From the Bookshelf of Constant Reader…

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

Karen Joy Fowler

Start date: May 15, 2015

Finish date: June 1, 2015

Discussion: Reading List

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Reading List

* The Schedule for July through Dec. 2025
By Lynn · 1 post · 41 views

last updated Jun 20, 2025 08:37AM

Circe - discussion with spoilers
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last updated Sep 06, 2025 04:48PM

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What Members Thought

Sep 17, 2014 Paige rated it it was amazing

4.5

This book was both fun and deep. The writing style was very accessible and engaging, also very funny at times—offhand wit—but still serious. It asks us about family, what it means to be human, the nature of memory, the blame and burdens we carry through life… and it also takes a moral stand (view spoiler) which I appreciated.

I recommend this book; it’s an “easy” read but it delivers great themes and lots of food for thought. I wish all the books I picked up w ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

May 14, 2015 Dottie rated it really liked it

Shelves: theclosetshelf, ocitylibrary, 2015

A book with many stories and many paths for the mind and spirit to travel and ponder. A book reflecting where a large portion of our population at this moment in time have resided and traveled in their lifetimes which make it feel very personal and emotional. We are all of us in this story whether or not we recognize that to be so. This book has power behind it, within it, to influence the readers thinking in multiple ways as the story settles in after the cover is closed on the final page.

Some ...more

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Aug 25, 2013 Beth rated it it was amazing

I can't remember the last time I read a book in less than 24 hours. But this one kept me hooked from beginning to end. ...more

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Aug 01, 2013 Cynthia rated it it was amazing

I really enjoyed this quirky saga of a dysfunctional family. The slow reveal of the exact nature of how this family is different is one of the joys of this book. Fowler has a wonderful way with language and pulls out beautiful words like a string of pearls. The characters are interesting in their complexity and the way they engage the deep moral issues brought up in the book. I especially recommend this book to philosophers and animal lovers.

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Nov 30, 2014 Jane rated it it was amazing

Shelves: recentfiction, read-this-book-again

I loved this book. I think we're reading it for Constant Reader bookgroup on GR. It made for an excellent discussion on my face to face book group. Another one will discuss it on Tuesday. The writing is wonderful I think...both the structure and the sentences one by one. Don't want to say much about it...seriously discovering the plot was one of the great pleasures of the book for me. Read it. I think you'll be glad you did. ...more

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Oct 30, 2015 Tony rated it really liked it

What does it mean to be human, to have a family? To have voice. How reliable is memory? It took me a week to read this book because cannot blaze through it. You have to pause to think.

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Feb 09, 2015 Dean rated it it was amazing

A wonderful story about an unusual family. A story about love and loyalty and enduring bonds.

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Sep 26, 2014 Tamela rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2014

Superb! Many running ideas throughout...family, animal humanism, society, identity...not to mention I went to IU and had no idea what might have been going on around me.

"When I run the world, librarians will be exempt from tragedy." ...more

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