books
Ruth Ozeki: ‘All my books are an attempt to recreate Charlotte’s Web’
The US author, film-maker and Zen Buddhist priest on smart young girls, the difference between irony and cynicism, and working her way through 13 volumes of Chekhov
TL;DR
- Ozeki's earliest reading memory is 'Goodnight Moon,' though she admits it was mostly picture-based.
- "Charlotte's Web" is cited as her favorite childhood book, influencing her writing with its theme of language saving lives.
- "The Catcher in the Rye" taught her disaffection and how to spot phonies during her teenage years.
- Reading "One Hundred Years of Solitude" in Nepal in 1975 introduced her to the concept of magic being real.
- She identifies with numerous literary characters who were writers or destined to be writers, inspiring her career choice.
- Kurt Vonnegut taught her about humor, irony, cynicism, and earnest irreverence.
- Emily Dickinson, Adrienne Rich, and Elizabeth Bishop are poets she rereads, particularly Bishop's "One Art" for its lessons on surviving loss.
- She found Robert M. Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" irritating on a reread due to the narrator's perceived pomposity.
- Discovering Chekhov's short stories later in life while teaching the form has been a continuous learning experience.
- Currently reading Isabel J. Kim's "Sublimation" and "The Typewriter Revolution."
- Lydia Davis's "Collected Stories" serves as her comfort read due to its brevity and precision.