The best-selling novelist—who has a new legal thriller, The Rooster Bar—discusses his golf handicap, Trump, and quitting the Boy Scouts to pursue football and cheerleaders.
October 20, 2017
What is your current state of mind? Reasonably carefree.
What is your favorite journey? To the beach.
What is your greatest fear? Having a stroke.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? Impatience; the inability to savor the moment.
What is the trait you most deplore in others? Narcissism.
What is your greatest extravagance? I collect first editions of 20th-century American authors.
What do you consider the most overrated virtue? Enthusiasm.
On what occasion do you lie? Twice, every time: my weight and my golf handicap.
What do you dislike most about your appearance? Thinning hair.
Which living person do you most despise? That fraud in the White House.
Which words or phrases do you most overuse? “I think … ”; “I do think … ”; “I feel … ”; “You know … ”
What is your greatest regret? In the Boy Scouts, I was six months away from achieving the rank of Eagle when I quit to play football and chase cheerleaders; caught neither the ball nor the girls.
What or who is the greatest love of your life? Renee.
When and where were you happiest? Right now.
Which talent would you most like to have? To write as clearly as John Steinbeck.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Thicker hair.
If you could change one thing about your family, what would it be? Pass. It’s about politics.
What do you consider your greatest achievement? Debuting at No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list for 25 consecutive years.
What is your most treasured possession? Two: a signed first edition of The Sound and the Fury and a first edition of The Great Gatsby.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? Serving time in prison as an innocent man.
Where would you like to live? I’m not moving.
What is your favorite occupation? Writing novels.
What is the quality you most like in a man? Humor and humility.
What is the quality you most like in a woman? Patience.
What do you most value in your friends? Bluntness.
Who are your favorite writers? Steinbeck, John le Carré, Ian McEwan, John Irving, James Lee Burke, Pat Conroy, Michael Lewis.
Who is your favorite hero of fiction? Atticus Finch.
What is it that you most dislike? That fraud in the White House.
How would you like to die? Sleeping.
If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, what do you think it would be? I shall not return.
What is your motto? “Drink the wines from the top shelf.”
