Free By the Book by Pamela Paul Page B

back to the issue of women in American prisons. I really wish Michelle Alexander, who wrote The New Jim Crow , about African-American men in prisons, would write a sequel, focusing on the plight of women. (I’m being greedy here, given she wrote the intro to Inside This Place .) There are tens of thousands of women doing decades for nonviolent offenses, and the abuse they suffer behind bars is virtually a given. Given Alexander’s skills and audience, an exposé on the subject would have a critical impact.
    If you could meet any writer, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you want to know?
    George Orwell. I would start by asking about the mustache.
    And among authors you’ve met already, who most impressed you?
    Christopher Hitchens was the most erudite and eloquent human I’ve ever met. He could speak on any topic, any hour of the day or night, at length, and captivate anyone in the room. I didn’t agree with all of his politics, but he was always an extremely warm and generous man.
    Is there a writer you consider to be a mentor or model in some way?
    William T. Vollmann’s range inspires me—and his empathy and curiosity. He gives absolutely everyone the benefit of the doubt, and I try to follow his lead on that.
    Where do you get your books? Are you a downloader, online shopper, borrower, used-bookstore browser?
    I’m a paper-only reader, and I get most of my books at the independent bookstores in the Bay Area. I like used books, too, so I raid the big used-book sales the libraries around here put on. That’s where you can fill any holes in your collection for, say, a buck a book. Once I got a full Balzac set for twenty dollars. Not bad.
    What do you plan to read next?
    A few years ago a poet named Arif Gamal gave me his book, Morning in Serra Mattu: A Nubian Ode , and after reading and loving the first few pages, I lost it. I found it the other day while cleaning my office, and now am about halfway through it. It’s an epic poem about growing up in northern Sudan, and it’s really beautiful, unlike anything I can remember. I’m so glad I found it again. Feels like some kind of reunion.
    Dave Eggers is the author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius , How We Are Hungry , You Shall Know Our Velocity , What Is the What , Zeitoun , and A Hologram for the King , among other books .
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    My Library
    At home we have floor-to-ceiling bookshelves of beautiful leather-bound editions of classic literature that my husband has bought for years. They are mostly decoration: they look smart. Personally, I have my own bookshelves for books in Spanish that I keep because they are hard to get in the United States. All the rest comes and goes. I don’t collect anything, not even good novels. Once a year I gather all the books I have read already or will not read ever (several boxes) and give them away. I don’t miss them, because if needed I can buy them again.
    â€” Isabel Allende
    My husband is a streamliner; I am a pack rat. I’ve even hung on to all my textbooks from college—you know, just in case I have the sudden urge to read Schopenhauer’s The World as Will and Representation .
    â€” Sheryl Sandberg
    We had it organized by topic for nonfiction and alphabetically by author for fiction and poetry—but then the ceiling leaked and we had to paint the rooms and now it’s every book for itself.
    â€” Caroline Kennedy
    Reference books in the dining room, older books needing and deserving protection in bookcases in the living room, theology and philosophy on shelves in the bedroom, classical and ancient Near Eastern literature in the study, modern history and Americana in the room that has only bookshelves in it, unclassifiable books in stacks on the stairs.
    â€” Marilynne Robinson
    I am proud to say that I give away or sell at little to no profit almost all of my books. I have mentioned a few favorites earlier, but as a rule I