On your nightstand now:
As always, it's kind of an eclectic mess of things. There's Dinosaur in a Haystack by Stephen Jay Gould; The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman (I loved The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife, but as I'm nearing the conclusion of the trilogy it feels like Pullman's story has simply gotten too big for him to control); dozens of books about the Italian Renaissance for a novel I'm working on set at that time; and The Complete Little Orphan Annie, Volume One 1924-1927. I love that spunky little redhead.
Favorite book when you were a child:
I was obsessed with a picture book called Miss Twiggley's Tree by Dorothea Warren Fox. It was about an eccentric woman who lived in a tree. I must have checked it out a dozen times, and then it suddenly vanished from the library. I didn't find a copy of it again until some 30 years later. Amazingly, it was exactly as I remembered it.
Your top five authors:
Five writers who I never tire of reading and whose work has in some way influenced me include Gore Vidal, who understands that good gossip makes for good history; Isaac Asimov, for his intricate plotting and seamless use of science; Roald Dahl, for his delightful way of exposing people at their nastiest; James Blaylock, for his quirkiness and style; and Carl Barks, who wrote and illustrated the Disney comics of the 1950s and 1960s. He managed to imbue talking ducks with the most human of personalities and foibles while placing them in flawlessly plotted tales filled with humor and adventure. His comic book stories read as well to me now as they did when I was 10.
Book you've faked reading:
Ironically, the only book I ever faked reading was for a college class I had on Business Ethics. We were assigned Atlas Shrugged--and given one week to read it! How my professor expected students carrying a full load of classes to read a 1,200-page book in a week, I have no idea. All I ended up reading was the back cover, yet I got an "A" on the essay test I wrote discussing the philosophy of Ayn Rand. I think ultimately it said more about her philosophy than it did my ability to B.S.
Book you are an evangelist for:
Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond is a book I would put in a class with On the Origin of Species. It fundamentally changes the way we think about how we've come to occupy the place we do in the world. A lot of people seem awfully threatened at the thought that we are who we are strictly because our environment has made us that way. I know it's the kind of statement that will send kids running out to buy my books, but that same idea is a central theme of my third Ordinary Boy adventure. But that's only one of several elements of the plot that could get the series banned if anyone bothers to look closely.
Book you've bought for the cover:
I have no problem admitting that most of the books I've ever bought were as a result of their covers first catching my attention. I love a great cover. And yes, I've bought books with wonderful covers that have been dreadful reads. But I don't know a single good editor who doesn't understand the critical importance of having a cover that both captures the book AND the eye of the consumer.
Book that changed your life:
In the fourth grade, my teacher shoved a copy of The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle into my hands. I thought she was nuts! She didn't really expect me to read this 500-page book, did she? But I took it home that weekend, and I did start reading. And except for being forced to go to bed Saturday night, I didn't stop until I finished it. On Monday, I went back to school and begged her for something else like it. She knew she had me. It was the start of what became a lifelong love of books and ultimately led me into a career in publishing.
Favorite line from a book:
"It was called Vertigo Park by accident, because Curtis Wills Booney, its founder, was mistakenly advised that vertigo meant green."--From Vertigo Park and Other Tall Tales by Mark O'Donnell.
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
I don't think anything has ever come close to matching the excitement I felt reading The Lord of the Rings as a freshman in high school. Unfortunately, I wasted much of the next six years reading dozens of other fantasy novels in an attempt to find something to equal the experience. Nothing else came remotely close, and I mostly gave up on the category.