What the Soho Press staff and special guest author Cara Black (who stopped by the office on her NYC tour) are reading:

1.) “Madame de Pompadour by Nancy Mitford. It’s a library copy, published in 1952…it’s thumbed through and some of the engravings are missing. We see the young woman who becomes the mistress of Louis IX in competition with the other mistresses and his Polish wife at Versailles.”
-Cara Black, author of Murder at the Lanterne Rouge

2.) “I just finished Arcadia by Lauren Groff. It’s about the decline of a utopian commune, from the perspective of a boy who was born there and lived through its slow disintegration, and his attempt to assimilate into the real world after.”
-PJ Horoszko, Intern

3.) “Literally just turned the last page of Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney and thoroughly enjoyed! As I’m on the beach, it’s a quick, easy read that is dark and witty. Set in 80′s New York, it follows the comic exploits of a young man working as a truth verificator for a prestigious magazine. New trouble finds him on every corner while he tries to fulfill his own literary aspirations and get at something humane in the city of plastic dreams. Oh, and its a 2nd-person narration filled with brutal sarcasm!”
-Simona Blat, Intern

4.) “The Starboard Sea by Amber Dermot. When a boarding school book is done this well, it totally gets me. Also, set in 1987 which is bringing it all back, for better or worse.”
-Bronwen Hruska, Publisher

5.) “Kafka’s Diaries. The entries are often very funny, but of course they get quite bleak. A sample from July 1913: ‘Nothing, nothing, nothing. Weakness, self-destruction, tip of a flame of hell piercing the floor.’ (That is a complete entry.)”
-Mark Doten, Editor

6.) “I’m reading A Study in Scarlet, the first Sherlock Holmes novel, by Arthur Conan Doyle, in preparation for the Classic Crime Read-Along on Thursday, April 26!”
-Juliet Grames, Senior Editor

7.) “I’ve enjoyed watching the plot twist unfold in Soho Teen‘s The Sweet Dead Life! Jenna and I are getting closer and closer solving the mystery that’s been plaguing her torn family. Complications have included: possible poisoning, instant and magical makeover for her slacker brother, and a suspicious salesman of Ariat boots.”
-Katie Hoffman, Intern

8.) “I just started V For Vendetta on the train this morning! (and remembered how difficult it is to juggle graphic novels on the 6)”
-Michelle Rafferty, Publicist

9.) “The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen. Amazing Middle Grade fantasy novel with a delicious twist.”
-Daniel Ehrenhaft, YA Editor

10.) “Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock ‘n’ Roll Generation Saved Hollywood, by Peter Biskind. Why? Dennis Hopper, Robert Evans, Bob Altman, Francis Coppola, Hal Ashby, Warren Beatty, Martin Scorsese and lots of other people screaming at each other and making the best movies ever.”
-Scott Cain, Editorial Assistant

11.) “I’m reading The Angel Makers for the Soho Press bookclub!”
-Meredith Barnes, Publicist

12.) “Threats by Amelia Gray A grieving widower wanders around, hides, eats things, talks to strangers, folds clothes, and hoards handwritten threats (TRY AND KISS ME. SEE WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR LIPS.) written by his dead wife. Tons of extended gross-out descriptions meant to hurt feelings and make teeth itch that somehow still manage to be beautiful and affecting.”
-Rudy Martinez, Marketeer