Marie Mutsuki Mockett
was born in Carmel, Calif., to a Japanese mother and American father. Her Japanese family owns a Zen
Buddhist temple where she often played as a child and which, among other
things, performs exorcisms. Mockett's work often focuses on the
intersection between spirituality and materialism in Japan and the U.S. Her poems, stories and essays have appeared
in Agni,
the North Dakota Quarterly, Phoebe, Fugue, LIT and other journals.
Mockett's debut novel, Picking Bones from Ash (2009), is now available in paperback (Graywolf, February 1, 2011), featuring a new cover, two original essays by the author and book group discussion questions.
On your nightstand now:
Memento Mori by Muriel Spark; Buddha in Paradise, the Rubin Museum of Art; The Cuckoo's Egg by Clifford Stoll; Apollo's Angels by Jennifer Homans.
Favorite book when you were a child:
There were so many. One that stands out: Nothing at All by Wanda Ga'g.
Your top five authors:
A random five--I hate rankings and will be sorry tomorrow not to have listed a different five writers:
John Steinbeck; the Brontes (technically three authors, I know); John Fowles; Cormac McCarthy; Shakespeare.
Book you've faked reading:
In my semester abroad in France, we were to read Le Rouge et le Noir by Stendhal in French. I was about a quarter of the way through when I realized I was hopelessly behind everyone else, so I went to Brentano's and bought The Red and the Black in English. Then it turned out I was ahead in the class. I felt like Kirk in that episode of Star Trek where he reprograms the computer in order to complete an "impossible" mission.
Book you're an evangelist for:
It used to be Cannery Row by John Steinbeck. These days it is Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. But since the latter is about to get the James Franco treatment, I'll have to move on to something else that needs my help.
Book you've bought for the cover:
I can't remember ever doing this, though I might have made a few impulsive travel guide buys based partly on an alluring cover and a desire to teleport myself immediately to that location.
Book that changed your life:
I have a hard time thinking of a book that actually changed my life. I used to find the book that I most needed at that moment. I found Cannery Row when I needed it. I found Possession when I needed it, etc. But if you mean: "What book set you on the course to becoming a writer," I'd say all these books were from childhood. In many ways, I think I'm still trying to recapture the magic I felt while reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House books or The Wizard of Oz or The Secret Garden.
Favorite line from a book:
"Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream."--from Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
Books you most want to read again for the first time:
Possession, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, East of Eden, The Sheltering Sky or The Secret History.