Some Kind of Peace. Another cool Scandanavian thriller!

What was the last truly great book you read?

Out Stealing Horses = truly great

Wolf Hall = mildly great

Are you a fiction or nonfiction person? What’s your favorite literary genre? Any guilty pleasures?

My favorite genre is actually soft-core science. You know, science for the layperson.

What book had the greatest impact on you?

If pushed (and that’s a really, really big push), I’d have to say Waiting for the Barbarians by Coetze.

What is your ideal reading experience? Your reading habits?

 Any reading is good reading to me. I never developed any bad habits in that area!

Do you prefer a book that makes you laugh or cry? One that teaches you something or distracts you?

Generally, I’m a person who can learn from the written word. (I know not all people are) So, I generally prefer to learn something from what I’m reading. It doesn’t necessarily have to be facts or even ideas; sometimes it’s an emotional truth or a spiritual yearning.

What were your favorite books as a child?

Didn’t have any.

Who are your favorite heroes and heroines of fiction?

Again, if pushed…maybe Ayla from Clan of the Cave Bear books.

Disappointing, overrated, just not good: What book did you feel as if you were supposed to like, and didn’t? Do you remember the last book you put down without finishing?

No Country for Old Men = no time for ponderous macho pseudo-Hemingway writing.

What’s the funniest book you’ve ever read?

Fran Lebowitz Reader.

If you could meet any writer, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you want to know?

William Faulkner.  Did all those notes tacked to the wall help?

What do you plan to read next?

Waiting for Thinking, Fast and Slow in paperback.