The best friends in Lorrie Moore’s perfect “Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?” come to mind, as do the newlyweds of “On Chesil Beach.” And anyone in a William Trevor story.
Small human truths spotlit by the interactions of ordinary characters. What moves you most in a work of literature? The challenges: “backfire” and “dribble.” (precursor of the C.I.A.) about efforts to develop and weaponize a universally revolting “evil-smelling substance.” The goal: to humiliate German and Japanese officers. What’s the most interesting thing you read in researching “Grunt”?Ī declassified World War II correspondence file in the archives of the O.S.S. I also distinctly recall having that thought while reading these: “In a Sunburned Country” (Bill Bryson) “The Fruit Hunters” (Adam Leith Gollner) “Wild Ones” (Jon Mooallem) “Among the Thugs” (Bill Buford) “Into the Heart of Borneo” (Redmond O’Hanlon) and “Sum” (David Eagleman). Answer is “The Orchid Thief,” by Susan Orlean (actually a reread, prompted by a recent trip to the Fakahatchee Strand, where the book is partially set). I’m going to stick to nonfiction, as the notion of me writing a good novel is too laughable to contemplate. What’s the last book you read and thought, “I wish I’d written that”? I read the last 30 pages in an airport, 10 feet from the gate, and did not notice the boarding announcements.
Before I became an author, I thought people were saying “advanced readers,” and that these were special editions for the more insightful.)
(Those two are advance readers’ copies, of which there are always a couple on the pile. Last third of “Dead Wake.” Also on the stand (it’s actually a shelf) is “Swallowed by the Great Land,” a collection of essays about living in the extreme north by novelist Seth Kantner, who wrote the extraordinary “Ordinary Wolves.” And two by nonfiction authors I like: Bill Streever’s “And Soon I Heard a Roaring Wind” - it’s about air currents, not flatulence - and “You May Also Like,” by Tom Vanderbilt. Last night I stayed up late going down with the Lusitania. What books are currently on your night stand? The author of “Stiff,” “Spook,” “Bonk,” “Gulp” and, most recently, “Grunt” says the last book to make her laugh was “Norwood,” by Charles Portis: “In particular, the wonder chicken section.”
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