We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves; Karen Joy Fowler

A Psychologist and his wife raise their newborn daughter and a newborn chimpanzee at the same time as a psychological experiment.  The novel is told from the viewpoint of the daughter looking back at her childhood and how her “twin sister” affected her and her relationship with her parents and her brother.  Interesting tale.  Very original.

PJH Rating: ****

Raven Stole the Moon; Garth Stein

A Seattle woman, unhappy with her marriage and depressed from the death of her child two years  prior, takes off on a whim to Alaska to visit where her Mother grew up.  She meets someone there, deals with her past demons and becomes involved with the local folklore of the indigenous to look for closure for the death of her son.  Not nearly as good as Stein’s previous novel, actually this was an old novel recently republished, but an interesting story nonetheless.

PJH Rating: ***1/2

Half Broke Horses; Jeannette Walls

Memoir of author’s grandmother’s life growing up and living in the early 20th century in the southwest.  A remarkable woman who grew up dirt poor, was a teacher and a very independent woman for the times.  An enjoyable read from the author of The Glass Castle.

PJH Rating: ****

Cutting for Stone; Abraham Verghese

Story of a physician who grew up in Ethiopia along with his identical twin.  Amazing storytelling of his very dramatic birth, growing up, politics, medicine, and family dynamics.  A great story and well written.

PJH rating ****1/2

40 Days of Dating

Two 20 something New York City designers document their 40 day experiment of dating each other.  While I ended up disliking both participants immensely, and wondering if really was all true, it is an interesting read and I loved the design and blog format.  Great on an ipad. The future of publishing? I doubt it, but pretty cool nonetheless and definitely  worth checking out.

www.40daysofdating.com

PJH rating: ***1/2

The Sojourn; Andrew Krivak

Born in Colorado in 1899, a young man moves back to Austria-Hungry with his father who was born and raised there.  He quickly becomes involved in WW1 as a sharpshooter and the novel details the horrific war.  An interesting historical novel that makes you happy to live in 2013.

PJH Rating: ***1/2

Ellen Foster; Kaye Gibbons

A 10 year old girl is abused by her father, orphaned, lives with her evil Grandmother who also dies and eventually finds peace in a foster home.  Told from the view point of the 10 year old southern girl, it is a short, interesting, but nothing special novel.

PJH Rating: ***1/2

American Rust, Philipp Meyer

Two young 20 years olds in rural USA get involved in a murder of a homeless man in their dying ex-steel mill town.  Told from the viewpoint of the two men and several other characters it is an interesting tale but very bleak and a sad reality for much of our country.  It is a well written novel told in an interesting stream of consciousness style.  The author has a more recent novel just published that looks good as well.

PJH Rating: ****

Jewelweed; David Rhodes

Different groups of people, families and stories come together in a small midwestern town.  The characters and stories are all interesting but the novel could have used a better editor as it seemed a bit verbose.  Similar to Kent Haruf novels but not as well written.  (I think I’m getting too picky as the reviews for this were outstanding everywhere)

PJH rating: ***1/2 (love the cover though)

The Dinner; Herman Koch

This current Dutch best seller takes place entirely while two couples are out to dinner.  The story unfolds as the evening goes on regarding the trouble the couples sons are in and unfortunately becomes more and more ridiculous as well.  A fun book but not great.

PJH Rating: ***1/2