1. Name a few of your favorite books.
Anything Jane Austen, Salman Rushdie's "Haroun and the Sea of Stories," "The Conjure-Man Dies" by Rudolph Fisher, "Ah but Your Land is Beautiful" by Alan Paton, Calvino's "Numbers in the Dark," Neil Gaiman's "Neverwhere," Zadie Smith's "White Teeth," Calvin and Hobbes, Dorothy Sayers' Peter Wimsey novels, James Baldwin, T.S. Eliot, Walker Percy's "The Moviegoer," "A Confederacy of Dunces," mostly everything by C.S. Lewis., Nikolai Gogol's "Dead Souls."
2. Is there an author that you don't like, yet so many people seem to love?
I can't stand Charles Bukowski, especially in the hands of sensitive new age English major types who claim that he really isn't as misogynistic as he writes. Anthony Kiedis references him on this song and we all know how much he values women.
3. Name a book to film adaptation that you really like. Name one you think was done poorly.
I love the 5-hour-long BBC version of "Pride and Prejudice." It might be my all-time favorite movie. The Keira Knightley version, on the other hand, made me splutter with outrage and throw things at the tv.
4. Where do you buy your books?
The Lakewood Library book sale is my favorite, but I also love Half Price Books, Last Exit Books in Kent (the best college town bookstore ever), I tend to browse at Borders and order interesting ones through the library.
5. What genre do you read the most?
I read whatever looks interesting at the time. Since I feel like I'm close to exhausting much of the dead white males, I'm currently working through the Harlem Renaissance, Peter Uvin's "Life After Violence: a People's History of Burundi," and I love reading the writings of the early church (Augustine, Ignatius of Antioch, some of the medieval mystics) because it's much more immediate to me than the feel good drivel at your local bookstore. I love folklore, travel writing and nonfiction about places that I've never been to but hopefully will see someday.
Uh yeah, I read too much.
6. What genre do you dislike?
Political books that will be dated in 6 months and spend a lot of time saying nasty things about other people (Ann Coulter, Michael Savage/Moore, Al Franken, ya hear me?). Seriously, what a waste of paper. I don't read Harlequin romances either but anyone who reads this or knows me already knew that.
That's about it.
7. Is there a book that has changed your life?
I thought that "Our Band could be Your Life" was going to change my life when I was 17 and wanted to spend the money I saved up for college to start a record label like K or Dischord. I had all these plans of underground punk glory but...
Honestly, the Bible continues to do that for me on a daily basis.
Alan Paton's writing has also had a profound effect on me.
8. Have you ever met an author? What author would you like to meet?
I've never met a famous author to my knowledge but I did hear Henry Rollins (hilarious) and Kurt Vonnegut (disappointing) speak. Like Randal, I am hoping to see Neil Gaiman this October.
1 comment:
Why must you hate on feel good drivel?
Post a Comment