In the course of futzing around with my Kindle, Instapaper, and the Paris Review site tonight, I made—or rather Instapaper made me—a Kindle e-book with a simply wonderful collection of their famous interviews. The selection criteria were fairly idiosyncratic—which is to say that I just pulled authors whom I personally think are interesting, and left out many others, so don’t bray at me for including Kingsley but not Martin Amis or whatever—but I think I cast a wide-enough net that you’ll find something interesting. And Instapaper does a heckuva job of making them look presentable.
Included are:
- Tennessee Williams
- Elie Wiesel
- Hunter S. Thompson
- Tom Stoppard
- Dorothy Parker
- Pablo Neruda
- Iris Murdoch
- Toni Morrison
- Primo Levi
- Fran Lebowitz
- Joan Didion on nonfiction
- Joan Didion on fiction
- Truman Capote
- Jorge Luis Borges
- James Baldwin
- Margaret Atwood
- Kingsley Amis
- Gabriel García Márquez
- Harold Bloom
- Susan Sontag
Enjoy!
Edited to Add: Stephen Sondheim and Edward Albee somehow got cut off, so go read those two your own damn self.
This, to say that some hm-hmm weeks later, I am finally wending my way through this eclectic selection of interviews young Daniel kindly rolled for us (in my own idiosyncratic order) and YE GODS, what a great use of time! Because—of course, of course—not only are these interviews with great writers by people who get great writers (and are no slouches themselves), they’re interviews largely about writing process. Which means they are entertaining, illuminating, and comforting by turn, and occasionally, all at once.
I cannot think of a better use for the magic combo of Instagram, the Kindle, and the fragmented concentration endemic to modern travel life. I absolutely feel like I’m getting away with something.
A mitzvah, Daniel! An absolute mitzvah!
