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Is it possible to be a good writer without being a good reader? Theoretically it’s possible, I guess, but probably very rare. It sounds a little like trying to be a good chef without actually liking to eat. Have you ever belonged to a reading group? Not yet. It’s something I’m looking forward to doing in the future when I’m traveling less. What books are you reading now or do you plan to read? I just finished reading Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird, and Sue Monk Kidd’s Firstlight. I’m finding myself drawn to contemplative, personal, writing at the moment – especially accounts of writer’s exploring their passion for writing. A couple of days ago I highlighted this quote in Kidd’s book, “creating personal spiritual stories is an act of soul-making that does not happen automatically. It comes only as we risk stepping into the chaos of our lives and naming the angels that inhabit the shadows. It comes as we give expression to our struggle for individual meaning, identify, and truth, as we wrestle with angels both light and dark, and celebrate the places where God stirs. In the crucible of story we become artists of meaning. There we celebrate God most surely.” What’s next? I have Harold Bloom’s collection, The Best Poems of the English Language, sitting by my bed, and Heather O’Neill’s Lullabies for Little Criminals (which I bought solely on the basis of the title – I regularly impulse-buy books). If you were stuck on a deserted island and could only bring one book with you to read, what would it be and why? The Bible – to me there’s no book wider, richer, deeper, and more meaningful (and possibly longer) than this one, and you’d really want some food for thought if you were going to be stuck on a desert island. If you could have dinner with three writers (dead or alive) who would they be and why? This changes regularly, but tonight I’m in the mood to have dinner with M.M. Kaye, the apostle John, or Harper Lee. I’d love to ask Harper Lee what it was like to write To Kill a Mockingbird and why and how she made the decision not to write publicly after that. I’d like to thank M.M. Kaye for writing The Far Pavilions and listen to her talk about growing up in India. And I’d just like to meet the “disciple that Jesus loved”. Have you ever read anything you're too embarrassed to admit (except in this interview)? I’m not going to name names. Partly because I would like to think that every writer, at some level, is proud of their work and it is wrong to tread lightly when you run the risk of wounding (also, because I can’t actually remember names). But yes, I’ve read some books I’d be embarrassed to name. Many of them I found on my friends parents bookshelves as a thirteen year old. (Note to parents – don’t have anything on your bookshelves you would be horrified if your children read. If they like reading, they will find it.) Favorite book when you were a child? I loved many of the “usuals” – anything by Madeleine L’Engle or Laura Ingalls Wilder, CS Lewis, LM Montgomery, The Secret Garden, A Little Princess, Heidi, and Cheaper by the Dozen. I also loved Brock and Bodie Thoene’s books, The Power of One (Bryce Courtney), and MM Kaye’s The Far Pavilions. If you have children, is this the same book you read to them? If not, what is your favorite book for your children? I don’t have kids, but I’d be happy to read any of these books to them if I did (with the exception of The Far Pavilions which is about a thousand pages long and has many dense passages about Indian-English history). Children would be about ready for college by the time you waded through that one out loud. Favorite heroine in literature and why? I’m not very good at having “favorites”, that word seems so permanent and unchanging and exclusive. So, here are some of my “favorites” – Ellie Linton for pragmatic strength and good Aussie slang (Tomorrow When the War Began), Precious Ramotswe for resilience (The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency), Elizabeth Bennet (Pride and Prejudice), and Claire Randall (Cross Stitch) for independence. Favorite hero in literature and why? John Ames for wisdom (Gilead), Aston/Ashok for insight into living between worlds (The Far Pavilions), and Jamie Fraser for his sexy Scottish accent (Cross Stitch). Favorite first line from a book? This one is pretty good: “It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured.” (Gregory David Roberts, Shantaram) Favorite last line from a book? I think this is a beautiful thing to be able to say. “On careful reflection, all things considered, I would live my life over.” (Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten). Book that changed your life? The Far Pavilions (M.M. Kaye). The story of an English child, Ashton, is bought up as a Hindu in India for most of his childhood and his love for Juli, an Indian princess in the province of Gulkote. I first read this book when I was nine, shortly after we had moved to Potomac, Maryland from Dhaka, Bangladesh. I felt like an awkward elderly stranger among my classmates who seemed both shallow and sophisticated. Through the story I could ‘see’ the Indian scenery I was familiar with, and I slowly absorbed the depth of the conflict between east and west. Ashton, who was torn between two worlds, captured my heart. This was the first book that I had ever read that created an almost tangible reality. It allowed me to temporarily escape the privileged playground I was so unfamiliar with and was at least partly responsible for igniting my life-long love affair with reading. Words to live by? “Act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6v8)
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