Marsha Skrypuch

Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch is the acclaimed author of over sixteen picture books and novels. Her earlier picture books include Enough, Silver Threads, Daughter of War, Aram's Choice and The Best Gifts. She won the Silver Birch Fiction Award for Making Bombs for Hitler and the Red Cedar Award for Last Airlift: A Vietnamese Orphan's Rescue from War.

Recently I asked Skrypuch about what she was reading. Her reply:

I’m actively writing a novel at the moment and when I do that, I tend not to read much fiction because my mind wanders back to my own story-in-progress. But I’ve just come off a six month reading binge and during that time I read some awesome novels.

I love reading unpredictable psychological thrillers. Readers have told me that Making Bombs for Hitler has a thriller feel to it, so maybe that's why I enjoy them so much.

Herman Koch has a gift for creating seemingly mundane yet deliciously unlikeable characters and original story lines. I inhaled his most recent, Dear Mr. M, about a voyeur neighbor who spies on a once-great author. The voice alternates between the voyeur and the fading author, and neither is a reliable narrator. Brilliant and addictive. His best novel yet.

An Honest Deceit is a literary thriller by Guy Mankowski, about a bereaved father who delves into the mysterious circumstances of his young daughter’s death as a way of coming to terms with the tragedy. Nothing about this book is formulaic. I'd read another Mankowski in a flash, just because I like his writing so much.

Chevy Stevens’ newest thriller, Never Let You Go, comes out in mid-March, but I had the opportunity to read an advance copy. I loved this book. Stevens’ bad guys aren't cardboard and her good guys aren't sweet. Everyone has a well-developed backstory. When the terror happens, it's so darned real.

Visit Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch's website.

My Book, The Movie: Making Bombs for Hitler.

--Marshal Zeringue