Summer Reading - Week 3
What makes us feel like little kids again? Carousels, circuses, parades, carnivals, amusement parks - those wonderful traditional summer fun events that may travel to us, or that we might travel to.

There are five historic wooden carousels operating in Colorado. Sunset Magazine has a very brief article listing all five:

- Elitch Gardens
- Lakeside Amusement Park
- Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
- Kit Carson County
- Pueblo City Park

Two of these carousels are in or near zoos, another beloved family tradition. And besides the permanent facilities like zoos, amusement parks, museums and libraries and neighborhood parks and playgrounds, there are almost too many seasonal festivals to count - fifty-seven in the sumer months alone. From the Colorado State Fair to local and specialized small festivals like our own Black Diamond Days and Celtic Music Festival, there's something going on almost every weekend of the year.

Of course, it's not all fun and games - or is it? Being creeped out by clowns and dark, idle amusement park rides can be part of the fun, or it can be genuinely scary. Maybe that's why so many authors, from Ray Bradbury to Stephen King to Michael Crichton, have used these festive backdrops to explore dark themes. So our suggested reading list for this week ranges from the light and fanciful to the dark and horrific:

The Bartholomew Fair Murders / Leonard Tourney PBK MYS Tou – cozy mystery
The Beet Fields: Memoirs of a Sixteenth Summer / Gary Paulsen
YAF Pau – coming of age stories, carnival workers
Buffalo Girls / Larry McMurtry
WES Mcm – fiction, Wild West shows
The Circus in Winter / Cathy Day
NEW F Day –fiction, circus workers
A Corner of the Universe / Ann Martin
YAF Mar- coming of age stories, disabilities
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness, and the Fair that Changed America / Erik Larson
AC 364.15 Lar – Chicago World’s Fair 1893, true crime
Don’t Stop the Carnival / Herman Wouk
NEW F Wou – fiction, Carnivale
Fat Tuesday / Sandra Brown
PBK F Bro – mystery, Mardi Gras
The Five People You Meet in Heaven / Mitch Albom F Alb – carnival workers, inspirational
The Funhouse / Dean Koontz
PBK F Koo – carnival workers, horror
The Heartsong of Charging Elk / James Welch
F Wel – fiction, Wild West shows
Josser: the Secret Life of a Circus Girl / Nell Stroud NEW 791.3092 Str – circus workers
Jurassic Park / Michael Crichton
F Cri – amusement parks, technothriller
The Latino Holiday Book: From Cinco de Mayo to Dia De Los Muertos, the Celebrations and Traditions / Valerie Menard
394.26 Men - festivals
Learning to Fly / Sam Keen
791.3 Kee – circus performers
Masters of Illusion: a Novel of the Connecticut Circus Fire / Mary-Ann Tirone Smith
LPF Smi – fiction, circus workers
New Orleans Mourning / Julie Smith
MYS Smi – mystery, Mardi Gras
Nothing to Lose / Alexandra Flynn
YAF Fly – coming of age stories, carnival workers
Rio Grande Fall / Rudolfo Anaya
MYS Ana – mystery, local festivals
Seduction by Design / Sandra Brown
F Bro – romance, amusement parks
Something Wicked This Way Comes / Ray Bradbury FAN Bra – carnival workers, horror
A Son of the Circus / John Irving
F Irv – fiction, circus workers
Under the Big Top: a Season with the Circus / Bruce Feiler
791.3 Fei – circus workers
Utopia: A Novel / Lincoln Child
F Chi – amusement parks, technothriller
The Way to Bright Star / Dee Brown
PBK WES Bro – fiction, Wild West shows