What was the first book to make an impression on you?
My Granny did not actually write books, but in the days before annuals became popular, she used to cut out from the newspaper each day Curly Wee, and paste it into a copybook. I used to read and enjoy these on my holidays from boarding school. They taught me all kinds of things – including good manners.
What was your favourite book as a child?
Later, in my early teens, I loved The Forensic Fables by O. These were in four slender volumes. O was Lord JusticeTheo Mathew, a cousin of the apostle of temperance, Fr Mathew. Coming from a legal background, and already ambitioning to be a barrister, the fables enchanted me. Each fable, a page or a page-and-a half in length, with its own wonderful illlustration, and a moral attached, each was also a gem of the driest of humour and of the shrewdest of observation of human nature. I knew those fables almost by heart.
And what is your favourite book or books now?
The Writer's Journey, Mythic Structures for Writers by Christopher Vogler, The Secret History by Donna Tartt, The Discovery of France by Graham Robb, Old School by Tobias Wolff, The Life of Pi by Yann Martel.
What is your favourite quotation?
The quotation is not from a book. As befits a former lawyer perhaps, it is from a cross-examination: “Have you no sense of decency, Sir?At long last, have you left no sense of decency?” This is from the cross-examination of Joseph N Welch, addressed to the notorious Senator Joe McCarthy who was pursuing one of his witch-hunts against supposed communists (June 9th, 1954).
Who is your favourite fictional character?
The young Theo in The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
Who is the most under-rated Irish author?
John Boyne.
Which do you prefer – ebooks or the traditional print version?
Traditional print version
What is the most beautiful book you own?
The Bible – warts and all
Where and how do you write?
Where I am; how I can.
What book changed the way you think about fiction?
The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell.
(What is the most research you have done for a book?
My last book, 1968: Memoir and Murder (published by Liberties Press in September 2014)
What book influenced you the most?
The Rule of St Benedict
What book would you give to a friend’s child on their 18th birthday?
The Shack by William Paul Young
What book do you wish you had read when you were young?
On the contrary, I am only conscious of the number of texts in various languages which were definitively ruined for us by being forced to study them too young.
What advice would you give to an aspiring author?
Don’t write merely for publication. To thine own self be true.
What weight do you give reviews?
If I get the impression that the reviewer has actually read my book – which, to say the least, is not a universal experience – I reply with the mutual compliment of my respect, no matter what he or she says about me.
Where do you see the publishing industry going?
I have no idea.
What writing trends have struck you lately?
Is there an idea that if there is nothing wrong with somebody, then there is something really wrong?
What lessons have you learned about life from reading?
The pain and anger of so many people, but also their courage and, above all, their hope.
What has being a writer taught you?
To have respect for what other people write – I hope.
Which writers, living or dead, would you invite to your dream dinner party?
Chinua Achebe, Donna Tartt, Tobias Wolff, CS Lewis, Agatha Christie, Marcel Pagnol.
What is the funniest scene you’ve read?
The Play within the Play in Hamlet, imagining how really badly it is usually – and intentionally – acted. Always good for a laugh.
What is your favourite word?
And
If you were to write a historical novel, which event or figure would be your subject?
I just have written a historical novel, as best I can, 1968: Memoir and Murder, about the student revolution in France, at least how some of us experienced it.
Andrew Nugent is a Benedictine monk and author of the Molly Power detective series
