Like Harbach’s first novel, The Art of Fielding, part of The Brightness takes place on a college campus in Wisconsin. The title refers to a feminist publication and one of the main themes of the novel is women getting revenge for rapes on campuses. The two main characters are Pella, a 28 year old college graduate who is engaged but uncertain about what she wants to do with her life and Irma, a brilliant undergraduate who becomes involved in the women’s movement.

Timing is important, and The Brightness couldn’t be more timely what with all the headlines about Cornell. This is a very good read with interesting characters, but it could have used some editing. About halfway through the novel, I needed a break from Pella and Irma’s problems.

Dava and Barr are married with two sons. They are both English professors at a university in the midwest. When Dava is in the throes of dementia, Barr discovers a novel his wife has secretly spent years writing. It is excellent and Barr passes if off as his own. The rough draft also alerts Barr that his wife has been having an affair with a female colleague. The title refers to a one eared, badly scarred, abandoned dog who enhances the lives of the main characters.

I understand this sounds like a cop out, but I am really unsure why I so thoroughly enjoyed Luna, Phoenix, Queen. I only know you don’t have to be gay, a dog lover or an English professor to appreciate Julie Orringer’s latest novel.

The murder rate in the United States is three times higher than Canada and five times higher than The United Kingdom and most of Western Europe. As I am typing this, I just learned that nine people were killed today including two children in Erie, Pennsylvania. In his eighth book of nonfiction, Gladwell discusses what is wrong with many Americans interpretation of the 2nd amendment, how to improve policing and other examples of what is causing this escalation in our homicide rate and how it can be lowered.

Malcolm Gladwell is the master of examples. He theorizes and then uses statistical and citizen’s personal examples to support it. The American Way of Killing is a must read for those who have the power to change our violent society.

Evan Gershkovich is the Wall Street journalist who was accused of being a spy. He spent 17 months in several Russian prisons. This Cursed Beautiful Land is his rendering of his life before, during and after his imprisonment.

Gershkovich is a fine writer and his description of his life especially before and during the time he spent in prisons are clear, concise and vivid. If you are interested in prison stories and Russian politics, and I am, I encourage you to read This Cursed Beautiful Land.

Livia Cable, the narrator of Partita, is from rural Tennessee. She has a cold, punitive mother, a nice, quiet father and a brother who walks in front of a moving train when she is 11 and he is 17. She is a musical prodigy who plays the piano and receives a scholarship to Indiana University. There she falls in love with Sigurd, and then her life quickly goes from one crisis to another.

Partita is told in alternating chapters of past and present. Like the main character in Demon Copperhead, Livia’s life goes from one catastrophe to another. It’s a bit much! Also, Partita has a lot of descriptions of specific pieces of classical music. Not being knowledgeable, I found these passages tedious.

It is 1951. Harry Flynn has returned to London after being released from a horrific POW camp in the Far East. He takes a job helping to set up rooms for The Festival of Britain. When a French woman he had a drink with disappears the next day, Harry’s hum drum life becomes anything but boring.

Part historical fiction, part who done it and part a cast of eccentric characters, Our Noble Selves is a fun, clever, informative read. If you’re a Kate Atkinson fan, and I am, you will want to read Our Noble Selves.

It is the year 2031, and Ari Waker, after spending eighteen years in prison, decides to go to a party with her roommate, Gloria. Ari doesn’t know the host, Kareem Fayed, but he and Gloria are good friends. Strange things seem to be happening at the party. For instance, Kareem walks into his kitchen and disappears.

I am usually not a fan of science fiction, however, I like the works of Emily St. John Mandel that I have read. Like Under Story that was reviewed a few weeks ago, there are doppelgangers here, but unlike Under Story, Exit Party was never confusing. This is a novel that should be read to the very end. Only then do some of its details make sense.

Chloe Benjamin’s third novel centers on Laurel Salter, a scientist specializing in fungus. After a horrific tragedy occurs, she decides to leave her world and takes on a six month job as a dishwasher in Antarctica. What she discovers there is a complicated way to relive her life and elimination the tragedy-sort of.

Under Story is a science fiction tale built around a family story. Without giving much of the plot away, the science fiction part is about a dual universe where people are born into old age and die in utero. The family saga was great, especially the relationship between Laurel and her husband, but the sections about the two worlds were, for me, confusing, unbelievable and unsatisfying.

Samantha, Roy and Ennis grew up in rural Virginia in the early 1900’s. Roy is attending Vanderbilt, is from a fairly wealthy family, and assumes he and Samantha will marry one day. Ennis raised himself in the wild, does not remember who is parents are, and falls in love with Samantha who loves him right back. When their country participates in World War I, all three lives change dramatically.

Kevin Powers’ most recent novel is beautifully written with three strong, interesting main characters. It is a subtle book that poses some philosophical questions. Personally, because I am not big on war, I would have preferred less pages describing Ennis and Roy’s battle time in France in 1918.

The author is the oldest son of Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers, members of The Weathermen, a group of revolutionaries during the 60’s and 70’s. Dangerous, Dirty, Violent & Young is part memoir, part family history, and part a rendering of that era in American history.

If I hadn’t been encouraged by a reader whose opinion I value, I would have never chosen to read this work of nonfiction. I am so glad I read it. It is extremely well-written with many insights into that decade of American unrest. Anyone who lived through that time and is even somewhat liberal, might want to read Dangerous, Dirty, Violent & Young.