Janet Fitch
I love this question!
Who would offer the most interesting insights? Who would bring rich knowledge to bear—or be witty and perceptive? This is off the top of my head: Joyce Carol Oates and Jane Smiley are not just great writers but have given a lifetime of thought to the creation of literature, as has Toni Morrison. The novelist Adam Johnson. the poet Robin Coste Lewis, and the poet Robert Hass are all fabulously well-read. I’d love to have poet Joseph Brodsky, he was so knowledgeable and brilliant, passionate about literature. Nabokov, genius, but also intolerant and crabby. A good book club needs passionate readers, but they have to value the contribution of others.
And Tolstoy! Who wouldn’t want to hear what Tolstoy has to say? I think he'd mellow Nabokov out. And I’d love to include Faulkner--he can sleep over if he gets too drunk.
And we need some critics--Walter Benjamin would unpack the implications. The Russian critic Victor Shklovsky had an syncratic mind, also a very likable guy. Svetlana Boym's understanding of culture bowls me over.
And why not Goethe—one of our culture’s polymathic geniuses? He's written in just about every form, the man is a giant. The poets Rilke and Pasternak were actually friends, and both have such a solid sense of what’s valuable about art. Definitely them.
I’d love Anais Nin to be there, she would bring a Jungian perspective, and Susan Sontag, what a keen, incisive mind. And Jean Toomer, with his great and restless spirit. And the philosopher Alfred North Whitehead, there’s a calm and brilliant thinker. Is this getting to be too big? My late friend Les Plesko, author of No Stopping Train and the Last Bongo Sunset, always brought a fine sensibility to discussions of literature... Milan Kundera, a writer of ideas, I know he'd be fantastic. And Herta Muller... How many is that? I think the room’s filling up, and we can’t make Tolstoy sit on the floor.
Now the thing is, with that book club, what would we read? What would be worth those eyes? Joyce’s Ulysses? Woolf’s The Waves? Borges’s Labyrinths? Melville springs to mind... Imagine the discussion of Moby Dick with that group!
Who would you like in your book club? And what would you read? Look forward to your replies!
Who would offer the most interesting insights? Who would bring rich knowledge to bear—or be witty and perceptive? This is off the top of my head: Joyce Carol Oates and Jane Smiley are not just great writers but have given a lifetime of thought to the creation of literature, as has Toni Morrison. The novelist Adam Johnson. the poet Robin Coste Lewis, and the poet Robert Hass are all fabulously well-read. I’d love to have poet Joseph Brodsky, he was so knowledgeable and brilliant, passionate about literature. Nabokov, genius, but also intolerant and crabby. A good book club needs passionate readers, but they have to value the contribution of others.
And Tolstoy! Who wouldn’t want to hear what Tolstoy has to say? I think he'd mellow Nabokov out. And I’d love to include Faulkner--he can sleep over if he gets too drunk.
And we need some critics--Walter Benjamin would unpack the implications. The Russian critic Victor Shklovsky had an syncratic mind, also a very likable guy. Svetlana Boym's understanding of culture bowls me over.
And why not Goethe—one of our culture’s polymathic geniuses? He's written in just about every form, the man is a giant. The poets Rilke and Pasternak were actually friends, and both have such a solid sense of what’s valuable about art. Definitely them.
I’d love Anais Nin to be there, she would bring a Jungian perspective, and Susan Sontag, what a keen, incisive mind. And Jean Toomer, with his great and restless spirit. And the philosopher Alfred North Whitehead, there’s a calm and brilliant thinker. Is this getting to be too big? My late friend Les Plesko, author of No Stopping Train and the Last Bongo Sunset, always brought a fine sensibility to discussions of literature... Milan Kundera, a writer of ideas, I know he'd be fantastic. And Herta Muller... How many is that? I think the room’s filling up, and we can’t make Tolstoy sit on the floor.
Now the thing is, with that book club, what would we read? What would be worth those eyes? Joyce’s Ulysses? Woolf’s The Waves? Borges’s Labyrinths? Melville springs to mind... Imagine the discussion of Moby Dick with that group!
Who would you like in your book club? And what would you read? Look forward to your replies!
More Answered Questions
Katharine
asked
Janet Fitch:
I just read White Oleander and was moved by it as I haven't been moved by a work of fiction for a very long time. Who were some of your inspirations for the character of Ingrid? I'm a huge fan of Edna St. Vincent Millay and Ingrid reminded me of her in some ways: her magnetism, selfishness, etc. I also enjoyed your poetic style of writing! Have you published any poetry?
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more