Jeffrey Eugenides and the Holy Grail
Abebooks speaks with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jeffrey Eugenides.

Abebooks: What was your favourite book as a child?

Jeffrey Eugenides: Probably the very first book that I loved was Ferdinand the Bull by Munro Leaf. You know, the story where the bull won't fight in this Spanish coliseum, but prefers to sniff the cork trees. I was only four or five but I loved this book. Today my daughter reads the same book. There was also this Chinese fable where three brothers were swallowed by the sea, and each one had a magical talent... But I don't remember the title anymore!

Abebooks: Which three books you would take with you to a desert island?

JE: First I would take Anna Karenina by Tolstoy, which I could read many many times. People usually say that the best book to take to a desert island is Finnegan's Wake by James Joyce because you could read that book forever. However I would not read THAT book forever on a desert island! [laughs] I would rather take a wonderful story like Anna Karenina.

Second choice, I would take Herzog by Saul Bellow because that is a book that makes me want to write whenever I read it. And the third one would be a book that I would someday write myself. That's the book I dream of... the book I someday will be able to write.

Abebooks: And what book that would be?

JE: I don't know yet. This is what keeps you going: the "holy grail" that is the book that you will someday write... The imaginary book.

Abebooks: Which American authors would you recommend to our (European) readers?

JE: Well I always recommend Philip Roth. He's already quite well-known (in Europe) so I don't have to explain why he is such a great author.

Abebooks: Do you collect books?

JE: Well, not in the classic way. But I do have first editions of some of my friends' books, which is quite a collection now: people like Jonathan Franzen, Jonathan Saffran Foer, Donald Antrim. People I've known and struggled along with. Now some of their books are worth money - they used to just be little books! [laughs]

Abebooks: When you write, do you have any rituals to get in the right "writing" spirit? Getting up early, lots of coffee...?

JE: I should get up early and write, but I actually get up quite late and write most of the day - I usually start about ten and write through the afternoon. The most important thing is to do it every day to get a regular pattern.

Abebooks: Do you have an office or do you work at home?

JE: At the moment I don't have an office, but I desperately need one. I have a very bad situation at the moment: I'm writing on a table that a sculptor brought to my house. It's completely covered with paper and it's the only table I have! I need a desk! [laughs]

Abebooks: Thank you for this interview, Mr. Eugenides.

- Interviewed by Angela Reinhardt at this year's Leipzig Book Fair