April's FEATURED AUTHOR: What Kim curls up with...

Today, our Featured Author Kim Wright shares her favorite reads with us. Read on!

I've always been crazy about books. One of the advantages of being single is that I can literally pile books in the bed beside me. If you walked into my bedroom right now you'd find I'm currently sleeping with A Fortunate Age by Joanna Smith Rakoff, A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick, and Blue Angel by Francine Prose. I have books in my car, books in the kitchen, books stacked on the back of the toilet, books permanently packed in the zip pocket of my suitcase. Maybe it's a phobia - I'm terrified of the thought of being stuck somewhere without a book.

In terms of classical influences, my favorites are Heart of Darkness, The Great Gatsby, Moby Dick....I've always had a yen for first person narration. I like the feeling that I'm standing right behind the narrator, looking at everything through his or her eyes. But when I started thinking about writing my own book the modern book that influenced me the most was Little Children by Tom Perrotta. That was such an incredibly bold book. And proof that a lot of stuff actually does happen in the suburbs. Heck, I've always believed that it's ALL going down in the suburbs.

My biggest regret as a writer is that I'm not strong on short stories because I absolutely love them. A collection by Alice Munro is my idea of heaven. I loved Olive Kitteridge, of course, and I admire Amy Bloom's first collection, Come to Me. Hmm...and Pretending the Bed is a Raft by Nanci Kincaid. That's another good one.

Oops....just went back into my bedroom and found another book among the sheets. This is funny, it's How I Became a Famous Novelist by Steve Hely. Talk about wishful thinking! But the book is hilarious. A real send up of the craziness of the whole publication process.

Thank you so very much for sharing with us, Kim!! Some of these look really interesting, I should add them to my list. =)