Katie Arnoldi is the author of the novels Chemical Pink, The Wentworths and, most recently, Point Dume (The Overlook Press, May 2010), which is about the death of surf culture, human trafficking, the Mexican drug cartel, illegal pot farms on public lands, environmental devastation and obsessive love. A fifth-generation Californian, she lives in Southern California with her husband, the painter Charles Arnoldi, and their two children.
On your nightstand now:
Across the Wire: Life and Hard Times on the Mexican Border by Luis Alberto Urrea as research for my next novel. Urrea writes about the poverty and the families living in the Tijuana dump. Also I'm rereading Seven Types of Ambiguity by Elliot Perlman because it's so good.
Favorite book when you were a child:
I was extremely dyslexic as a child and had a very hard time learning to read. It was torture. Luckily, my mother read to me and I remember being very taken by The Wind in the Willows. Something about Mr. Toad really rang true. She also read a lot of Beatrix Potter, but Peter Rabbit, Hunca Munca and Jemima Puddle-Duck didn't appeal to me at all.
Your top five authors:
Harry Crews is one of my heroes. His people and the worlds he creates are just fantastic and some of his imagery stays with you for life--like it or not.
When I was a young writer, I tried to copy Joan Didion. Her observations and economy of language just blew me away. Play It as It Lays was a very important novel for me.
Mary Gaitskill, particularly Bad Behavior. I love how she wrote about sex without apology or embarrassment, and she has a great, dark sense of humor.
Margaret Atwood, who just keeps getting better.
And David Foster Wallace, who inspired me so much.
Book you've faked reading:
Ulysses. Both my kids read Ulysses in high school in their Great Books class. They loved it, but they are much smarter than I am.
Book you're an evangelist for:
CivilWarLand in Bad Decline by George Saunders. This collection of stories is absolutely brilliant.
Book you've bought for the cover:
Cruddy by Lynda Barry. It has a gritty cover that matches perfectly the language and darkness of this great novel.
Book that changed your life:
Geek Love made a big impression. Katherine Dunn has such a vivid and dark imagination, and she writes so well. That book opened a door and sort of gave me permission to write Chemical Pink.
Favorite line from a book:
"Hell is other people" --Sartre (just kidding)
"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new." --Albert Einstein
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
The English Major by Jim Harrison. I think this is his best novel. I loved it and I've given it a gift to many people. I'm so inspired by writers who get better as they get older.