Eve Brown-Waite (First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria) muses about a big, fat, unabridged dictionary ... In this month's 1-On-One!

Is it possible to be a good writer without being a good reader?

Um, I like to think that I’m a good writer (but I’ll let you be the judge of that) and I don’t consider myself a particularly good reader. Well, I’m an excellent reader actually (I mean, I can read really fast and pick up teeny tiny grammatical errors and all), but not particularly well read, is what I mean. I haven’t read many classics, I don’t tend to read a lot of the books that make it to the Bestseller lists, nor some of today’s most acclaimed authors.

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?

Maybe we want to escape from what’s really happening in the world around us, which isn’t always so pretty. Books offer that. As for the popularity of reading groups, I think Americans really do love to share thoughts and talk about ideas and ideals. Television and movies don’t generally offer that, but books do.

Have you ever belonged to a reading group?

I’ve never belonged to a reading group NOR to a writers’ group if you can believe that! I want to belong to both – but it seems like once a group is formed, it’s hard for us newcomers to break in!

What advice do you have for reading group members when it comes to selecting books for discussion?

Having never belonged to a reading group, I can hardly give advice. But I would say choose books that interest you, tickle you, pique your interest regardless of whether or not those books are touted as literary, educational, or important.

What book(s) are you reading now or planning to read?

Right now I’m reading How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live, which is a book about The Alexander Technique by Missy Vineyard. I know, not so literary, but really interesting and I’m learning about subtle muscle control and how things we don’t even think about can really effect our health. But I do have a whole pile of “for fun” books waiting by the bedside and they include: Sleeping with Ward Cleaver by Jennifer Gardiner, Cancer is a Bitch by Gail Konop Baker, The Weight of Water by Anita Schreve, and The Big House by George Howe Colt.

If you were stuck on a deserted island and could only bring one book with you to read, what would it be and why? 

My first instinct is to say The Dictionary (a big, fat unabridged one) and not just because it contains all the other books, but actually because I DO read the dictionary. Really!  It’s chock full of fascinating stuff I didn’t know and just reading that always starts my mind spinning in new directions and then of course, I’d need to have a blank notebook and a pen so that I could write all the stories that I’d be creating out of all these new thoughts and ideas. So that would mean I’d need two books, wouldn’t it? Okay, so if I could really only bring ONE book, I think it would be Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird, one of my all time favorites.

If you could have dinner with 3 writers (dead or alive) who would they be and why?

Molly Ivins for her wit, courage and political savvy. Erma Bombeck for her humor and keen observations about life. And e.e. cummings because I have always adored his poetry and he’d round out the dinner party. I think we’d have some great conversations. Should it worry me that they’re all dead? What would I serve?

Have you ever read anything you're too embarrassed to admit (except in this interview)?

Playboy magazines that I found in the house where I used to babysit. But didn’t every teenager do that?

Favorite book when you were a child:

Well, the one I remember the most was the “All of a Kind Family” series about a family with five sisters. They were observant Jews and living in New York City, it must have been around the turn of the century (the last one, not this one). I think maybe I wanted to be part of this big, warm, loving family and being Jewish, I knew I’d never get in with the Brady Bunch or anything like that. But when I read these books, I felt like I could fit in.

If you have children, is this the same book you read to them? If not, what is your favorite book for your children?

I tried, but my children wanted no part of this book! Nor the Little House on the Prairie series – my other childhood favorite. My favorite books for my children are whatever is grabbing their attention and keeping them interested in reading at the moment. Really!

Book that changed your life: 

Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird! It actually convinced me that I could write a book. 

Words to Live By:

Life is NOT a dress rehearsal.

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