Check out the programming on KZYX, Mendocino county's own public radio station.
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WOB on WOB |
I'm sure you've seen those mock-serious interviews with famous people. They are asked about books they are reading, or pretending to read, and the celebrities give short, ironic and cannily calculated answers.Now it's my turn to be interviewed, by me. I can't wait to hear my answers.
Here goes:
On your nightstand now:
Let me look. OK, On top is The McSweeney's Joke Book of Book Jokes, and under that is The Garden of Last Days by Andre Dubus III, The Soloist by Steve Lopez, The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway, Traversa by Fran Sandham, A Heaven in the Eye by Clyde Rice, Earth Horizon, An Autobiograpy by Mary Austin, The Discovery of France by Graham Robb, four New Yorkers dating back to whenever, The Everything Italian Practice Book with CD, Tintin Flight 714 or Volo 714 (sette cento quattordici) in Italian, by Hergé. Plus a dusty sleep mask I found on the floor the other day, plus a couple of catalogs, some bookmarks, a pack of Post-it Notes, and the controller for my side of the electric blanket.
Favorite book when you were a child:
It has to be The Story of Babar but also I remember my mother complaining about reading to me The Three Billy Goat's Gruff one hundred times too many, and I can't omit Calico the Wonder Horse, or, The Ballad of Stewy Stinker by Virginia Lee Burton. What is a Billy goat's gruff, anyway?
Your top five authors:
Hergé, John Biggins, Patrick O'Brian, Rebecca Solnit, and whoever wrote The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
Book you've faked reading:
Too many to name. OK, the Bible and Mendocino by Judith Greber.
Book people think you've faked reading:
The Bible. Also the Talmud. Also the Qur'an.
Book you are an evangelist for:
A Heaven in the Eye by Clyde Rice. But there are many others for which I would happily evangelize.
Book you've bought for the cover:
The R. Crumb Handbook with a drawing of the author saying "I'm Not Here to Be Polite!" and on the back, "It's only lines on paper, folks!!"
Book you ignored at first because of the cover:
A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell.
Book that changed your life:
The Book of Knowledge, 1919 Edition. So THAT'S how they make glass!
Favorite line from a book:
I've always liked "The End" but recently I've grown fond of "Listen to Track 38. Repeat each word."
This is my current favorite:
"I starved there before it was over, sold out and left. I walked down the road one late fall morning, walked away from it not looking back and feeling bruised and clubbed all over, the same way I'd walked away from my boat and the Bay and so many things I had aspired to hold and know but was unable to. I came home to write this story, to tell the ignominies and splendors in being a man, to try to get the sounds and colors and the shadows of at least one part of my life down on the printed page. And this too has escaped me."
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
A tie between The Emperor's Coloured Coat and Master & Commander.
That's my interview of me. If you'd like to answer some of these questions, please do so, and then send your answers to me (amiksak@mcn.org).
Aired Sunday May 4, 2008 at 10:55 am and Wednesday May 7, 2008 at 1:00 pm
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Check out the programming on KZYX, Mendocino county's own public radio station.
|
Copyright © 2008. All materials posted here are copyright protected. Please do not copy or distribute without contacting Tony Miksak for written permission.