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Is it possible to be a good writer without being a good reader? Every good writer is a good reader and a voracious reader. It is impossible to be a good writer without the thirst for reading. According to a report of the Independent Book Publishing Association, over five million American adults belong to reading groups. What, do you believe, is the basis for this country's love for literature and books? I think reading groups have become so popular for a few reasons. Americans today crave community, and groups like reading groups provide the intimacy and connection of a community. Also, our world is growing ever more fast paced and technological and reading groups allow us to slow down, savor words, and find comfort. And we as a country are struggling to understand so much that is going on in the world. Literature provides insight and ideas. Have you ever belonged to a reading group? I belonged to a wonderful reading group back in the early 90s when I lived in NYC. We read everything from Zola to John Irving! Like many reading groups, we met for dinner first, then discussed the books. More recently, I belonged to an all women reading group. We met once a month at a restaurant and read books that mostly dealt with women’s topics. What advice do you have for reading group members when it comes to selecting books for discussion? I think character driven books lead to better discussions. When a reader is invested in a character, choices and relationships in the book become more complicated. A lively discussion often stems from debates about those choices and relationships. What books are you reading now or do you plan to read? I always read several books at once! Right now I am reading Claire Messud’s novel, The Emporor's Children and Danielle Trussoni’s memoir, Falling Through the Earth. I also have an early copy of this year’s Best American Short Stories which I keep dipping in to! If you were stuck on a deserted island and could only bring one book with you to read, what would it be and why? Anna Karenina. Not only is it one of my favorite novels, but every time I read it I take new things away from it. Plus, it’s long! So it would help me pass the time! If you could have dinner with three writers (dead or alive) who would they be and why? Definitely Willa Cather. Not only is she is one of my all time favorite writers, but her books cover so much emotional and geographic territory that I think she would be a wonderful dinner guest! F. Scott Fitzgerald because he is my favorite writer and I think I could have a crush on him if I actually met him. And Anne Tyler so I could thank her for writing Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, the novel that changed the way I thought about writing and propelled me to write my own first novel, Somewhere Off the Coast of Maine. Have you ever read anything you're too embarrassed to admit (except in this interview)? I confess here that as an adolescent I read kind of trashy books and loved them! Harold Robbins (especially A Stone Fo Danny Fisher), Herman Wouk (especially Marjorie Morningstar), Princess Daisy by Judith Krantz…you get the idea! Favorite book when you were a child? Hands down, Little Women. When Beth died I realized that characters in books were human—anything could happen. If you have children, is this the same book you read to them? If not, what is your favorite book for your children? My favorite book for my own children is A Wrinkle In Time by Madeline L’Engle. It has everything in it—interesting and unique characters, danger, moral dilemmas, love, and good writing. Favorite heroine in literature and why? Jo March. She became a writer! She was a feminist! Strong willed, independent, creative, brave. Favorite hero in literature and why? Gatsby. He was so beautifully flawed. Favorite first line from a book? From 100 Years of Solitude: “Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember the distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.” Who could stop reading after a first line like that? Favorite last line from a book? “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” That is the last line of The Great Gatsby, but it seems to capture what much of literature tackles. Book that changed your life? Well, the two already mentioned here—Little Women and Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant. But also Raymond Carver’s What We Talk About When We Talk About Love which really turned everything I thought about writing upside down. Words to live by? Never give up.
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