Interview

Elizabeth D Samet, author of Soldier's Heart, reveals the three dead authors she'd most like to dine with, the book she'd wish to have if she was stuck on a deserted island and her favorite lines and characters from literature.

Is it possible to be a good writer without being a good reader?

I don't believe so. Many good writers start out as good readers; others I know have had to work hard to become better readers. At some stage in almost every writer's quest to improve reading becomes a central pursuit.


Have you ever belonged to a reading group?

I have never belonged to a reading group per se, but for as long as I can remember I have been involved in more or less formal communities of readers--at home and at school. At first it was my mother, who constantly read books with and to me. Now my reading community consists largely of students and former students, whose insights enrich my perspective on new and familiar books.


What book(s) are you reading now or planning to read?

I usually have several books going at once. Just now the list includes The Letters of Noël Coward, edited by Barry Day; Félix Fénéon's Novels in Three Lines; Jonathan Spence's new history, Return to Dragon Mountain: Memories of a Late Ming Man; and, yet again, Charles Dickens's Great Expectations.


If you were stuck on a deserted island and could only bring one book with you to read, what would it be and why?

The ...