Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

Man oh man!!! I waited a long time for Audrey Niffenegger to come out with a new novel (she wrote The Time Traveller's Wife) and this one was certainly an interesting wait!

Her Fearful Symmetry is about mirror-image twins Julia and Valentina. (I say mirror image because though they are identical in looks for the most part, they have mirrored characteristics, i.e. one has a mole on her right cheek, the other on the left. One has her heart placed correctly in the left side of her chest, the other, her right...and so on.) The twins, at 20-years-old inherit their Aunt Elspeth's (who has died of cancer and they've never met) small "fortune" including her London flat. There is a stipulation however: They must live there for 1 year before selling and, while living there, their parents (currently living in Lake Forest, Illinois - outside of Chicago) may not step foot in the flat. Oh, and by the way, the twins mother and Aunt Elspeth were identical twins themselves and haven't spoken or seen each other since the twins were 4 months old. And here the secrets and mysteries begin! Oh, and did I mention that Elspeth is stuck as a ghost in her flat? And her former lover lives downstairs in the first-floor flat? And they live next to Highgate Cemetery where Elspeth is entombed!? Oh it's good!

Needless to say, this book was soooooooo interesting and quite the page turner. I don't want to say much because Maggie is currently reading it but it was deeeeelicious! The ending was quite interesting and a bit bizarre but groovy! I highly recommend this book...it'll keep you on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next! Oh, and after reading about these two sets of twins I don't think I'll ever wish I had had a twin again!

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

So, what am I reading now, you ask? Well, I'm re-reading a favorite: The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I picked it up last night at around 7 and read 100 pages. I love it!!! It's about a man who has a chromosome disorder that causes him to travel back-and-forth in time. He can take nothing with him on his travels (clothes, money, food etc.) and so much of his time when he arrives somewhere is spent finding/stealing money or clothes. It's really a love story between the two main characters, Clare and Henry. They meet for the first time when she is 6 and he is 36. Through their meetings they eventually fall in love (many years after she is out of her teenage years) and then deal with the struggles of trying to live a normal life. The real struggle between the two is that Henry has experiences where Clare can't go and can't share in, at least in the present. (Not that she would want to - Henry goes through hell in his "disease".) Check it out