Thursday, February 14, 2008

What is Junot Díaz reading?

Junot Díaz's fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and The Best American Short Stories. His debut story collection Drown was a national bestseller and won numerous awards.

Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times called Díaz's recently-published first novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, “a book that decisively establishes him as one of contemporary fiction's most distinctive and irresistible new voices.”

He talked to the Christian Science Monitor about his recent movie and television viewing, and what he's been listening to.

And what he's been reading:
I'm kind of an obsessive reader. The way other writers write, I read. I read about a book a day. I just finished The Lazarus Project [by Aleksandar Hemon], which comes out in a couple months. Ridiculously awesome. I read Strangers, by Yamada Taichi, and I'm working through Duma Key by Stephen King. With earlier King books you got more fantastic for your dollar. With this one, I'm on Page 300, and the fantastic is slow to appear. My girl will tell me that you do not get between me and Entertainment Weekly.
Read more about Díaz's recent viewing and listening pleasures.

The Page 99 Test: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

--Marshal Zeringue