With anticipation: Books from our to-read lists

By John Hoover
© 2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC

Last month, I asked the staff of Misty Valley Books to discuss what they were reading at the time. This month, I asked them to pick a book from their “to read” list and tell us what sparks their interest.

Lynne begins our look into the future by writing, “at the top of my ‘to read’ pile of books is At the Water’s Edge ($28) Sara Gruen’s new book due out in June 2015. This one takes place in Scotland during World War II and I hope that it will be as good as Water for Elephants, her last book. “

Amanda, a fan of Jussi Adler-Olsen, picks his most recent book as one she looks forward to reading. “I’m looking forward to picking up Jussi Adler-Olsen’s The Alphabet House ($27.95).  A full-page ad in The New Yorker calls it ‘a psychological thriller set in World War II Germany and 1970s England. . .’ which is one of my favorite genres.  I’ve really enjoyed Adler-Olsen’s Department Q detective series and I suspect that once I start reading I won’t be able to put The Alphabet House down.”

Always on the lookout for exceptional young adult books Jory chose Steelheart ($9.99), by Brandon Sanderson. “Sanderson usually writes fantasy for adults, but he’s trying out a YA series and Steelheart is Book One. It’s all about villains with superpowers who have taken over North America, and a band of humans, known as the Reckoners, trying to stop them. Have heard it’s great fun and impossible to put down.”

Sylvan’s book to be read is We Are Pirates ($26). “Something drew my eye to We Are Pirates,  the cover struck me as familiar, but it wasn’t until I saw that Daniel Handler was the author that I understood. This is an adult novel by the creator of the uber-popular and absurd Lemony Snickett’s Series of Unfortunate Events. I can’t wait to read his words in a different, less censored voice.”

Kim’s choice for a future read is a book that commemorates a 100 year anniversary. “I’m very much looking forward to the new Erik Larson book, Dead Wake ($28), about the sinking of the Lusitania during WWI. As with previous books of his I’ve read (Devil in the White City and Thunderstruck – both excellent reads!), this one is written as multiple, smaller stories, that collectively tell a larger one. The stories include America’s reluctance to join the war, the civilian passengers aboard the luxury ocean liner, and the German U-boat that hunted and ultimately sank her.”

Because I’m a fan of good detective fiction I just happen to have Louise Penny’s A Trick of the Light ($15.99) on my “to read” pile. Penny’s Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surete du Quebec is, once again, in the tiny village of Three Pines to investigate another murder. A Trick of the Light is Penny’s seventh Inspector Gamache novel so if you’re interested in the back story you should probably start with Still Life, the first in the series. If you start this series my guess is you’ll want to continue and you’ll fall in love with Three Pines.