Suddenly A Knock at the Door by Etgar Keret This book was a collection of short stories or even essays as some were really short. I didn't dislike the authors style of writing but I really didn't understand many of the stories. Maybe they were over my head or I missed the point entirely, I'm not sure. But now only a month later I barely recall any of them which to me is not the sign of a great book. Also many of them were too fantastical and not in a believable way. I'm the type that can accept fantasy only when it's really sold to me. Given how short the stories were it's possible the writer just didn't have a chance to make them believable, at least to me.
The Law of Similars by Chris Bohjalian Love this author. Though I didn't like the ending of this book, I did like it over all. The story is of a man who is a lawyer and a single parent seeing a homeopathic healer who he falls in love with and then gets involved in a situation where one of her patients dies possibly due to her "medical" advice. I liked the unbiased way the author explored homeopathy and learned a thing or two (which I'm sure is accurate given this is a reputable author). Bohjalian always has a way of writing, that at least for me, really gets you involved in the characters lives. It really adds so much more to the story since you get so involved in hoping things will go certain ways for them. I liked the overall unique story line but found the ending to be a bit unrealistic for me. I also acknowledge though that as the book went on, I couldn't figure out how he was going to end it and I myself did not think up any ways that it could end in a way that would work out for all the characters.
Love in the Time of Algorithms by Dan Slater Loved this book. Quite timely non fiction story of the evolution of dating especially in it's move to technology. In this era of Match.com etc, the author takes us from the first computer dating computers created at Harvard (which matched his parents together) to future speculation about what will happen next in the online dating world. I found it fascinating and scary at the same time. Scary because of the instant access to anything anyone wants and the realization that online dating isn't just about finding someone to date or marry. It's not being used for a wide ranger of sexual deviance that can be worrisome too. While I see the benefit (I did meet my soon to be husband online) I also worry about how this changes peoples social skills and the ease for harm to be done. In any case the online dating world is not slowing down anytime soon and the author did a great job of writing about how it came to be and where it is now.
Love or Something Like it by Deidre Shaw This was by no means the best book I've ever read but I found something refreshingly honest in the characters in the book and the way it was written. It's a book about a young woman who is facing a huge bump in her young marriage. We look back into the past history of the main characters dysfunctional family and the messages she got as a child from her parents and her runaway brother who she has limited contact with. What I liked was that rather then waiting around for her husband to decide what he wants she finds a way to start hearing her own voice about what she wants. What I didn't like was some of the unrealistic too romancy pieces of the book. Overall though the author painted a realistic picture of the hard times in love and the choices that we make during those times.
Freeing Keiko by Kenneth Brower Loved this book. As someone who loved grew up loving "Free Willy" and the real life whale, Keiko, reading his story and hearing about his struggle to truly be free was bittersweet. I also realized about halfway through that the ending was not going to be joyous as I had remembered a news story some years ago. From that point it was difficult to keep reading knowing that I was reading more or less to find out how he died rather then a happy fairytale ending that you hope for especially since the main character is real. I learned so much from this author and the care he took to tell the story of killer whale Keiko was amazing. I'm quite glad I finally realized this book was out there and picked it up.
Hope a Tragedy by Shalom Auslander Did not like this book. I found this author while browsing at the book store and added him to the list. All his books on the shelf looked so interesting to me but I just didn't get what he was trying to convey and it had such a cool concept that I maybe set the bar too high in my mind. This was a story about a man who discovers a well known historical figure living in his attic. Right from the start with such a concept the author needed to sell me on this idea, and he just didn't. I think overall the book was about the main characters trying to find his place in his family as things changed as he aged. There was a lot of cultural references to Judaism and while I always find that interesting, overall the author failed to deliver a plot line that went anywhere.
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