I remember getting a copy of Michael Ondaatje’s “ The English Patient” for my 14th birthday. MANDEL: When I was a teenager that was all I read. Unless something like that has happened to you, you have to be a really compelling writer to pull off a memoir in my opinion.īOOKS: When did you start reading science fiction?

Daniele Mastrogiacomo’s “ Days of Fear,” which is about when he was abducted by the Taliban, is staggering. I’m trying to let go of these ideas of what I do and don’t read and just embrace good books. I also would not describe myself as someone who reads Westerns except I read Gil Adamson’s “ Ridgerunner.” That was pretty spectacular. Up until a few years ago, I would have said that I would never read horror but I loved Dan Chaon’s “ Ill Will.” I read it twice. MANDEL: As I have gotten older I find myself consistently surprised by how little genre matters to me anymore. It renders these awful subjects with such a light touch you find yourself even laughing out loud. It’s a lot about homelessness and alcoholism but it has such hope. MANDEL: A debut novel that reads like autofiction, “ It’s Not Nothing,” by Courtney Denelle. I loved her previous novel, “ A Tale for the Time Being.” Nobody writes like her. It’s not only a hardback but it’s like 550 pages. MANDEL: This is kind of impractical for travel but “ The Book of Form and Emptiness” by Ruth Ozeki.

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