something their parents would disapprove of.
Disappointing, overrated, just not good: What book did you feel you were supposed to like, and didnât? Do you remember the last book you put down without finishing?
Overrated ⦠Joyceâs Ulysses . Hands down. A professorâs book. Though I guess if youâre Irish it all makes sense. I put down most books, unfinished. Most books arenât very good, and thereâs no reason they should be. Whatever âtalentâ may be, it isnât apportioned democratically. Happily, I donât remember the last not-very-good book I didnât finish. Although (which is why I donât review books) sometimes I return to a book Iâve left unfinished and discoverâpleasurablyâthat it was I, not the book, that was unsatisfactory.
What is your favorite story collection? Do you tend to read more short fiction or novels?
I read both, undifferentiated. Probably high on my list (though I donât generally think of favorites) would be Cheeverâs Collected and Isaac Babelâs Collected . Eudora Welty, too. If you asked me tomorrow, I might answer differently. William Trevor. Pritchett. Dubliners . Alice Munro. Deborah Eisenberg. Ann Beattie. Donald Barthelme. Mavis Gallant. Chekhov. There are some awfully good story collections around.
If you could meet any writer, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you want to know? Have you ever written to an author?
Iâve written to lots of authorsâfan letters. From the heart. And I suppose Iâd love to have met Ford Madox Ford (no relation, alas). Such a big, messy, compelling, brilliant character. My kind of guy (though, of course, it would probably have turned out disastrously, as many things in his life did).
Which of the books youâve written is your favorite? Your favorite character?
With all due respect, I wrote them all as hard as I could, did my best. That question is best left for readersâif I have any.
Any chance youâll return to Frank Bascombe?
I make notes for Frank all the time, carrying them (and âhimâ) around with me daily. As of now, that seems like enough to do.
Whatâs the best book about sports ever written?
Gee, Iâve read pretty few. A Fanâs Notes , by Frederick Exley. The Glory of Their Times , by Lawrence S. Ritter. Pretty much any of Roger Angellâs collections.
Do you think of yourself as a regional writer? Your books tend to be very much about placeâwhether itâs New Jersey, the South, or the West. And do you enjoy reading regional literature?
Maybe Iâm a serial regional writer. First here, then there, across the map. When I stopped thinking of setting books in the Southâwhere I was bornâI did it both because I didnât think I had anything new to tell about the South (Faulkner and Welty and Percy and Hannah and twenty other wonderful writers had already done it better than I could) and because I wanted to find a wider audience and take on different concerns from those the South seemed to inviteâthat is, invite me. And I donât really think about books as being âregionalâ or not. I just think of them as being either good or not good.
What do you plan to read next?
Bird Alone , by Sean OâFaolain.
Richard Ford is the author of The Sportswriter , Independence Day, Canada, and The Lay of the Land, among other novels.
Â
----
Childhood Reading
When I was a kid, I drew a lot, so I gravitated to oversized books with a lot of artworkâbooks about giants, gnomes, Norse myths, and space travel. There was one called 21st Century Foss , full of incredible imaginings of spaceships and future cities, all with radical and organic shapes. I hadnât seen it in thirty years and recently bought it on eBay. Looking at those pictures again was like reliving dreams I had when I was eight years old.
â Dave Eggers
I loved Encyclopedia Brown as a kid. Donald Sobol
Disappointing, overrated, just not good: What book did you feel you were supposed to like, and didnât? Do you remember the last book you put down without finishing?
Overrated ⦠Joyceâs Ulysses . Hands down. A professorâs book. Though I guess if youâre Irish it all makes sense. I put down most books, unfinished. Most books arenât very good, and thereâs no reason they should be. Whatever âtalentâ may be, it isnât apportioned democratically. Happily, I donât remember the last not-very-good book I didnât finish. Although (which is why I donât review books) sometimes I return to a book Iâve left unfinished and discoverâpleasurablyâthat it was I, not the book, that was unsatisfactory.
What is your favorite story collection? Do you tend to read more short fiction or novels?
I read both, undifferentiated. Probably high on my list (though I donât generally think of favorites) would be Cheeverâs Collected and Isaac Babelâs Collected . Eudora Welty, too. If you asked me tomorrow, I might answer differently. William Trevor. Pritchett. Dubliners . Alice Munro. Deborah Eisenberg. Ann Beattie. Donald Barthelme. Mavis Gallant. Chekhov. There are some awfully good story collections around.
If you could meet any writer, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you want to know? Have you ever written to an author?
Iâve written to lots of authorsâfan letters. From the heart. And I suppose Iâd love to have met Ford Madox Ford (no relation, alas). Such a big, messy, compelling, brilliant character. My kind of guy (though, of course, it would probably have turned out disastrously, as many things in his life did).
Which of the books youâve written is your favorite? Your favorite character?
With all due respect, I wrote them all as hard as I could, did my best. That question is best left for readersâif I have any.
Any chance youâll return to Frank Bascombe?
I make notes for Frank all the time, carrying them (and âhimâ) around with me daily. As of now, that seems like enough to do.
Whatâs the best book about sports ever written?
Gee, Iâve read pretty few. A Fanâs Notes , by Frederick Exley. The Glory of Their Times , by Lawrence S. Ritter. Pretty much any of Roger Angellâs collections.
Do you think of yourself as a regional writer? Your books tend to be very much about placeâwhether itâs New Jersey, the South, or the West. And do you enjoy reading regional literature?
Maybe Iâm a serial regional writer. First here, then there, across the map. When I stopped thinking of setting books in the Southâwhere I was bornâI did it both because I didnât think I had anything new to tell about the South (Faulkner and Welty and Percy and Hannah and twenty other wonderful writers had already done it better than I could) and because I wanted to find a wider audience and take on different concerns from those the South seemed to inviteâthat is, invite me. And I donât really think about books as being âregionalâ or not. I just think of them as being either good or not good.
What do you plan to read next?
Bird Alone , by Sean OâFaolain.
Richard Ford is the author of The Sportswriter , Independence Day, Canada, and The Lay of the Land, among other novels.
Â
----
Childhood Reading
When I was a kid, I drew a lot, so I gravitated to oversized books with a lot of artworkâbooks about giants, gnomes, Norse myths, and space travel. There was one called 21st Century Foss , full of incredible imaginings of spaceships and future cities, all with radical and organic shapes. I hadnât seen it in thirty years and recently bought it on eBay. Looking at those pictures again was like reliving dreams I had when I was eight years old.
â Dave Eggers
I loved Encyclopedia Brown as a kid. Donald Sobol
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