What writers read

Most writers are readers, but what do they read? Nancy Pearl and Jeff Schwager wondered about this very thing, and so they decided to ask some of them. The result is The Writer's Library (2020), which contains interviews with nearly two dozen authors.

Typical questions asked by Pearl and Schwager include: What did you read as a child? Did any book inspire you to become a writer? Which books have been most important to you? Do you read while you have a book in progress?

The answers are varied, of course, yet certain books and certain authors pop up frequently. Several authors remember reading the Narnia Chronicles, Beverly Clearly, The Lord of the Rings, Judy Blume, Watershed Down and Charlotte's Web as children. Many, both men and women, read science fiction in their youth, especially such authors as Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov  There are frequent mentions of Emily Dickinson, Henry James, Lorrie Moore, J.D. Salinger, Raymond Carver, Toni Morrison, Philip Roth, Flannery O'Connor and John Updike, although sometimes there are striking differences in reading tastes. Some admire Updike, while others don't. The same with Dickens. Some books once admired are in some cases now despised, such as Agatha Christie mysteries or those Narnia stories.

Some of the best-known writers interviewed included T.C. Boyle, Amor Towles, Dave Eggers, Richard Ford, Donna Tartt and Russell Banks. Some of them will no doubt be mentioned at some point in the future when other writers are asked what books are on their shelves.