I suppose there are no days more full than those we go back to.
The book that cemented me as a writer
On the Road.
It made me want my own Kerouac days.
Credit: Dustin Aksland
I ended up taking a bicycle across the United States.
I wasnt quite Dean Moriarty, but I did travel about 8,000 miles around Mexico and the U.S.
I slept in campgrounds, gardens, underpasses, in the belly of a hollowed-out redwood tree.
What Id read if I were restricted to just one genre
Literary fiction is my oxygen.
The books I read in secret as a kid
Edna OBriensThe Country Girlsfired up my teenage imagination.
And of course,Lolita.
Im even more embarrassed to admit that I dont really want to.
The book that changed my life
At the risk of sounding pretentious, James JoycesUlysses.
I think of it as a living thing.
I can walk into the pages and always find something new.
I likecelebrating Bloomsdayevery June…a friend of mine calls it the thinking mans St. Paddys Day.
I used to read them to sleep.
One of my favorites was a fable calledFupby Jim Dodge.
My literary crush
Louise Erdrich, ever since I readLove Medicine.
And, of course, Molly Bloom.
The last time I remember crying was when I readStonerby John Williams.
It stunned me into silence.
Whether I read my own books post-publication
No, no, no, never.
Theres a great Irish phrase: Id rather go home and iron me leg.
