So begins Water for Elephants, [Sara Gruen]'s flawed but strangely compelling novel that proficiently exposes the degradation, dirt and grime behind the glitz, glamour and pageantry of a 1930s travelling circus. At the same time, by flitting back and forth from [Jacob Jankowski]'s life as a young man to his life 70 years later, the novel touchingly examines the humiliations and frustrations of old age.

Similarly, she also demonstrates great insight into the limitations and hopelessness of old age. Stuck in the nursing home waiting for his family's weekly visits, the nonagenarian Jacob laments, "All I can do is put in time waiting for the inevitable, observing as the ghosts of my past rattle around my vacuous present."

Fortunately, most of Jacob's ghosts are colourful, eccentric and interesting characters and their haunting of Jacob in his old age makes for a good summer read.