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Is it possible to be a good writer without being a good reader? I don’t know a single writer who isn’t a passionate, committed, obsessive reader. Every writer I know talks constantly about books. “What are you reading?” is usually the first question after “ Red or white?” We all learn from other writers—structure, the rhythms of sentences, technique, characterization, how to break the rules and how not to. 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? Art has always been the salvation and the joy in any society. Literature lifts us to a higher plane, reveals hard truths, combats loneliness, instructs and enlightens, is a solace in hard times. If you’ve got a book tucked into your backpack, then you’ve got a friend. What book(s) are you reading now or planning to read? I am now reading The Fortunate One (was a great fan of Mary McCarthy’s The Group) and this novel, post-college life for a bunch of Oberlin grads, is an homage to that wonderful book.). I have just finished Zoe Heller’s The Believers, which I very much admire. And let me put in a plug for Elinor Lipman’s The Family Man from my thrilling role as one of its three dedicatees. It is truly delicious. Next on my nightstand is the new Flannery Connor biography. Like any writer I know, I have books stacked everywhere in towers like Pringle potato chips! If you were stuck on a deserted island and could only bring one book with you to read, what would it be and why? Probably The Great Gatsby. I think it’s a perfect novel and have returned to it many times. If you could have dinner with three writers (dead or alive), who would they be and why? My favorite writers to have dinner with are—I’m naming four here: Elinor Lipman, Anita Shreve, Stephen McCauley and Sebastian Stuart. We share meals often and always have great conversations accompanied by so much laughter sometimes it’s impossible to eat! I recently had dinner with Richard Russo, a dream come true. Have you ever read anything you’re too embarrassed to admit (except in this interview)? All those People magazines in my dentist’s office. I actually look forward to that particular torture. And in the same vein, the Diana biography! Favorite book when you were a child? I loved The Secret Garden, all the Natalie Hodgson Burnett books, The Five Little Peppers, The Peterkin Papers. My favorites I used to read to my two sons were Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little. Favorite last line from a book? “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." The Great Gatsby Words to live by? “A book written in silence and read in silence goes from heart to heart and soul to soul as nothing else can.” EL Doctorow “The best thing about writing: you begin to look your best on paper when you no longer do in life.” Jeffery Eugenides “Fiction is like handwriting: it comes out to be you no matter what you do.” John Updike “No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader.” Robert Frost
Copyright © 2010 Reading Group Choices
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