Fantasy novels, YA literature, adventure stories, horrors, unexpected comebacks and exciting debuts- make sure you are prepared with a new shelf for 2015! Here are five books you should not miss:
1. J.K.Rowling’s – Very Good Lives: The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination
Potterheads- rejoice- our queen still has a lot to tell us! In April 14 her Harvard Commencement Speech from 2009 is coming out as an illustrated book. In it, Rowling discusses the power of imagination and the benefit of failure in her usual fun and inspirational way… and she definitely knows a thing or two about failing and imagination! Moreover- all the proceeds of the book will go to charity- 90% to the Lumos charity and 10% as financial aid for Harvard`s students! Getting advice from Rowling and helping children and students? Whether you are a Potter maniac or not, the book is a must-have!
2. Cassandra Clare- Lady Midnight (The Dark Artifices #1)
When discussing Young Adult Novels, we can hardly miss The Mortal Instruments. Now, Clare has started another Shadowhunter series, which takes place five years after the end of TMI. The trilogy is called The Dark Artifices and the first book- Lady Midnight will be published in 2015. The plot follows the story of Emma- a Shadowhunter described as ‘the best, fastest and deadliest Shadowhunter since Jace Lightwood’. Revenge, forbidden love and magic are Clare`s signature and we can expect them from her new series! If you have not read The Mortal Instruments, Lady Midnight deals with the same fantasy world, but with different place, time and characters, so it might be a great way to start!
3. J. D. Salinger- ???
Mysterious as usual, it seems that Salinger has kept stories from us, which are to be released between 2015 and 2020. At the world premiere of documentary movie about Salinger, film-makers revealed he “left instructions authorizing a specific timetable (starting between 2015 and 2020) for the release of unpublished works, including five new Glass family stories; a novel based on his relationship with his first wife; a novella in the form of a counterintelligence officer’s diary entries during the war; a story-filled “manual” about the Vedanta religious philosophy.” Another story also rumored is „The Last and Best of the Peter Pans,” an update on the lives of Holden Caulfield and his family!
4. Scott McCloud- The Sculptor
The American cartoonist and theorist on comics gives us a story about bringing life for art—literally. Thanks to a deal with Death, a young sculptor gets his childhood wish: to sculpt anything he can imagine with his bare hands. But now that he only has 200 days to live, deciding what to create is harder than he thought, and discovering the love of his life at the 11th hour isn’t making it any easier! Sounds thrilling!
5. Garth Risk Hallberg- City on Fire
Not much is known about the book, but the fact it is Hallberg`s debut novel and it was sold for 2 million dollars to Jonathan Cape is more than enough to buy it! The UK editor described the 900 pages book as “the best American novel I’ve ever read on submission“and as “the only thing people are talking about in the industry”. However, what is the story about? The action takes place in New York in 1977 and explores every corner of the city- the reluctant heirs to a great fortune, two Long Island kids exploring downtown’s nascent punk scene, a gay schoolteacher from rural Georgia, an obsessive magazine reporter, a revolutionary cell planning to set the Bronx ablaze, a trader with a hole on his balance sheet and a detective who is trying to piece together the mystery which connects them all to a shooting in Central Park. Are 900 pages going to be enough? We will soon find out!
Tuesday, April 30Royal Holloway's offical student publication, est. 1986
