Sunday, January 2, 2011

Susan Fraser King

Susan Fraser King is a multi-published, bestselling, award-winning author and a former art history lecturer. She holds a B.A. in art and an M.A. and most of a Ph.D. in art history, with postgraduate work in medieval studies. Her books are widely praised for historical detail and a lyrical writing style, and she has won multiple honors and awards for her novels. Queen Hereafter is King's latest novel.

Last month I asked her what she was reading. Her reply:
Right now I'm reading Suzanne Collins' Mockingjay, the third novel in The Hunger Games series. This is a brisk-paced, fresh series, and while the first is perhaps my favorite because the novel was such an addictive delight and hooked me from beginning to end. I really enjoyed the second and the last books too. The first person present tense narrative works really well here, and the quick pace drives the story along. And I love Katniss, the complex heroine, who is intelligent, tough yet vulnerable-- and not so easy for the reader or the other characters to love her, which makes her all the more intriguing.

I've just finished Alan Bradley's The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, a mystery narrated by a brilliant eleven-year-old girl, an amateur chemist who becomes an amateur sleuth. Brilliant, funny, touching, keeps you guessing - I love it and I'm planning to read the next one as soon as I can. I've also recently finished Kathryn Johnson's The Gentleman Poet - a historical with style and mystery, intelligently and beautifully wrought. Very entertaining for anyone looking for a great Elizabethan historical!
Visit Susan Fraser King's website.

--Marshal Zeringue