CRP's Blog

Congratulations, Emily! Former marketing intern (and faithful Harry Potter reader) Emily Lewis was just hired as CRP’s full-time editorial and marketing assistant. Emily coordinates our staff reads posts, so this seemed like an appropriate place to share the good news.

Now…what has Emily put together for us this week?

I devoured The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins this week, and I do think it mostly lives up to the hype it has received. It’s a lightning quick, suspenseful read, full of unreliable narrators and unlikeable characters (a wonderfully messy combination). I don’t want to say much more at the risk of spoiling something, but you’ll only need to set aside a few days to binge-read this one. –Caitlin Eck, publicity manager

Poet David Trinidad is a true Chicago literary treasure, and this recent interview in Amsterdam Quarterly gives a good overview of his brilliance, thoughtfulness, and playfulness; pair it with his quietly devastating poem, also in the same issue of Amsterdam Quarterly, about his experience of living in New York City on 9/11. –Allison Felus, production manager

I’m a triple threat of books that I’m in the middle of consuming—physical, electronic, and audio—and I just picked up a new book this week that is already overtaking the other books for my attention. In fact, Ian McDonald’s Luna: New Moon caught my attention before I even saw it on a new release table at the bookstore. McDonald had a great article on the Tor.com blog entitled “Martinis and Dior: Cocktail Culture on the Moon” about, well, what alcohol the human inhabitants of the moon would drink and why and I was hooked. The book hasn’t let me down. The audiobook, The Art of the English Murder, is my entertainment on my commute and too good to stop listening to.  –Mary Kravenas, marketing manager

This weekend I binge-watched every episode of Black Mirror and then I binge-researched everything I could about the series. During my manic researching, I discovered this Motherboard article filled with their original Black Mirror-esque depictions of sci-fi scenarios involving errant technology. Additionally, in honor of Banned Books Week, I’m reading Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Loving it so far!  –Emily Lewis, editorial and marketing assistant

Over Christmas last year I read an excerpt in Texas Monthly from The Train to Crystal City: FDR’s Secret Prisoner Exchange Program and America’s Only Family Internment Camp During World War II. Now I’ve finally gotten around to starting the actual book. (The moving excerpt explains the creation of Taniguchi Japanese Garden in Austin’s Zilker Park.) –Meaghan Miller, senior publicist

I’ve been immensely enjoying the soundtrack to Hamilton lately, via NPR. My accompanying reading this week has been the delightful piece on Slate finding many of the references to be found in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s amazing work. –Michelle Williams, managing editor

All of the books featured in this blog post can be found on CRP’s Staff Reads bookshelf on Goodreads.

Fun Fact: Last year at this time, many of our staff decided to follow the fan-created tradition of reading one chapter per day of Roger Zelazny’s A Night in the Lonesome October. This spooky story, narrated by Jack the Ripper’s dog, involves a bizarre mix of classic monster characters on a mysterious hunt that culminates on Hallows’ Eve.