Summer Reading 2015: Panic (Realistic Fiction)

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Excitement doesn't come easy in dead-end Carp, New York. To spike the adrenalin, graduating high schoolers invented a dangerous game aptly called Panic and sweetened the lure with a large cash prize, a readymade ticket out of this nowhere town. Heather knows the human stakes of the contest; her own sister sits paralyzed from a previous game; but she enters anyway because of the money involved. Dodge joins the fray for a somewhat different reason. What they and the other competitors learn about themselves and each other grabs our attention in this novel by Delirium trilogy author Lauren Oliver. (Barnes and Noble)

I was born in Queens and raised in Westchester, New York, in a small town very similar to the one depicted in Before I Fall. My parents are both literature professors, and from a very early age, my sister and I were encouraged to make up stories, draw, paint, dance around in costumes, and essentially spend much of our time living imaginatively. Our house was old and full of art and towers and towers of books, and that’s still the kind of house I like best.

I started writing as a way of extending my love of reading; when I read a book I loved, I would continue to write sequels for it (I was inadvertently a fan fic writer, before “fan fiction” was even a term!). Later on, I began working on my own stories, and keeping company with a lot of imaginary friends.

I pursued literature and philosophy at the University of Chicago, and then moved back to New York to attend NYU’s MFA program in creative writing. I simultaneously began working at Penguin Books, in a young adult division called Razorbill, and while there, I started work on Before I Fall. I left in 2009 to pursue writing full-time, and now I happily work in my pajamas every day.

I have a variety of interests apart from writing, including reading, cooking, traveling, dancing, running, and making up weird songs. Some of my favorite things are: being cozy; fires; autumn; fuzzy slippers; very high heels; great wine; dark chocolate; ketchup; pasta. Things I hate: practical shoes, liars, and bananas. I divide my time between Brooklyn, upstate New York, and various hotel rooms. (Author Website)