Water for Elephants by Sara Grun

The 2nd book I read this year was Water for Elephants
I got this book at a book swap at the end of my last bible study with church. It was very very good.
There's no book jacket blurb so here's a review from Booklist:

Life is good for Jacob Jankowski. He's about to graduate from veterinary school and about to bed the girl of his dreams. Then his parents are killed in a car crash, leaving him in the middle of the Great Depression with no home, no family, and no career. Almost by accident, Jacob joins the circus. There he falls in love with the beautiful performer Marlena, who is married to the circus' psychotic animal trainer. He also meets the other love of his life, Rosie the elephant. This lushly romantic novel travels back in forth in time between Jacob's present day in a nursing home and his adventures in the surprisingly harsh world of 1930s circuses.

This book made me want to go see a circus, and ride a train.
My favorite relationship in the book is the one between Jacob and Walter. So sweet and seemed like a true relationship with an actual arch to it.
:prude alert: There are some racier parts to the book, which I could have done without. But they were pretty far apart so I just pushed through them instead of putting the book down. :prude alert:

Overall I think it's a great book and made me feel all dreamy about life like only a handful of other books have done before.