Geoff Herbach

Geoff Herbach is the author of the award winning Stupid Fast YA series as well as Fat Boy vs the Cheerleaders. His books have been given the 2011 Cybils Award for best YA novel, the Minnesota Book Award, selected for the Junior Library Guild, listed among the year’s best by the American Library Association, the American Booksellers Association and many state library associations. In the past, he wrote the literary novel, The Miracle Letters of T. Rimberg, produced radio comedy shows and toured rock clubs telling weird stories. Herbach teaches creative writing at Minnesota State, Mankato. He lives in a log cabin with a tall wife.

His new novel is Hooper.

Recently I asked the author about what he was reading. Herbach's reply:

I usually read three books at a time (actually, listen to one, read one e-book, and read one in paper). Right now I'm listening to Hannah Tinti's The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley. I love crime books and this is a really cool one. The life of Samuel's daughter, Loo, is opened up through these series of stories about the different bullet scars on her father's body. It's beautifully written and creatively told. Love it.

I'm reading Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas, about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor who helped plan the assassination attempt on Adolph Hitler. Fascinating profile. The guy fought to keep the Lutheran church separate from the German state. He fought to stop the church from going through Nazi Aryan purification. He eventually died in a concentration camp.

And, I just started Smilla's Sense of Snow. I've really been into Scandinavian mysteries lately. Maybe because Minnesota is also dark, icy and cold.

Visit Geoff Herbach's website.

--Marshal Zeringue