The CNN host, whose new book is “Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World,” includes Alexis de Tocqueville’s “Democracy in America” on the list: “Still the best book ever written about this country.”
What books are on your night stand?
Not many. I have insomnia and reading in bed makes it harder to get a good night’s sleep. So I keep books there that I can read in small bites. Right now, I have three: a collection of columns by the great journalist Walter Lippmann, from the period around World War I (edited by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.); Dean Acheson’s “Sketches From Life of Men I Have Known,” the former secretary of state’s portraits of some of his contemporaries; and W. H. Auden’s “Collected Poems.” They’re all wonderfully written, and I can put any of them down after 15 minutes, sated and ready for bed.
What’s the last great book you read?
“The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay,” by Michael Chabon. A total pleasure, full of joy and vigor. I didn’t want it to end.
Are there any classic novels that you only recently read for the first time?
My son, who is a voracious reader, had told me how much he liked John Steinbeck’s “East of Eden.” I tried it and was captivated. It really is the Great American Novel, beginning on the East Coast and moving to the West, spanning America’s rise from an agricultural nation to an industrial powerhouse.
Describe your ideal reading experience (when, where, what, how).
I love to read physical books in a comfortable chair with good lighting — usually in my study. My one modern addition is that I will sometimes also get the audiobook and listen to parts of it while driving, running or biking. The combination of listening and reading is a multisensory pleasure.
What’s your favorite book no one else has heard of?
“The Great Indian Novel,” by Shashi Tharoor. He retells the story of the “Mahabharata,” the ancient epic, setting it in the time of India’s independence. You need to know both stories well to appreciate it but it’s a wickedly funny satire, sparing no one, not even Mahatma Gandhi. The structure is complicated, filled with all kinds of clever historical and literary allusions, and yet it’s a rollicking narrative. Just thinking about it makes me want to go back and reread it.
Which writers — novelists, playwrights, critics, journalists, poets — working today do you admire most?
Too many to list so let me just name four. In fiction, Kazuo Ishiguro, whose first three books — “A Pale View of Hills,” “An Artist of the Floating World” and “The Remains of the Day” — are works of genius. In journalism, Michael Lewis, who writes like an angel but also has a sharp, perceptive mind. In more academic nonfiction, Francis Fukuyama, who has amazing range but also real depth. And Vikram Seth, whose most astonishing work is a novel in verse, “The Golden Gate,” written in iambic tetrameter and modeled on Pushkin’s “Eugene Onegin.” As you read it, you are charmed by the story while still aware and in awe of Seth’s talent.
Do you count any books as guilty pleasures?
P. G. Wodehouse. I’ve read almost everything he wrote. He once explained that there were two ways of writing novels. “One is mine, making the thing a sort of musical comedy without music, ignoring real life altogether; the other is going right down deep into life and not caring a damn.” He did the former better than almost anyone.
Has a book ever brought you closer to another person, or come between you?
Many years ago, someone I was dating gave me a copy of Norman Rush’s clever, funny novel “Mating,” and we bonded over it, reading passages out loud to each other. On the other side, I once reviewed a friend’s book, disagreeing with it. It caused a rupture in our friendship and made me wonder if I had erred. I could have let someone else write the review. I value my relationships more than scoring points about politics.
What’s the most interesting thing you learned from a book recently?
“Cultural Evolution,” by the legendary political scientist Ronald Inglehart, summarizes decades of his “values surveys” around the world. He argues that over the last few decades, every rich country has shifted from material to postmaterial values, from political identities based in economics to ones fueled by a desire for self-expression, rooted in gender, ethnicity and culture.
Which subjects do you wish more authors would write about?
Science, but it’s very hard. Walter Isaacson’s biographies are extraordinary, and many of them — “Einstein,” “Leonardo da Vinci,” “The Innovators” — showcase his special talent for explaining science and technology. He gets at the substance and import of science but also the wonder and joy surrounding it. Few writers past or present can do that.
What moves you most in a work of literature?
Three things: great writing, deep psychological insights (the kind that make you sit up and think about yourself in a different way) and humor.
Do you prefer books that reach you emotionally, or intellectually?
In fiction, I prefer emotional insight. I have often found that even at its best, a “novel of ideas” is not that good at providing deep intellectual insight. I preferred Thomas Mann’s “Buddenbrooks” to “The Magic Mountain.”
Which genres do you especially enjoy reading? And which do you avoid?
I read everything, except for fantasy and horror. The latter I find particularly pointless. Why pay money to be scared? There is one exception, Stephen King, who writes so well that I will on rare occasions overcome my resistance.
What books would you recommend for today’s political moment in America?
Ezra Klein’s “Why We’re Polarized,” which gets at the state of our politics. Colin Woodard’s “American Nations,” which gets at the cultural divides. Samuel Huntington’s “American Politics: The Promise of Disharmony,” because it places the current moment in historical context. And Alexis de Tocqueville’s “Democracy in America,” because it is still the best book ever written about this country.
How do you organize your books?
Haphazardly. I began with a sensible system. Fiction in one place, nonfiction in another. Within nonfiction, I had categories: European, American, Indian history; international relations; etc. But over time, it has all gotten mixed and muddled up. One day I will do a great re-sorting.
What book might people be surprised to find on your shelves?
Richard Burton’s diaries. When I was a kid, I adored Burton. I watched all his movies, tried to imitate his voice and recited poetry in his manner. I read all the gaudy tales of his tempestuous love life — the two marriages with Elizabeth Taylor. So when his diaries came out, naturally I polished them off in one sitting.
What’s the best book you’ve ever received as a gift?
When I was heading off to college, a family friend gave me a copy of Isaiah Berlin’s “Four Essays on Liberty.” It has profoundly shaped my political views and sensibilities. When I was editing Foreign Affairs, I called up Berlin to try to get him to write an essay for us. He was curt and dismissive — and then he died a year later. Still, it’s a great book.
Who is your favorite fictional hero or heroine? Your favorite antihero or villain?
Hero: Scaramouche, mostly because of the first line of that book: “He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.” Words to live by.
Antihero: Raskolnikov in “Crime and Punishment,” surely one of the most compelling characters ever invented.
What kind of reader were you as a child? Which childhood books and authors stick with you most?
I grew up in India in the 1970s and most of the people I went to school with wanted to become doctors, engineers and businessmen. So I was an oddball. But my parents and their friends encouraged my interests. I read Indian fiction — Khushwant Singh, R. K. Narayan — as well as lots of Dickens and Orwell. (British fiction reigned supreme in India then. I came to America at 18 having never read Hemingway or Fitzgerald.) And I was always fascinated by international relations. I devoured Time, The Economist and, later on, The New York Review of Books. When I was 15, I read Henry Kissinger’s “White House Years,” which I can still remember quite well.
How have your reading tastes changed over time?
I read much less fiction than I used to but I still love poetry, though not contemporary stuff. There is nothing like great poetry to remind you of the majesty of the English language.
Disappointing, overrated, just not good: What book did you feel as if you were supposed to like, and didn’t? Do you remember the last book you put down without finishing?
I recommend a book at the end of my television show on most Sundays. That means I start a lot of books, almost all nonfiction. If I get more than halfway through, that’s one sign to me that the book is worth recommending. Many books have interesting ideas but feel like essays that have been pumped up into books. With good editing, they would be shorter and better. (I confess I feel the same way about opera.)
You’re organizing a literary dinner party. Which three writers, dead or alive, do you invite?
George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) for her insight into people’s inner lives. George Orwell for his insight into public life. And Oscar Wilde to keep it lively.
What do you plan to read next?
I’ve just begun Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson’s “The Narrow Corridor,” about what makes countries succeed. They are unusual bedfellows, an economist and a political scientist, and as a result, their work is always interesting. I’m also reading “Caste,” by Isabel Wilkerson. And my daughter has been insisting that I read Ocean Vuong’s “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous,” so I will.
"book" - Google News
November 06, 2020 at 10:36PM
https://ift.tt/36bJIMt
4 Books Fareed Zakaria Recommends for Today’s Political Moment - The New York Times
"book" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2Yv0xQn
https://ift.tt/2zJxCxA
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "4 Books Fareed Zakaria Recommends for Today’s Political Moment - The New York Times"
Post a Comment