INTERVIEWER

Did you read as a child?

DeLILLO

No, not at all. Comic books. This is probably why I don’t have a storytelling drive, a drive to follow a certain kind of narrative rhythm.

--I've been reading about Don DeLillo after finishing THE NAMES last week and, I don't really know what to say about this exchange from a Paris Review interview. I want to say "Well, of course you're kidding," but it seems sort of disrespectful. (He does talk about what he read later, though. This interview is also where his quote that I love "The novel’s not dead, it’s not even seriously injured" comes from.)

Road trip?

Via wallace-l, the University of Texas has acquired David Foster Wallace's manuscripts and book collection. Apparently Don DeLillo had something to do with it? The lot includes a poem about Vikings DFW wrote in first grade (save your juvenilia!) and some notes in a copy of Borges.

Idle chatter

• I was all set to cheer for this poll in which Americans ranked books as their top indulgence (ahead of dining out, shopping, vacation and movies)... until I noticed it was conducted by Harlequin. Sneaks.

• Arrr! The Millions interviews a book pirate.

• If you get an e-mail from Don DeLillo, it's probably spam. Also, this is the second high-profile author interview from the Wall Street Journal I've linked to recently (McCarthy was the last -- also an unwilling interviewee). What does Rupert have on these dudes? It must be good!

• "Nothing is more frightening than 9th graders jeering '4 legs good, 2 legs bad' over and over again." Teachers on their favorite and least favorite books to teach.

• The National Book Critics Circle (of which I am a member) recently announced its 2009 award nominees, but one winner to note: Joyce Carol Oates is picking up a lifetime achievement award, which is not a set-up because I recently read that JCO has been unable to write since her husband died in 2008. That is just damn sad. (Also, am jerk.) So, congrats on the award, and sorry for your loss.