was only two at the time. While their mother was an expert swimmer and could hold her breath for close to ten minutes under water, she drowned. Then Simon finds out that his grandmother drowned. The same month as his mother. They both died in July and before they were thirty years old. Upon more research he finds out that the women in his family have all drowned before they were thirty in the month of July. Simon is worried about his sister, Enola. She has come home for a visit and is acting strangely. Simon believes the book was sent to him for a reason. The book alternates between modern time with Simon and the past when Hermelius Peabody meet the Wild Boy (they named him Amos). Amos was the product of a farmer’s wife and a traveling salesman. The wife’s husband left him in the wood when he was old enough to feed himself and walk. Amos came upon Peabody and traveling acts. Amos was a mute. The story tells of Amos’ time with Peabody, how he learned to read tarot cards, and fell in love with a “mermaid”. It all connects together. Can Simon figure out why the women in his family are cursed in time to save Enola?I give The Book of Speculation 3 out of 5 stars. It is an interesting story, great idea, but the book is a slow read. It just seems to go on forever. There is a copious amount of foul language in this book (and completely unnecessary), mild violence (people hitting each other), and a moderate amount of sex. This book had great potential, but instead it is a mediocre (I found it dissatisfying).I received a complimentary copy of The Book of Speculation in exchange for an honest review. The review and opinions expressed are my own.
    • 4/5
      I will never look at Horseshoe Crabs the same way again! I thought the reader was phenomenal and really did a great job with what could have been a very long slog back and forth through time and many many details to the main plot. I don’t think I could have made it to the end if I was reading, but with the experience of the narration, hearing this book was like being drawn back into a long dream.
    • 4/5
      Really 4.5 Stars! When a novel begins with a house teetering precariously on the edge of the Long Island Sound you know you are in for a riveting, unusual read! Debut novelist Swyler has written a fast paced, mesmerizing story about a family with a haunted past.

      A mysterious antique book arrives addressed to our first narrator - research librarian Simon. It is his home that is slipping over the edge into the sea. The reader is quickly drawn into an intriguing mystery. The novel presents dual narratives - Simon in the present day trying to determine where the antique book came from, what connection it has to his family, and whether or not it can provide answers to the questions he has regarding his mother, who died when he and his sister Enola were young. If you love books, libraries, the ocean, and/or your family, not to mention a good mystery, Simon's storyline will pull you in.

      The second narrative belongs to the young mute boy Amos. Set in the 1780's, for me this was the most fascinating portion. A traveling circus, curses, murder, an epic love story, mermaids, tarot cards, caravans - the author brings it all to life so vividly! I found myself racing through the book, eager to read each chapter, but then I forced myself to slow down and savor the brilliant descriptions and spend time with all the fascinating characters.

      I added to the enjoyment by checking out Swyler's tumbler and Pinterest feeds - great pictures of things that inspired her as well as the process whereby she learned to book bind and age paper in order to send out her novel to perspective publishing houses looking like an antique book such as the one Simon received in the mail - so cool!

      My big quibble with the book is the cover the publisher has chosen for the USA edition - way too generic and bland! I much prefer the drawing on the back of the ARC I received, it shows the house on the edge of the cliff. It looks like the UK edition may get this cover - lucky! It would be interesting to see how the cover influences sales.....
    • 4/5
      Those who enjoyed the tone of the old HBO series, Carnivale, will appreciate the similar themes appearing in this debut novel. The freakish and exotic of the sideshow harbors a barely hidden mysticism. If nature can produce such oddities, then who's to say even stranger things cannot also happen? But any supernaturalisms are in the corner of the eye, and may only be the product of an overwrought imagination. The overall ambiguity of it all adds to the psychological tension of the narrative, which involves a man trying to understand his family's tortured past and its impact on the present. I'm not entirely sure that the ending was wholly in keeping with the overall direction of the storyline, but that is a minor quibble with an otherwise excellently woven tale.
    • 4/5
      i really enjoyed this book .It is whimsical and has a bit of magic to it. it centers around a really old book sent to Simon who is an librarian. He investigates it and becomes drawn into a story of a 17th century circus complete with tarot cards, mermaids ,a wild boy. Story flips back and forth from the old circus and present day. Simon's sister is with a circus and reads cards. Paulina, Simon's mother also did andshe drown as did various other family members all on the same date. Simon has to find out why.? Such a fun book !!