What are your five favorite books, and why?
Grendel by John Gardner: It's a funny and poetic, yet full of melancholy, and in the end a tragic story.
Galilee by Clive Barker: It's a sweeping (supernatural) family saga with beautiful prose and a terrific story.
White Doves at Morning by James Lee Burke: I love the characters and their strengths, and Burke's prose is stunning.
The Damned by John D. MacDonald: Filled with a vast cast, MacDonald says a lot about human nature, and from various walks of life, in a very short space.
the biography "Becoming Faulkner" by Philip M Weinstein: I love to see how an author's life has shaped their work and this is an excellent book in demystifying Faulkner.
What do you read for pleasure?
I like Crime fiction that shows there is only a step between a good act and an evil one, that shows how we're all driven by our desires and how the actions we sometimes take leave a wake that affects everyone around us.
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