Last year I began to publish interviews of French authors I like/love, whenever I was able to get in touch with them. Thanks to the Internet and Web2.0 it can be much more easier now.
So I decided to do the same with English and American authors, provided, of course, that I can contact them directly.

Many thanks to Arthur Phillips, the author of Angelica, Prague, The Egyptologist, and The song is you, for playing the game and answering my questions about his reading habits

• What is your favourite moment for reading ?

Sunday mornings, weekend nights.

• What is your favourite place ? (bed, bath, garden…)

It has changed as my work situations have changed.  When I had to go to an office, the subway.  When I was free and easy, the park.  Now, with family and heavy working hours, it’s in bed.

• Do you need a particular atmosphere or situation when you read ? (Music, silence…)

No, I can read anywhere without any trouble.  This is a long habit, from when my parents used to let me bring a book with me whenever they forced me to go somewhere I didn’t want to go.

• What/who does influence your choices ? (friends, family, Internet, media, colleagues…)

My reading list is almost entirely the books and authors that are recommended by the authors I admire.  I read an author (say, Kundera) and then, because I love him, I find out who influenced him (Mann, Musil, Svevo, etc) and then I put all of them on my list.  And so on…

• Do you ever read readings blog in order to find new titles/authors to read and discover ?

I read blogs for criticism, essays, arguments, but my current reading list will take longer than I still have years to live.

• Can you read more than one book at a time ?

Not fiction, no.

• E-book or paper ?

Paper, though I imagine using an e-book someday.  it’s hard to believe I will ever change.

• Bookmark or folded page corner ?

Bookmark.  I love bookmarks

• What are you currently reading ?

As of last night, I finished Philip Roth’s “The Counterlife” and am beginning Tolstoy’s “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”

• When you don’t like a book do you finish it anyway or do you stop reading it ?

I usually give it at least 100 pages, and then only quit if I sense incompetence.  Not being “interested” doesn’t mean I should quit, usually.  Not being interested means I have to give it 200 pages or so.

• Do you have any idea of what could your next reading be ?

I bought two Tolstoy books at the same time, so “Sketches of Sebastopol” is next.

• Do you consider yourself as an addict ? Do you have a book with yourself in all circumstances, just in case ? Are you afraid of being without a book to read ?

Yes, yes, and yes.

• Have you got a big pile of books waiting for being read ?

I am trying to stop the pile, and add to the list, which I keep in my pocket at all times, in case I finish a book and want to go buy the next one.

• Does your writing influence your readings ? For instance, if you’ve just written a bloody and dark novel, do you need to read a book of a completely different style or do you stay in the same universe ?

I try not to read things that are like the thing I am writing, for fear of unnoticed influences, but even so, whatever I am reading probably has some effect on what I’m writing.

• What are the books/authors/genres you like the most ?

Too many to list, so let’s pick a country.  France?  I worship Georges Perec, and love Flaubert, Proust, Anatole France, Camus, Dumas…

• How did you become a writer ?

Accidentally.  I was working as a speechwriter and an ad writer.  I realized, “I’m writing every day.  It’s easy.  But it’s boring.  I wonder if I could write fiction…”

• Since you became a writer, has the way you read changed ?

Of course.  I am much more likely to examine structure, technique, etc, but I can still be captured, like a child, and get lost in the book’s world.

• Do you have any other revelation about yourself as a reader ? Something you would like to add ?

You must read Perec.  You must read Perec.  Everybody must read Perec!

News

• Last book: In the US, “The Song Is You”, published 4/09.
• Arthur Philips’ Website
• Facebook group for The song is yo