*OUT STEALING HORSES* by Per Petterson

We were going out stealing horses. That was what he said, standing at the door to the cabin where I was spending the summer with my father. I was fifteen. It was 1948 and oneof the first days of July.Trond’s friend Jon often appeared at his doorstep with an adventure in mind for the two of them. But this morning was different. What began as a joy ride on “borrowed” horses ends with Jon falling into a strange trance of grief. Trond soon learns what befell Jon earlier that day—an incident that marks the beginning of a series of vital losses for both boys.Set in the easternmost region of Norway, Out Stealing Horses begins with an ending. Sixty-seven-year-old Trond has settled into a rustic cabin in an isolated area to live the rest of his life with a quiet deliberation. A meeting with his only neighbor, however, forces him to reflect on that fateful summer.

*Rate 3/5. I had such high hopes for this book reading it to the very last page hoping that it would get better, but it didn't. I know that it has won many awards, but I just did not find it that interesting, too mundane.

*THE NAMESAKE* by Jhumpa Lahiri

Jhumpa Lahiri's quietly dazzling new novel, The Namesake, is that rare thing: an intimate, closely observed family portrait that effortlessly and discreetly unfolds to disclose a capacious social vision. … In chronicling more than three decades in the Gangulis' lives, Ms. Lahiri has not only given us a wonderfully intimate and knowing family portrait, she has also taken the haunting chamber music of her first collection of stories and reorchestrated its themes of exile and identity to create a symphonic work, a debut novel that is as assured and eloquent as the work of a longtime master of the craft.

*I would give this book a 6/5 for it's excellence in telling a story. I saw the movie as well as read the book because the story was so rich with eloquent writing and distinctive prose. You are hooked at page one and unable to put it down once you begin.

* THE SURGEON * by Tess Gerritsen

Filled with the authentic detail that is the trademark of this doctor turned author ... and peopled with rich and complex characters--from the ER to the squad room to the city morgue--here is a thriller of unprecedented depth and suspense. Exposing the shocking link between those who kill and cure, punish and protect, The Surgeon is Tess Gerritsen's most exciting accomplishment yet
Annotation
In her most masterful novel of medical suspense, New York Times bestselling author Tess Gerritsen creates a villain of unforgettable evil--and the one woman who can catch him before he kills again.

*3/5 Although I did like this book very much, I think I liked The Bone Garden more. I love historical novels and The Bone Garden occurred most of the book in the early 1800's.

* THE BONE GARDEN * by Tess Gerritsen

Present day: Julia Hamill has made a horrifying discovery on the grounds of her new home in rural Massachusetts: a skull buried in the rocky soil–human, female, and, according to the trained eye of Boston medical examiner Maura Isles, scarred with the unmistakable marks of murder. Boston, 1830: In order to pay for his education, medical student Norris Marshall has joined the ranks of local “resurrectionists”–those who plunder graveyards and harvest the dead for sale on the black market. But when a distinguished doctor is found murdered and mutilated on university grounds, Norris finds that trafficking in the illicit cadaver trade has made him a prime suspect. With unflagging suspense and pitch-perfect period detail, The Bone Garden deftly traces the dark mystery at its heart across time and place to a finale as ingeniously conceived as it is shocking

*I had never read Tess Gerritsen before but decided to after hearing that this book was good. I was hooked from the first page and it was a marathon read for me. Could not put it down!! A great mystery and I love the historical time period of the early to mid 1800's. I decided to go to the library and get several of this author's other books because now I am a fan! Rate: 5/5