20 QUESTIONS WITH THE AUTHOR OF MY KOREAN DELI
BEN RYDER HOWE
1. Bookmarks or dog ears?
Often neither. For some reason I seem to enjoy starting somewhere random each time I pick up a book. This is what the internet does to our brains, isn’t it?
2. Dust jacket on or off when reading a hard back?
On. Otherwise I lose the jackets.
3. Favorite author?
I own more books by John McPhee than any other writer.
4. Favorite genre’?
Nothing is more exciting to me than a great short story that has just been or is about to be published.
5. What is the best book you have read in the last year?
Lake Wobegon Days by Garrison Keillor.
6. What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
The Path Between the Seas by David McCulloch.
7. E books: Friend or foe?
Friend.
8. Was there a book that inspired you to write?
Life Studies by Robert Lowell, when I was eighteen.
9. What are you reading right now?
Indecision by Ben Kunkel.
10. What is the last book you bought just for the cover?
Monster of God by David Quammen.
11. What is the last book you received in the mail?
Only in New York by Sam Roberts arrived yesterday.
12. What is the number of books you own?
One thousand?
13. What is the first book you remember reading by yourself as a child?
The Great Brain by John Dennis Fitzgerald.
14. Do you have a favorite place to read?
We used to have a hideous white fake leather couch that I loved reading on. We finally put it out on the street and I’ve been missing it ever since. If you know the people who have it, I’ll pay money to get it back.
15. What is next for you, publishing-wise?
I wish I knew.
16. Do you have a favorite place to write?
There’s an empty room next to the laundry room in our building. It’s colorless and lit by fluorescent tubes and reeks of mothballs, but I seem to find that kind of environment stimulating.
17. Do you have any pets ?
Our building doesn’t allow them.
18. How does your garden grow?
Not very well.
19. The last thing you Googled?
“The Great Brain.” Couldn’t remember the author.
20. What makes you cringe?
Clutter. I’m a compulsive straightener-upper.
Here is more about MY KOREAN DELI:
Description
This warm and funny tale of an earnest preppy editor finding himself trapped behind the counter of a Brooklyn convenience store is about family, culture and identity in an age of discombobulation.
It starts with a gift, when Ben Ryder Howe's wife, the daughter of Korean immigrants, decides to repay her parents' self-sacrifice by buying them a store. Howe, an editor at the rarefied Paris Review, agrees to go along. Things soon become a lot more complicated. After the business struggles, Howe finds himself living in the basement of his in-laws' Staten Island home, commuting to the Paris Review offices in George Plimpton's Upper East Side townhouse by day, and heading to Brooklyn at night to slice cold cuts and peddle lottery tickets. My Korean Deli follows the store's tumultuous life span, and along the way paints the portrait of an extremely unlikely partnership between characters with shoots across society, from the Brooklyn streets to Seoul to Puritan New England. Owning the deli becomes a transformative experience for everyone involved as they struggle to salvage the original gift—and the family—while sorting out issues of values, work, and identity.
It starts with a gift, when Ben Ryder Howe's wife, the daughter of Korean immigrants, decides to repay her parents' self-sacrifice by buying them a store. Howe, an editor at the rarefied Paris Review, agrees to go along. Things soon become a lot more complicated. After the business struggles, Howe finds himself living in the basement of his in-laws' Staten Island home, commuting to the Paris Review offices in George Plimpton's Upper East Side townhouse by day, and heading to Brooklyn at night to slice cold cuts and peddle lottery tickets. My Korean Deli follows the store's tumultuous life span, and along the way paints the portrait of an extremely unlikely partnership between characters with shoots across society, from the Brooklyn streets to Seoul to Puritan New England. Owning the deli becomes a transformative experience for everyone involved as they struggle to salvage the original gift—and the family—while sorting out issues of values, work, and identity.
About the Author
Ben Ryder Howe has written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, and Outside, and his work has been selected for Best American Travel Writing. He is a former senior editor of The Paris Review. He, his wife, and their two children live on Staten Island. This is his first book.WANT TO WIN A COPY OF THIS BOOK?
Contest is open to anyone over 13 years old with a US address (no PO Boxes)
Contest ends on 3.30.11 Winner will be chosen by Random.org on 3.31.11
Winner will have 48 hours to respond to email or a new winner will be chosen.
This giveaway is sponsored by the Henry Holt Publishing and Three copies will be available.
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The more I read about this book, the more I know I'm going to love it. Thanks for hosting this giveaway, Mary.
ReplyDelete"The Great Brain" sure brings back some memories. I really enjoyed the review of this a few days ago and the 20 questions today! Thanks for the giveaway!
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Just read another blurb about a journalist losing her job and having to work in retail, called Malled.
ReplyDeleteDaily entry 3/19. Thanks!
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Good interview. This book sounds very unique and interesting. I will check it out! -Alexa Opal Hamilton
ReplyDeleteDaily entry 3/26. Thanks!
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Tweeted giveaway: http://twitter.com/#!/MamaHendo3/status/53275877865295872
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