Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen

An old guy at a nursing home remembers chunks of his life. He worked at a circus. The tale goes back and forth between his current decrepit life and his memories. The main character is a very nice, likable person despite his moods as an old man. However, I found the description of the circus life as being very violent and unforgiving. As said at the end of the book, it is a pure fiction apart from some extracts that relate to events that may have happened in some circus, like the lemonade thieving elephant.