'Bomb': The Author Interviews

This essential new anthology from Bomb magazine offers a rich trove of author interviews. The 35 selections span 30 years, revealing many of the subjects at the height of their fame: Jonathan Franzen in 2001, Martin Amis in 1987, and Kathy Acker in 1983, to name a few. The interviews are not conducted with nameless interlocutors%E2%80%94rather, they're conversations between colleagues: Lydia Davis talks with Francine Prose, Junot D%C3%ADaz with Edwidge Danticat, Jeffrey Eugenides with Jonathan Safran Foer, and Tobias Wolff with A.M. Homes. The collection format makes it easy to dip in%E2%80%94readers may succumb to the temptation to skip right to a favorite author's interview. Insights abound, with some writers revealing intensely personal feelings and others focusing on books, writing, and broader ideas about literature. Some of the interviewees, such as Charles Simic and Wayne Koestenbaum, seem so at ease with their interlocutors that reading their discussions feels akin to eavesdropping. In his interview, Roberto Bola%C3%B1o bristles at the idea that his work is a self-portrait, yet each of these selections provides a captivating image of the author in his or her own words. Through the diverse range of voices represented, the book affords a window into the minds and the writing processes of some of the world's best practitioners of poetry and prose. (Nov.)