Lauren Kate loved her Manila visit so much, she just had to make a stop back here when she did her first Asian book tour for “Passion,” the third installment in her popular angel-human love story.
When we invited her to go book shopping with Super, she was more than happy to accommodate us. Apart from being a full-time novelist, Lauren Kate is also a shopper, and one of her favorite shopping haunts is the bookstore.
Despite her busy schedule writing, she still manages to squeeze in at least one book a week. We’ve never met an author who wasn’t a voracious reader, and Lauren is no exception. She spends a lot of time in bookstores in her home city in Los Angeles, both for events to promote her books, and to get new reads.
While she has her own shopping list, she’s also eager to pick up titles recommended by booksellers, where she feels very lucky to be in the company of good readers, since she ends up enjoying the books recommended to her.
We hit the shelves at National Book Store, and these are her top picks:
1.“Shiver”–Maggie Stiefvater
“I think Maggie Stiefvater’s language and humor come through in every page, and I think she really did a cool job of allowing us to fall in love with an unlikely hero.”
2. “The Elder Series”–Christopher Paolini
“Christopher Paolini is a model for how fantasy is done right and I’m very excited about ’Inheritance,’ which comes out in November.”
3. “Vesper”–Jeff Sampson
“‘Vesper’ is a really surprising read to me. Jeff Sampson is new, it’s his debut book, and he’s a male author but he got the female protagonist’s voice pitch perfect.”
4. “Twisted”–Sara Shepard
“I’ve been a long-time ‘Pretty Little Liars’ fan—I love the show, I’ve always loved the books, and I follow each of her new books.”
5. “The Necromancer” –Michael Scott
“I’m new to the series but I’ve had them recommended to me over and over again, and I’m looking forward to starting this.”
6. “Trash”–Andy Mulligan
“I read ‘Trash’ before I visited the Philippines for the first time because I heard he was a Filipino writer. It reminded me of Frank Cottrell Boyce’s style, which I love. I think his (Mulligan’s) humor is balanced with poignancy in every page.”
7. “The Emerald Atlas”– John Stephens
“The Emerald Atlas’ is my kind of book. It’s big adventure, lots of laughs, but at its core is a story about siblings—I love stories about siblings and I can’t wait for the next two books in the series.”
8. “Divergent”–Veronica Roth
“I’m a huge ’Hunger Games’ fan and I have been waiting for the book to fill the space after the last ‘Hunger Games’ book came out. I think that ‘Divergent’ is it.”
9. “The Great Gatsby”–F. Scott Fitzgerald
“’The Great Gatsby’ is my original inspiration. It’s the heart of my passion for writing. It’s always a book I return to, I’ve read it about six times. Every time I pick it up, I find something new to love.”
10. ” Hamlet”–William Shakespeare
“I just saw my first production of ‘Hamlet.’ I have never read the play, it rocked me to my foundation, and I think it’s one of the most moving and important works of literature in the world.”
