petuniababy asked: What is your favorite book?
The right answer: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. It’s an incredible piece, and I actually greatly prefer the “side stories” to the main narrative, which—for me—mostly serves as a canvas for the amazing stories of the secondary characters. It’s kind of perfect in my mind.
My second favorite book is The History of Love by Nicole Krauss. I could copy and paste the exact same description from the previous book, although I would say it has dual primary narratives, one of which is dazzling.
Also, my favorite non-fiction book is Lincoln’s Melancholy by Joshua Wolf Shenk. I love history, and Abraham Lincoln in particular, but this book really makes you appreciate what he was able to accomplish despite his personal demons. It also provides a great perspective on depression and how it has been handled or mishandled throughout history. It’s the kind of book that through the humanization of such a grand figure makes you realize that even the greatest amongst us are capable of less, and thus makes you as a reader feel like you’re capable of more.
The real answer though, is that my book, Dreams of Sleep is my favorite book. I know that sounds cocky and arrogant, but that’s not how I mean it. Those other books I listed, along with countless others, are far better than my book. I know that. It’s obvious. But my book is perfect for me. It’s the kind of book I always wanted to read, the kind of book that meant something to me and made me look at the world a bit differently, and so I wrote it. I hope you only take this answer as I meant it, and try to imagine perspective. :) I consider it a big accomplishment in my personal life, and I greatly enjoy reading it from time to time.
