What are your five favorite books, and why?
I like books that seduce me, that draw me into the worlds that they create, and then challenge me to re-think my own. Among my favorites:
The Honourable Schoolboy, by John Le Carre
The Little Sister, by Raymond Chandler
Monsignor Quixote, by Graham Greene
The Bravo, by James Fenimore Cooper
Nostromo, by Joseph Conrad
When you're not writing, how do you spend your time?
I play some jazz on the guitar, or some Bach on the viola, or I compose a string quartet, take photographs, or rant about politics.
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