Shari Lapena's latest novel is An Unwanted Guest.Tristan Ostler/Handout
Two years ago Shari Lapena turned heads with her first thriller, The Couple Next Door, and she’s barely let readers catch their breath since then. Last year brought A Stranger In The House, and now she brings us An Unwanted Guest (Doubleday Canada). Suspense abounds when a blizzard cuts the power to a remote inn deep in the forests of the Catskills – and urgency when guests begin turning up dead. Here, the Toronto author looks back at some of her favourite books from different points in her life.
What did you read as a kid?
I can’t seem to point to any particular books that shaped my life at different stages – it’s more that many, many books shaped my life over time. Before I started school, I seem to remember Dr. Seuss.
What did you read in grade school?
In primary school, I think we started with the Dick and Jane books. I can still picture them. We had readers then, unlike now, for each grade. I was an advanced reader and read a lot outside of school.
I was horse mad as a kid, so I read a lot of horse books. Black Beauty. The Black Stallion series by Walter Farley. All the Jill pony books by Ruby Ferguson. But I read lots of other things too – I was crazy about Nancy Drew, and even started a Nancy Drew Detective Club in Grade 3, where we tried to solve mysteries. As I got older, I voraciously read everything by Agatha Christie. And all of Mary Stewart’s romantic suspense novels, as well as her brilliant Merlin series. Needless to say I was a total bookworm and loved nothing better than to find a great author – and especially a series – that I loved, and read them over and over.
What did you read in high school?
In high school, I read a lot of historical novels – Jean Plaidy, especially, and mystery and suspense writers such as Josephine Tey, Patricia Highsmith and Daphne du Maurier. I also read a lot of classics – English and Russian, especially. I often read books that were too “old” for me, and I knew I was reading over my head, but I did it anyway.
What did you read in university?
I don’t really recall, but in university, my reading for pleasure really fell off, as I had my school reading.
What have you read as an adult?
I got back into reading in a big way after I finished law school. I found I really missed reading fiction. I went back to reading widely. I love Russian literature – Dostoevsky, Chekov, Solzhenitsyn. I’m interested in Russian history as well, and recently read Stalin’s Daughter, by Rosemary Sullivan. I love English literature, from Dickens to the Brontes, but one of my favourites is Anthony Trollope. I think he’s greatly underrated these days.
Some books have really stood out for me in the past few years. I love a good memoir. The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls, is a brilliant memoir about resilience in the face of poverty and family dysfunction. I loved The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher, by Kate Summerscale, a non-fiction book about a Victorian murder and the beginnings of Scotland Yard. In fiction, one standout for me is We Need to Talk about Kevin, by Lionel Shriver – that book took my breath away. Other recent favourites are A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson – extraordinary – and A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles. And I loved Hilary Mantel’s historical novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. For thrillers, some of my favourites are Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn, The Silent Wife, by A.S.A. Harrison, The Dinner, by Herman Koch, and anything by Linwood Barclay.
What are you reading right now?
I’m reading a bit of everything – general fiction, non-fiction, a lot of thrillers. Two books I’ve read recently and loved are Michael Redhill’s Bellevue Square, and A Double Life, by Flynn Berry. On my list to read soon, a bunch of thrillers: Dark Pines, by Will Dean, Thirteen, by Steve Cavanagh, I Know You Know by Gilly Macmillan, and new books from Mark Billingham, Sarah Pinborough and Mary Torjussen.
I read a lot, so recently when I saw a coffee mug at Indigo that said, READING IS MY SUPER POWER, I had to buy it.