Philip LoPresti
answers 13 questions in Booker's Dozen

TPQ: What are you currently reading? 

PL: I’m reading two at the moment. I often have a couple going at once. The Churchgoer by Patrick Coleman which is a sort of mystery noir set in California and a true crime book Hell In The Heartland: Murder, Meth And The Case Of Two Missing Girls By Jax Miller.

TPQ: Best and worst books you have ever read?

PL: A few of my favorite books are A Choir Of Ill Children by Tom Piccirilli, Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor and Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. Worst books are harder to list because if I can’t get into a book by page fifty I usually give up. Life is too short and I don’t have time to crawl through books that don’t hold my interest but I hated reading John Steinbeck in school. I always thought his writing was a bit dry. Still do.

TPQ: Book most cherished as a child?

PL: Probably The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn. I read it at a young age after my mother gave me a copy and it changed a lot of how I saw things. Reading about a child who was nearly my own age at the time, in a very rough and adult world was both eye opening and relatable. It saved me.

TPQ: Favourite Childhood author?

PL: I didn’t follow authors much as a kid, but I did own all the books in the Goosebumps series so probably R.L. Stine. My older sister also read the Fear Street series and we had all those in the house which I graduated to. I’ve always been a big fan of horror, even as a child.

TPQ: First book to really own you?

PL: Probably Naked Lunch by William Burroughs. When I discovered it as sixteen it was unlike anything I’d read before, and all these years later it is still unlike anything I’ve read. A lot of my poetry was written using techniques I learned from Burroughs. 


TPQ: Favorite male and female author?

PL: Tom Piccirilli and Flannery O’Connor. I don’t want to get long winded about why but I want to say that Choir Of Ill Children and Wise Blood are the only books I truly need.

TPQ: A preference for fact or fiction?

PL: I never had a preference. I always loved both but I seem to reading a lot of True Crime these days. More than I usually do. Don’t know if that’s because my last book was a crime/noir and it so happens that the new one I’m currently writing is as well, so it could be I’m researching subconsciously. Or it could be I’m burnt out on fiction for the time being.

TPQ: Biography, autobiography or memoir that most impressed you?

PL: The Basketball Dairies by Jim Carroll. Jim was a writer whose work did and still does speak to me on a very personal level. He also single handedly taught me how to write a poem. All from just reading his work.

TPQ: Any author or book you point blank refuse to read?

PL: Too many to name.

TPQ: A book to share with somebody so that they would more fully understand you? 

PL: The Sunset Limited by Cormac McCarthy. 


TPQ: Last book you gave as a present?

PL: A Choir of Ill Children by Tom Piccirilli. I gave it to a friend recently actually. Like two weeks ago. She just messaged me today about how much she loves it so I guess we can remain friends.

TPQ: Book you would most like to see turned into a movie?

PL: Geek Love by Katherine Dunn. A couple who experiment with radioscopic drugs to breed their own freak show to keep the family business afloat, how amazing would that be? Only problem it would need a budget and that’s a hard sell. Also, I feel that there may be only two people to get it right. Fellini and Terry Gilliam. One’s already gone and the other is on his way out. Still, I’d watch it if an adaptation ever happened regardless who directed.

TPQ: A "must read" you intend getting to before you die?

PL: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. An ex girlfriend loved his work and his books were always around the apartment, but I never around to reading his books. A bunch of others tell me I should read his work, that book in particular. One day I will get to it.

Philip LoPresti is a New York-based poet, photographer, and fiction author, most recently of the novella The Things We Bury

Booker's Dozen @ Philip LoPresti

Philip LoPresti
answers 13 questions in Booker's Dozen

TPQ: What are you currently reading? 

PL: I’m reading two at the moment. I often have a couple going at once. The Churchgoer by Patrick Coleman which is a sort of mystery noir set in California and a true crime book Hell In The Heartland: Murder, Meth And The Case Of Two Missing Girls By Jax Miller.

TPQ: Best and worst books you have ever read?

PL: A few of my favorite books are A Choir Of Ill Children by Tom Piccirilli, Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor and Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. Worst books are harder to list because if I can’t get into a book by page fifty I usually give up. Life is too short and I don’t have time to crawl through books that don’t hold my interest but I hated reading John Steinbeck in school. I always thought his writing was a bit dry. Still do.

TPQ: Book most cherished as a child?

PL: Probably The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn. I read it at a young age after my mother gave me a copy and it changed a lot of how I saw things. Reading about a child who was nearly my own age at the time, in a very rough and adult world was both eye opening and relatable. It saved me.

TPQ: Favourite Childhood author?

PL: I didn’t follow authors much as a kid, but I did own all the books in the Goosebumps series so probably R.L. Stine. My older sister also read the Fear Street series and we had all those in the house which I graduated to. I’ve always been a big fan of horror, even as a child.

TPQ: First book to really own you?

PL: Probably Naked Lunch by William Burroughs. When I discovered it as sixteen it was unlike anything I’d read before, and all these years later it is still unlike anything I’ve read. A lot of my poetry was written using techniques I learned from Burroughs. 


TPQ: Favorite male and female author?

PL: Tom Piccirilli and Flannery O’Connor. I don’t want to get long winded about why but I want to say that Choir Of Ill Children and Wise Blood are the only books I truly need.

TPQ: A preference for fact or fiction?

PL: I never had a preference. I always loved both but I seem to reading a lot of True Crime these days. More than I usually do. Don’t know if that’s because my last book was a crime/noir and it so happens that the new one I’m currently writing is as well, so it could be I’m researching subconsciously. Or it could be I’m burnt out on fiction for the time being.

TPQ: Biography, autobiography or memoir that most impressed you?

PL: The Basketball Dairies by Jim Carroll. Jim was a writer whose work did and still does speak to me on a very personal level. He also single handedly taught me how to write a poem. All from just reading his work.

TPQ: Any author or book you point blank refuse to read?

PL: Too many to name.

TPQ: A book to share with somebody so that they would more fully understand you? 

PL: The Sunset Limited by Cormac McCarthy. 


TPQ: Last book you gave as a present?

PL: A Choir of Ill Children by Tom Piccirilli. I gave it to a friend recently actually. Like two weeks ago. She just messaged me today about how much she loves it so I guess we can remain friends.

TPQ: Book you would most like to see turned into a movie?

PL: Geek Love by Katherine Dunn. A couple who experiment with radioscopic drugs to breed their own freak show to keep the family business afloat, how amazing would that be? Only problem it would need a budget and that’s a hard sell. Also, I feel that there may be only two people to get it right. Fellini and Terry Gilliam. One’s already gone and the other is on his way out. Still, I’d watch it if an adaptation ever happened regardless who directed.

TPQ: A "must read" you intend getting to before you die?

PL: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. An ex girlfriend loved his work and his books were always around the apartment, but I never around to reading his books. A bunch of others tell me I should read his work, that book in particular. One day I will get to it.

Philip LoPresti is a New York-based poet, photographer, and fiction author, most recently of the novella The Things We Bury

5 comments:

  1. Geek Love as a movie? I'd watch that. And in the meantime, I now fancy re-reading it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. 'A Choir of Ill Children' was the first book Philip ever gifted me and it got me interested in fiction again after years or not really wanting anything to do with it. Love this!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Loved Goosebumps and Shivers as a twelve year old. 'Attack of the Mutant' was a big favourite of mine. Haven't read it in nearly 25 years.

    Jim Carrol's poetry is immense.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Philip,

    thanks a lot for doing this - fascinating journey.

    Blood Meridean was the first book I ever read on Kindle. It still induces a parch-like sensation in my mouth each time I find it mentioned. The scorching desert ambience.
    I enjoyed what I read of Steinbeck. Grapes Of Wrath was a classic.
    Preferred Tom Sawyer to Huck Finn.
    Burroughs appears here frequently in the slot itself and the commentary.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sean Mallory comments

    Never read anything by Mark Twain and don't know why I didn't but we did study him at school and I watched the very old TV series of Tom Sawyer which I really enjoyed as a kid ... Burroughs, well I have said enough about that lot....

    ReplyDelete