Sheila Curran (Diana Lively Is Falling Down ) tells all about the "Four E's" of Reading Groups... In this month's 1-On-One!

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

No. There, I've said it, offending many well-regarded writers, I'm sure.  Let me put it this way.  A blind man may be able to produce gorgeous paintings and a deaf man can certainly compose amazing music, but their numbers are infinitesimally small.

According to a report of the Independent Book Publishing Association, over five million American adults belong to reading groups. What, do you believe, is the basis for this country's love for literature and books?

A. Entertainment B. Enlightnement C. Escape D. Education
Why reading groups thrive is a different question and for me, being in a book club has always been a way to connect with friends along threads of conversation provided by our shared 'trip' through the author's world.

Have you ever belonged to a reading group?

I joined my first book group when I was twenty and have been in one in ever since.   Half the time we talk about the book, half the time about our lives, and the rest (the third half) about how we really need to concentrate more on the book and less on who's going to open the next bottle of wine.

What advice do you have for reading group members when it comes to selecting books for discussion?

Well, look at Reading Group Choices, for goodness sake!  I also think you might consider a thematic tie among the books you select each year (.i.e. say you choose, Exile, you could read The Kite Runner, Waiting for Snow in Havana, Three Swans, The Sparrow, The Distance Between Us, The God of Small Things or for Motherhood, you might choose My Sister's Keeper, Diana Lively Is Falling Down, God's in Alabama, The Prince of Tides, The Family Tree ...)

What books are you reading now or do you plan to read?

I just finished The Distance Between Us  and Which Brings Me to You, both of which I loved.  I'm planning to read Joshilyn Jackson's Between, Georgia, Jeff Deaver's The Garden of the Beasts  and The Sleeping Father by Matthew Sharpe. 

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

One Hundred and One Ways to Cook a Coconut.

If you could have dinner with 3 writers (dead or alive) who would they be and why?

Nora Ephron, John Le Carre and Bruce Springsteen. Nora Ephron is a wonderful writer who is both funny and loves food; John Le Carre is one of the most underrated writers on the planet; and Bruce is a lifelong hero whom I admire as a lyricist. Let me add that there are many writers I already have had dinner or drinks with whom I think cannot be replaced as delightful conversationalists. As my friend Julianna Baggott says, "They are my peeps."

Have you ever read anything you're too embarrassed to admit (except in this interview)?

Yes, I read part of the Left Behind series.  They gave me the heebie-jeebies in more ways than one.

Favorite book when you were a child?

A Wrinkle in Time.

Favorite heroine in literature and why?

Ellen Foster in Ellen Foster or any of the women in The Secret Life of  Bees or the dead girl in The Lovely  Bones.  I'm not at all sure why.

Favorite hero in literature and why?

Darcy in Pride and Predjudice, Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights or the Jesuit priest in The  Sparrow. Don't know, yet again. Characters in books are like people to me, and I respond in a way that's not analytic or clinical.

Favorite first line from a book?

"Call me Ishmael." from Moby Dick.

Favorite last line from a book?

"The orphans are ringing their little bells." from The Madam by Julianna Bag.