6 S UNDAY, MARCH 13, 2022
What books are on your night stand?
My night stand is often more aspirational
than functional. It has quite a big shelf at
the bottom. The books currently there
are: Daniel J. Levitin’s “This Is Your
Brain on Music,” Peter Godfrey-Smith’s
“Metazoa,” Scott Anderson’s “The Quiet
Americans,” Laurie Frankel’s “One Two
Three,” Laura Shepherd-Robinson’s
“Blood & Sugar,” Kirstin Valdez Quade’s
“The Five Wounds,” and Joan Aiken’s
“The Wolves of Willoughby Chase,” which
I am reading aloud to my grandson. A
wonderful book although I am disap-
pointed by the lack of actual wolves in the
second half.
Are there any classic novels that you only
recently read for the first time?
I’m going to skip past the difficulties in
determining which novels are “classic” to
say this: Some years back I made a New
Year’s resolution to stop pretending I had
read books I hadn’t. This necessitated a
crash course in those books I had already,
for years, pretended to have read just
because everyone else has read them.
And hey! No one had ever told me
“Moby-Dick” was funny.
Describe your ideal reading experience.
When I was about 9, some older boys
built a treehouse in my neighbor’s back-
yard. Not so much a treehouse as a plat-
form up among the branches. They at-
tached multiple signs at each possible
entry point to make it clear that no girls
were allowed there. I don’t think I’ve ever
bettered that as a place to lie on your
stomach and read.
Has a book ever brought you closer to
another person, or come between you?
As a young woman I dated a man who
told me I should read “Dune.” Also “The
Left Hand of Darkness.” If I hadn’t loved
those books, I probably wouldn’t have
married him.
What’s the most interesting thing you
learned from a book recently?
Aretha Franklin’s “Chain of Fools” is all
one chord (from “This Is Your Brain on
Music”). Marie de France might have
been one of the Plantagenets (Lauren
Groff’s “Matrix”). Andrew Haswell
Green, one of the architects of Central
Park, was killed in a case of mistaken
identity (Jonathan Lee’s “The Great
Mistake”).
What moves you most in a book?
Dogs. Heroic dogs like Balto and Togo.
Stalwart dogs like Lassie. Bad dogs like
Bull’s-eye. I weep over dogs being dogs.
I’m not proud of this. I know I’m being
cheaply bought.
How do you organize your books?
My books are organized socially. Writers
I met at a particular event are shelved
together. People who were on the same
short list together or taught at the same
university. Richard Butner and Christo-
pher Rowe are best friends so their books
are together. Gwenda Bond is married to
Christopher Rowe so she’s on Rowe’s
other side. Writers marry each other and
also divorce with little regard for the
havoc it creates on my bookshelves.
What book might people be surprised to
find on your shelves?
A Who’s Who in America circa 1950. My
grandfather finagled his way into this
book based on degrees he did not have
and projects he did not accomplish. In
fact, his appearance in this book may
have been his greatest single achieve-
ment. I say it’s on my shelf, though I can’t
at this moment find it. Not shelved where
it should be shelved. A bug in the system.
You’re organizing a literary dinner party.
Which three writers, dead or alive, do
you invite?
I sometimes fantasize that I’m able to tell
authors who were not recognized in their
lifetimes how well regarded they are now.
It hurts to think they don’t know this.
Jane Austen didn’t do so badly in her
lifetime, but how amazed would she be by
where she is now? Emily Dickinson could
be given my own complete collection of
her own poems. Herman Melville could
be told that “Moby-Dick” is widely con-
sidered to be among the greatest Ameri-
can novels. I would want Kafka, but I
don’t speak German. All conversation
would be reduced to charades.
Herman Melville suffered for us all, I
think, so that those of us who came after
can console ourselves that when we’re
dead, reviewers will be sorry.
What do you plan to read next?
Carolina De Robertis’s “The President
and the Frog.” Very excited. 0
Karen Joy Fowler
The author, most recently, of the novel ‘Booth’ loves dogs in literature:
‘I weep over dogs being dogs. I’m not proud of this. I know I’m being
cheaply bought.’
An expanded version of this interview is
available at nytimes.com/books.
By the Book
ILLUSTRATION BY REBECCA CLARKE
N D AY , N O V E M B E R 9 , 2 0 0 8
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