The Paris Review Interviews, Volume 1

Judge me if you will, but if I had to choose between reading these classic author interviews and the actual books those authors wrote, I might just reach for the interviews. They are full of insight, inspiration, and practical advice, but really what they are is candy, pure candy. The Paris Review more or less invented the modern author interview, and this volume (the first of four in this set) is a pleasingly eclectic selection spanning a half century, from Hemingway and Bellow to Borges and Elizabeth Bishop and the sour James M. Cain and the fabulously acerbic Rebecca West and even (see above) Richard Price. Candy, I say.