Max Porter: Books don’t tend to make me cry. Sentimental TV adverts, on the other hand…

The author of Lanny and Grief is a Thing With Feathers on the influence of John Berger and his admiration for translators

The book I am currently reading
By my bed, Afropean by Johny Pitts. In my bag, In the Cut by Susanna Moore. In the bathroom, Air Histories by Christopher Meredith and I Remain in Darkness by Annie Ernaux.

The book that changed my life
In Parenthesis by David Jones.

The book I wish I’d written
I’d like to have written or illustrated a book as perfect as Angry Arthur by Hiawyn Oram and Satoshi Kitamura. I also wish I’d made a start on my new book.

The book that had the greatest influence on me
A cluster of books I read at around the same time: Briggflatts by Basil Bunting; Glass, Irony, and God by Anne Carson; Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban; Dart by Alice Oswald. These were the books that lit my fuse.

 

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