YOUR QUESTION:

09/20/2020 Jo

Hey Trevor,
A few literary questions for you:
1) Which books (fiction and/or non-fiction) have had the greatest influence on you personally? Is there one book that you believe everyone should read?
2) What is the most disappointingly over-rated pile of literary shite you’ve ever wasted your time on?
3) Oh no! 2020 ended in civil war, and the US has now become a totalitarian state. All secular literature is banned, and books are being collected and burned. You are able to hide one novel from your extensive (and how highly illegal) collection. What do you choose and why?

MY ANSWER:

1) Milan Kundera’s Testaments Betrayed had a big impact on me, as did his Immortality. Been meaning to re-read the latter as it’s been 20 years. At one point I bought 10 copies of Testaments Betrayed and gave them to friends. A piece of fiction would be Maldoror by Lautréamont. Also, Camus’ The Plague.
2) Interesting question I had to ponder for some time. I can’t think of anything. I tried to read some Ayn Rand, couldn’t get far. Usually if it doesn’t gel I just don’t bother. I can think of a movie I had to force myself to stay to the end: Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight. Hate is right. What a piece of garbage
3) I’d probably go with Lautréamont because it’s so rich and new every read. Hm, or maybe Infinite Jest, which I hear is insufferable, but if I only get one, why not make it a challenge?