Thursday, July 23, 2015

Kathe Koja's Book Shelf

What books are currently on your nightstand? 
Reading Peggy Guggenheim's CONFESSIONS OF AN ART ADDICT, and DRACULA, because I'm adapting it for a nerve performance next year. And yesterday I picked up RIDDLEY WALKER (which I love, and have read many times) and read for forty minutes before I could wrest it out of my hands and get back to work.

Who is your all-time favorite novelist? 
Oh please don't make me choose for all time! For this year past, it's been Emily Bronte and Anthony Burgess. 

What book might we be surprised to find on your shelves? 
Not one in particular, but maybe the promiscuous mingle of Pynchon, Gaddis, Merton, Please Kill Me and about a million Little Golden Books.   

Who is your favorite fictional character? 
Today it's the first Sneetch who said, "No kind of Sneetch is the best on the beaches." Other days, it's Heathcliff, who knew exactly what he wanted and wasn't afraid to live (and die) for it. Or the monstrous, unforgettable Judge in Blood Meridian. Or Flannery O'Connor's Mrs. Turpin, screaming at God.

What book do you return to?
Wuthering Heights speaks to me always, and has for years and years.  



Kathe Koja's novels include The Cipher, Strange Angels, Buddha Boy, Talk, and the Under The Poppy trilogy (Under The Poppy, The Mercury Waltz, and The Bastards' Paradise, forthcoming in fall 2016). Her work has been multiply translated and optioned for film. She creates immersive events with her performance group, nerve. She is a Detroit native and lives there with her husband, artist Rick Lieder.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What an interesting variety of books!! I love it! And I remember those Little Golden Books...

Charles Gramlich said...

Sneetch, a great character indeed.