Hilariously nightmarish

That's our Angela Carter's novel, Nights at the Circus. In wakeful moments late at night, it's a bizarrely satisfying book to pick up. I've finished it, regretfully, wishing it had another hundred pages to go. The grand finale, which was set in Siberia and included the derailment of a circus train crossing the steppes, heroic elephants, and a bizarrely unclear happy ending, came too soon.
Next up: Carter's last novel, Wise Children.