PANK Asks Burning Questions: Deb Olin Unferth

PANK thinks that everything Deb Olin Unferth has written is must read material. Seriously. For a recent salvo, check out her story from the July  Harpers.  She recently granted us a little Q&A so long as we didn’t ask her questions about the Nobel prize for literature. We complied. Here it is.

PANK: Are you a book nerd?

UNFERTH: I don’t only read books. Sometimes I count the words in a book instead of reading them or in addition to reading them. Really. I just finished counting all the words in a book by Michael Ondaatje. I like to count words. I like knowing how many of them are in there.

PANK: Was there a transformative book for you as child?

UNFERTH: Yes, The Monster at the End of this Book, Starring Lovable, Furry, Old Grover.  This is a beautiful, funny, scary, sad, and ultimately consoling little book.

PANK: Do you have a favorite book, author, movement, or genre?

UNFERTH: I have many favorites, and they change from year to year, but here are a few:  Favorite books of stories: Venus Drive by Sam Lipsyte, Honored Guest by Joy Williams, In Persuasion Nation by George Saunders, Collected Stories of Franz Kafka;  Favorite novels: Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry, People of Paper by Salvador Plascencia;  Favorite memoirs: Born Standing Up by Steve Martin, Two Kinds of Decay by Sarah Manguso;  Favorite interview series: Paris Review;  Favorite forthcoming books: How to Sell by Clancy Martin, Cardboard Universe by Christopher Miller.  If I had to pick one writer as my favorite of all time, it would have to be Chris Ware.

PANK: What are you currently reading?

UNFERTH: I recently read Letters to Wendy’s by Joe Wenderoth, Grapefruit by Yoko Ono, 104 Stories by Thomas Bernhard, S*perm**k*t by Harryette Mullen. All super good.  Right now I’m reading some work by Mickle Maher, a fantastic playwright.

PANK: Has being a book nerd made you a better cook and/or lover?

UNFERTH: I wouldn’t know. I’d have to go back in time, not read much for a decade, and then compare the two selves to see which is a better cook and/or lover. And then I might have a hard time being objective. We’d have to conduct some tests.

PANK: Are you currently engaged in a writing project?

UNFERTH: Yes, here is some of it: http://www.mcsweeneys.net/links/sick/

PANK: If you could make a fifteen-year-old kid sit down and read any book, what would it be?

UNFERTH: Maybe not The Communist Manifesto.

PANK: Is the book always better than the film adaptation?

UNFERTH: No, think of The Shining. The book is truly dismal. I went into the thing with a good attitude, but I came out very disappointed.

PANK: Do you have anything to say to all the other book nerds out there, any advice?

UNFERTH:  Don’t eat animals.  Keep a flashlight with you at all times.  If someone shouts for a rope, be the one to throw it.