Russell Hoban

Russell Hoban's books include The Mouse and His Child (1967), Turtle Diary (1975) and Riddley Walker (1980).

From his Q & A with Anna Metcalfe at the Financial Times:

What book changed your life?

A collection of Oscar Wilde’s short stories called A House of Pomegranates, which I read when I was eight or nine years old. The sumptuousness of the language blew me away.

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Which literary character most resembles you?

Huckleberry Finn. He was always true to himself. He knew he was helping a fugitive in Jim the runaway slave, and could burn in hell for it, but he wanted to stick by him. I would stick by Jim.

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What novel would you give a child to introduce them to literature?

Not a novel but a collection of Grimm’s fairy tales. The Goose Girl is one of my favourites.

Read the complete Q & A.

--Marshal Zeringue