On your nightstand now:
Robert Conquest's The Great Terror. Conquest was the first historian I read when I decided to write Child 44. His The Harvest of Sorrow was pivotal in making me realize how much I wanted to write my story.
For some reason, I don't like reading books by the same author back to back, so it's taken me a year or so before I've got around to reading The Great Terror. It is an amazing book.
Favorite book when you were a child:
I loved anything by Roald Dahl and Tolkien.
Your top five authors:
I'd feel guilty naming just five--there are so many more that I love. But if I were going to name five authors I love who influenced this book in some way, I'd name Graham Greene, Robert Louis Stephenson, Dan Brown, Thomas Harris and Arthur Conan Doyle.
Book you've faked reading:
I'm sure I must have faked reading some at school. A French novel called Grandeur Nature springs to mind. However, I'm a little uneasy with the question. I think the premise that if you haven't read some books, you're deficient is wrong. That kind of pressure turns people off reading. They feel like it's a duty rather than a pleasure. There can a million different reasons why someone hasn't read a particular book. I don't see that there's any reason to pretend.
Book you are an evangelist for:
I'm careful about recommending any book. I'd need to know the person I was speaking to.
Book you've bought for the cover:
I don't think I've ever bought a book simply on the basis of its cover although if I'm looking for a particular book and I don't like its cover, I'd almost certainly try finding another edition.
Book that changed your life:
The Harvest of Sorrow!
Favorite line from a book:
I never remember quotes. I remember stories, details and great moments. I'm also terrible at remembering names.
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
I know exactly what you mean by this question. You come to the end of the book and you feel kind of sad, like you're saying goodbye to a friend and you can't recapture that friendship by re-reading the book, because that's almost like looking through a photo album rather than re-living the experience. There have been so many books like this. Recently, I felt this way over Philip K. Dick, Margaret Atwood and Randy Shilts, to name several that spring to mind.