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Read All Over celebrates the bookworm in all of us, showcasing readers in Vancouver and the books they love most.
Kevin Chong is the author of three books: novel Baroque A Nova, rock and roll non-fiction/memoir Neil Young Nation and recent novel, Beauty plus Pity. He was a participant of the 2011 Vancouver International Writer's Fest, teaches creative writing at UBC, and loves and mourns the heyday of horse racing (the subject of his next work). He has a dry sense of humour and teaches a class in Second Life. Born in Hong Kong, he's called the Lower Mainland home most of his life and thinks Vancouver is awesome even though he has never done the Grouse Grind.
–Maegan Thomas |
What books have changed your life?
In my middle reader years, it was the books of Gordon Korman and Judy Blume; in my early 20s it was Paul Auster, Don Delillo, Tobias Wolff, and Donald Barthelme; in my late 20s it was Haruki Murakami and Denis Johnson; earlier 30s it was JM Coetzee and Kazuo Ishiguro.
Where is your favorite place to crack open a book?
At home, in my Ikea armchair.
What book makes you feel like a kid again?
My girlfriend's seven-year-old is really into Garfield's collected works. When I come over to their house, the first thing he says is: "Do you want to see the best Garfield?" One time, I stepped through the door, and he simply addressed me as "Garfield." Being confused for a fat lasagna-eating cat is something I am going to have to accept as a compliment.
The one book you always recommend is…
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. I read it over a month when I was 18.
How do you like your books served up best – audio books, graphic novels, used paperbacks, library loaner, e-reader…
I like finding books used at stores. I don't like audio books, but I remember going on a trip with my parents to China and plugging Barack Obama's Dreams of My Father every time being in close quarters with my family got too much; Obama is one great reader.
Your life story is published tomorrow. What’s the title?
Slow Learner.
