The author, most recently, of “The Last
Kind Words Saloon” says that meth-heads are the worst part of being a
bookseller. “Anyone can walk into our bookstore in the age of meth — it’s a
constant worry.”
What books are currently on your night
stand?
James Lees-Milne’s “The Milk of Paradise”
(Volume 12 of the Diaries); Eric Newby’s “Slowly Down the Ganges.”
Who is your favorite novelist of all
time? And your favorite novelist writing today?
Count Tolstoy. He authored “Anna Karenina,”
what I consider the finest novel ever written. Joyce Carol Oates. She’s
intelligent, analytical, eccentrically prolific, a natural-born writer.
Do you have a favorite
genre?
No, although I prefer nonfiction to fiction. I
reviewed so many novels in the 1970s that I sort of burned out on fiction. I
enjoy books on travel and have an extensive women travelers collection in my
personal library.
What are the best books ever written
about Texas?
Bill Brammer, “The Gay Place”; my own “Walter
Benjamin at the Dairy Queen”; maybe J. Evetts Haley’s “Charles Goodnight: Cowman
and Plainsman.”
In 2012, you sold off much of the
inventory of your bookstore, Booked Up, in Archer City, Tex. How did you decide
which books should go? Were there books in particular you wanted to hold onto
for yourself?
I sold off half of my inventory, two buildings
gone, two buildings stayed. Both buildings sold needed major repairs, which we
could ill afford. So we sacrificed a lot of literature in translation, a lot of
drama, some general travel, odds and ends. It was a normal downsizing. And we
still have 290,000 excellent books. My personal library contains over 28,000
volumes, so I have plenty of books at home to keep me company.
What’s been the best thing about being
in the bookselling business? The worst?
The best: excitement of finding the unexpected
treasure. The worst: crazies, meth-heads. Anyone can walk into our bookstore in
the age of meth — it’s a constant worry.
Of your books, which is your favorite
and why?
“Terms of Endearment,” “Walter Benjamin at the
Dairy Queen,” “Duane’s Depressed.” “Terms” has one of my favorite characters,
Emma. “Walter Benjamin” is a book written during an extended time spent in
Archer City without travel. “Duane’s Depressed” was written after my quadruple
bypass surgery. I suppose I felt an affinity with Duane, since I experienced a
serious emotional trauma during recovery from heart surgery.
Of the TV and movie adaptations of
your books, which is your favorite and why?
I like “Terms” best; James Brooks was
relentless about getting it made. Debra Winger captured Emma’s character
brilliantly, and I feel it’s Shirley MacLaine’s finest role. “The Last Picture
Show” is near perfect, but not as ambitious.
And what’s your favorite movie
adaptation of a literary work by someone else?
“Brokeback Mountain.” Its source material was
a short story by E. Annie Proulx before it was a film. My screenwriting partner
Diana Ossana produced it as well; her talent and taste are evident in the final
result.
Whom do you consider your literary
heroes?
Well, Miss O’Connor. Hemingway and Faulkner.
And of course Tolstoy.
What kind of reader were you as a
child? And what were your favorite childhood books?
I had no books as a child, until I was 7. Then
I just read boys’ books — the Poppy Ott series, for example. I grew up in a
bookless place. Had there been access to a library or a bookstore, I suppose I
would have spent the better part of my childhood inside one or the other.
If you had to name one book that made
you who you are today, what would it be?
There’s no one book that would define me; I’d
have to name nearly every book that I’ve read over the past 70 years. Reading
has sustained me and has been the one constant throughout my life.
If you could require the president to
read one book, what would it be?
To me, the obvious choice is “The Sabres of
Paradise: Conquest and Vengeance in the Caucasus,” by Lesley Blanch, who was
married to Romain Gary, who was married to Jean Seberg. It describes the Powers’
efforts to do something about the Chechen Shamil (played by Edmund Purdom in the
1960 film version, “The Cossacks”), who raced romantically through places that
even our drones avoid now. Shamil was a lot more interesting than the current
crop in Kabul. The book is very readable; Lesley Blanch could write. Amazon can
probably get a copy to the White House by drone in about 10 minutes.
You’re hosting a literary dinner
party. Which three writers are invited?
Count Tolstoy, George Eliot, Norman Mailer. If
you require living authors, then Joyce Carol Oates, Thomas Pynchon, Cynthia
Ozick. And maybe an extra place for Philip Roth.
Disappointing, overrated, just not
good: What book did you feel you were supposed to like, and didn’t? Do you
remember the last book you put down without finishing?
“Fifty Shades of Grey.” On both counts.
Which books do you believe all people
should read before they die?
William Butler Yeats’s Crazy Jane poems. The
classic 19th-century novelists. And Barbara Tuchman’s “The Guns of August.”
What do you plan to read
next?
Some more Lees-Milne. Maybe a little Robert B.
Parker and some Janet Evanovich, just for fun. My daily newspapers, three of
which are waiting for me right this moment: The New York Times, The Wall Street
Journal, The Financial Times. And my periodicals: The New York Review of Books,
The London Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, The Atlantic, The
Nation and Texas Monthly.
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