Here, he tells EW about the books that shaped his literary career.
My favorite book as a kid
The Human Comedy, by William Saroyan.
I loved Homer, the main character.
Credit: Chia Messina
I was like Homer.
Homer moved in the right ways.
He tried to do the right thing.
Penguin
He was compassionate and misunderstood.
A book Ive pretended to read
Im not dense enough to pretend to read something I havent.
Id rather ask, then discover the book and learn something new.
There are plenty of good books I havent read, though:The Great GatsbyandThe Strangerare two of them.
Its a magnificent homage to humanity and to the possibility of friendship and faith in long-lost love.
It covers a lot of ground: marriage, love, race, class, division, gentrification.
Its one of those good stories that connects.
Fredrik Backman… wow.
He really put that thing together!
A book Ive read over and over
To Kill a Mockingbird.
In terms of story structure, its one of the best around.
Harper Lee had the magic.
Books I wish I had written
Life of PiandCold Mountain.
In both cases, the author thrusts the reader into the story by sending the plane airborne instantaneously.
Just lift the story into the air and let it fly.
That takes great skill.
Unexpected, knockout endings in both books.
These books just work.
My literary heroes
John A. Williams and Kurt Vonnegut.
Williams was an African-American writer whose work opened the door for writers like me.
Instead, he was kind, insightful, generous, very thoughtful.
We talked music for a long time.
He loved those two creative musical voices.
An adaptation of a book I loved
The English Patient, by Michael Ondaatje.
The film version of this gorgeous novel is wonderful.
A book people might be surprised to learn I love
Mary Chesnuts Diary.
She was the wife of a Confederate commander during the Civil War.
Theres much to be learned from her thoughts even today.
The author who changed my life
Theres no one answer.
What Im reading right now
Out of Poverty, by Paul Polak.
He spent most of his adult years caring about others.
Some of his ideas about self-sufficiency are pertinent to my own work in my own community.
