-
Access our Top 20
Books of 2024!
A brief Q&A with Mark Binelli
Where are you from?
St. Clair Shores, Michigan
Who are your favorite writers?
Nabokov, Pynchon, Flann O'Brien, AJ Liebling, David Foster Wallace, Geoff Dyer, Janet Malcolm, Nicholson Baker, Tom Stoppard.
Which book/books have had the biggest influence on your writing?
White Noise, Don DeLillo; Up in the Old Hotel, Joseph Mitchell; Family, Ian Frazier; The White Album, Joan Didion; 60 Stories, Donald Barthelme.
What is your favorite quote?
"But just wait until now become then. You'll see how happy we were."—Susan Sontag.
What is the question most commonly asked by your readers? What is the answer?
"Detroit - I've always been so fascinated by that city! Should I visit?" If I like the person, the answer is: "Yes."
What inspired you to write your first book?
Watching Abbott and Costello movies with my dad on Sunday mornings instead of going to church, and the vague memory of Sacco and Vanzetti as the only Italians (other than Columbus and occasionally Mussolini) mentioned in U.S. History classes.
Where do you write?
In bed, if it's before noon; in cafés anytime after.
Unless otherwise stated, this interview was conducted at the time the book was first published, and is reproduced with permission of the publisher. This interview may not be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the copyright holder.
Xhenet Aliu's debut fiction collection, Domesticated Wild Things, and Other Stories, won the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction. Her stories and essays have appeared in Glimmer Train, The Barcelona Review, American Short ... (more)
If you enjoyed:
Detroit City Is the Place to Be
Try:
Brass
by Xhenet Aliu
Leslie T. Chang lived in China for a decade as a correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, specializing in stories that explored how socioeconomic change is transforming institutions and individuals. She has also written for... (more)
If you enjoyed:
Detroit City Is the Place to Be
Try:
Factory Girls
by Leslie T. Chang
We recommend 12 similar authors
My Darling Boy by John Dufresne
The story of of a man whose son collapses into addiction and vanishes into the chaotic netherworld of southern Florida.
.png)
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
