From the Canongate archives, bestselling author and 2001 Whitbread Award nominee Michel Faber gives his attention to 20 questions about his life, loves and favourite literature.
What are you reading at the moment?
A huge pile of newspapers that accumulated during the months when I was finishing my last novel.
All-time favourite book?
Today, 'Alice In Wonderland'.
Book you wish you'd written?
I'm busily writing all the books I wish I'd written.
Book you've re-read most often?
'The Industrial Culture Handbook' (interviews with avant-garde music groups)
Books on your bedside table?
I don't have a bedside table. Matthew Sweet's 'Inventing The Victorians' is on the bedroom floor right now, next to a guide in Czech on breeding animals for their fur.
If your life was a book what would it be called?
'Crawling From The Dark Towards The Light'.
Who would write it?
God knows.
Favourite poem?
Tennyson, 'In Memoriam'.
Favourite literary quotation?
Almost any pair of lines from Beckett's 'Waiting For Godot'.
Favourite fictional character?
George Bush (oh, how I wish he was fiction)
Fictional character you most identify with?
I've never been much of an identifier. Corwin in Roger Zelazny's 'Nine Princes In Amber', maybe. Or Newton in Walter Tevis's 'The Man Who Fell To Earth'.
Whose new book are you waiting for?
It would be nice if a previously unknown book by Edward Gorey was found in an attic. But really, I'm not hanging out for any new releases. There are plenty of old ones to discover.
JK Rowling or JRR Tolkien?
I haven't read 'Harry Potter'. 'The Hobbit' is pretty good -- far superior to 'The Lord Of The Rings'.
Film that's better than the book?
Nicolas Roeg's version of 'The Man Who Fell To Earth' or Orson Welles' version of 'Badge of Evil' ('A Touch Of Evil')
Book you're most embarrassed to have read?
Why would anyone read a book that they're embarrassed to read?
Hardback or paperback?
Anything published with love and care.
Favourite title of a novel?
'Don't Read This Book If You're Stupid'. I haven't read the book, though.
Should chapters have titles?
Sure, if it makes them more fun. If not, then not.
Most over-rated book?
Any book that you respect without having read.
Favourite author?
Dickens. Or maybe Dr Seuss.
Michel Faber has written seven other books, including the highly acclaimed The Crimson Petal and the White, The Fahrenheit Twins and the Whitbread-shortlisted novel Under the Skin. The Apple, based on characters in The Crimson Petal and the White, was published in 2006. He has also written two novellas, The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps (2001) and The Courage Consort (2002), and has won several short-story awards, including the Neil Gunn, Ian St James and Macallan. Born in Holland, brought up in Australia, he now lives in the Scottish Highlands.
