Library Haul and Reading List 5/15/15

I didn’t make a list post last week as we were out of town and I didn’t get by the library. This week’s list is mostly fiction again, although I am reading A Curious Mind, by Brian Grazer. (Not pictured because I borrowed the eBook from the library.) It’s an interesting look at what Grazer calls, “Curiosity Conversations” that he’s had with other accomplished individuals. The idea isn’t that different from what we peons call, “Informational Interviews” that give a sense of how other people work and where their ideas come from. He’s met with far more interesting people than most of us ever will, though.

• The Isle of the Lost, by Melissa de la Cruz. A twist on fairy tale lore where the villains have been imprisoned on the Isle of the Lost and stripped of their powers. However, their children might have a plan to get them out and restore their powers. This is the prequel to a TV series, called The Descendants, that will be airing on the Disney Channel in the spring of 2015.
• Undertow, by Michael Buckley. A YA fantasy about humanity’s reaction to a race called the Alpha that suddenly arrives in our midst. The predictable human reaction is first awe and wonder followed by hate and violence. But the mistake is that the Alpha’s are humanity’s best chance at surviving the invasion of the real enemy. Sounds like an interesting take on prejudice and paranoia, but with a fantastical twist.
• The Last Bookaneer, by Matthew Pearl. This novel imagines a world in the late 19th century where the bookaneers steal manuscripts and make a fortune selling them to publishers who, in turn, sell them cheap to a voracious reading public. Since the publishers didn’t have to pay the authors for their work they’re making a fortune, too. I can’t decide if, as a writer, this take on literary piracy will be a horror story, a cautionary tale, a fun romp, or all three. Certainly an interesting idea.