Literary Scene

4 Bookish Questions with 4 Book Lovers

This month, Literary Scene goes rogue—no book reviews from Ryan.  Instead, we asked Ryan and three other local book lovers “bookish” questions we hope you’ll enjoy.

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Ryan G. Van Cleave

Head of the Ringling College creative writing program

What are you reading now?

Two books. The first is the first novel in a new series by Karen Rose—Say You’re Sorry. There’s a killer on the loose in Sacramento but a girl finally escapes with a much-needed bit of evidence. What’s cool is that the book is told from the perspectives of an FBI agent, a victim, and a serial murderer. Reading this is about as disturbing as binge-watching Criminal Minds, but Rose is a talented writer so it’s hard to put down. I might review this in full for another Literary Scene column.

The other book is an older one—Kelly Link’s 2008 short story collection Pretty Monsters. She finds ways to twist magic into her stories in such surprising and impressive ways. The two stories I’d start with? “Magic of Beginners” and “The Faery Handbag.” The latter can be read for free via her website, kellylink.net/books/pretty-monsters 

What’s the last great book you read?

Hmm. Great? That’s a tall order. But I read The Great Gatsby the other day to inspire me to write my own 1920s novel. What isn’t right about that book?

So you’re inviting four characters from the world of books (real or imagined, living or dead) to an afternoon on Siesta Key Beach. Who joins you for some fun in the sun?

Ask me a week from now and I’ll have different answers. But today? Voldemort, Frodo, Snowball (from Animal Farm) and Shakespeare’s Falstaff. And I’d probably find a way for Holden Caulfield to join us for after-sunning pineapple smoothies. Just because.

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Peter Miller

Writer, Composer, Entrepreneur

What are you reading now?

I’m a simultaneous (you might even say promiscuous) reader and switch among several books. My focus recently has been essays, biography and history. They include Wasteland, The Great War and the Origins of Modern Horror by W. Scott Poole, Provocations by Camille Paglia, Churchill, Walking with Destiny by Andrew Roberts, Robert Graves, From Great War Poet to Good-Bye to All That, 1895-1929 by Jean Moorcroft Wilson, Catastrophe and other Stories by Dino Buzzati and Proust’s Duchesses by Caroline Weber. 

What’s the last great book you read?

I loved At the Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails with Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus, Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Others by Sarah Bakewell. For anyone interested in modern philosophy, it’s a must read.

So you’re inviting four characters from the world of books (real or imagined, living or dead) to dinner at Café L’Europe. Who’s joining you for truffle fries and mushroom soup?

Samuel Pickwick, Marcel Proust, Ulrich (from A Man without Qualities by Robert Musil), and Lord Beaverbrook. 

Similes or metaphors?

In the morning, before coffee, I like a good simile. At night, nothing satisfies like a well-wrought metaphor.

E-reader or Old School?

I own a Kindle but still read 99% of things off actual paper. I’m a literary dinosaur, I suppose.

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Jim Shirley

Executive Director of the Arts & Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County

What are you reading now?

I am currently reading 2 books. The first, which I borrowed (stole) from my wife is Becoming Michelle Obama. I always love to learn the stories behind the story makers. The second is A Dedicated Life, Journalism, Justice, and a Chance for Every Child by David Lawrence. He is a fascinating man with a strong track record of tackling difficult problems head on. I love his philosophy on leadership.

What’s the last great book you read?

The Reversal by Michael Connelly. I like to read easy mystery novels at bedtime as a means of relaxing from the day. Next up is Field of Prey by John Sandford. Both are older but full of suspense and are fun to read.

So you’re inviting four characters from the world of books (real or imagined, living or dead) to play a no-holds-barred game of Monopoly with you. Who’s coming to that board game party?

The Monopoly game would be a real hoot for my game night. Groucho Marx would definitely be in the game. I read his Letters from and to Groucho Marx while I was in college and have always wished I could have gotten to know him better. Definitely would want Nana Mama, who is Alex Cross’ grandmother in the James Patterson novel series. She has too much wisdom and humor to pass on. Next would be the character “Dreamer Tatum” of the Dog-Ass Jets from Dan Jenkins 1972 novel Semi Tough. I have never laughed so hard as I did reading that book. The last would actually be an author, S. I. Hayakawa who wrote The Story of A-town and B-ville: A Semantic Parable. He has been one of the greatest influences on my language development through the years.

Hardcover or paperback?

I read both, but I gravitate to paperback because they are easier to read in different situations. 

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Georgia Court

Owner of Bookstore1 Sarasota

What are you reading now?

I’m reading Thrity Umrigar’s The Secrets Between Us for the second time. I’m reading it twice because I’m leading a book club on it soon. I intentionally chose to reread this book because I really, really love it. The secrets are between two women living in a large Indian city. Both are servants. One has been fired from a high-status, long-term job and the other has been making her living on the streets throughout her life. These women come together in a collaboration that is not only heart-warming, it offers insight into contemporary India—especially the way women of low status are treated (hint: not well).

I have a book of poetry going also (I always do). Right now, I’m deep into Terrance Hayes’ American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin. Terrance writes powerfully about living as a Black man in America. These poems are riveting; their anger (rightful anger) is instructive.

What’s the last great book you read?

The one I keep coming back to—even though it may not be on the official “great books” list—is by my favorite author, Orhan Pamuk. He’s the guy who brought us My Name Is Red, Snow, and many others. I like those books too, but his Museum of Innocence is a masterpiece in my view. It’s the story of a young man driven by obsessive love, a young man who missed his chance at happiness because of a too-cautious nature. Anyone who has not yet tried a Pamuk novel may want to start with this beautiful, melancholy story. 

So you’re having a dinner party for four characters from the world of books (real or imagined, living or dead). Who gets invitations?

Can I include more people? I’d love to invite all the women in the Rimaldi family, the characters in Ann Hood’s novel An Italian Wife. These are lusty, funny, hard-working, enterprising women who wouldn’t have cared a whit about marching for #MeToo…they would not have felt the need because they were always in the driver’s seat and they knew it. 

And…they could cook really well, so I think I’d hold a potluck.

Favorite Billy Collins poem?

My favorite is “The Trouble with Poetry.” How can you not love a poet who writes: 

the trouble with poetry is

that it encourages the writing of more poetry

Writing poetry, he says, can only end “when we have compared everything in the world to everything else in the world.”