I recently read & reviewed Lost on Treasure Island which is Steve Friedman's candid and humorous memoir.
Please join me in welcoming the author as he stops by my blog today for an interview!
Bookworm: Welcome to my blog Steve, and thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule for this interview. Please tell us a bit about yourself.
Steve:
I grew up in St. Louis, went to college at Tufts University for my freshman year, then transferred to and graduated from Stanford University. Almost got a master's degree at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, was a newspaper reporter for five years, wrote for and then was editor in chief of St. Louis Magazine, moved to New York City in 1992 to be Senior Editor at GQ, started writing full-time in '97 and except for a year when I worked as a Visiting Professor at the University of Missouri J-school in 2001, have been doing so since. I've written five books, ghosted another and am currently at work on another. That's my professional resume. My messier internal life and personal adventures are different stories. They're both detailed in Lost on Treasure Island.
Bookworm: What was the hardest thing about writing Lost on Treasure Island? How long did it take you to complete?
Steve:
I started the book in 2005, so about five years, though I wrote (and rewrote) in big chunks of months, then would let it sit.
Bookworm: Are you working on any other books at the moment?
Steve:
Yes, collaborating with Scott Jurek (famous long distance runner who was featured in the bestselling Born to Run) on his book about running, veganism and the spiritual dimensions of running. It's going to be published by Houghton Mifflin in Spring
2012.
Bookworm: Have you found Mrs. Friedman yet?
Steve:
I don't think so. But who knows?
Bookworm: What's the best part about being a writer?
Steve:
The writing. (It's also sometimes the worst.) There's an old joke, from the pre-personal computer age. "I like almost everything about being a writer. The only thing I can't stand is the paperwork."
Bookworm: Who are your favorite authors and what is it that really strikes you about their work? What is your favorite genre?
Steve:
My reading of the classics is sorely lacking, so most of my favorites are contemporary. Michael Chabon, Jonathan Franzen, Jonathan Lethem, Robert Stone, Kem Nunn, Gary Shteyngart, Francine Prose. I like crime/detective fiction a lot--the usual suspects: James Cain, Raymond Chandler, Jim Thompson, Elmore Leonard, also more contemporary Elmore Leonard, Denise Mina, Thomas Perry, Michael Connelly, Tana French, Kate Atkinson. I'm sure I'm forgetting lots. My tastes are all over the place. The last three books I've read are: 1861, by Adam Goodheart; Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and i'm about halfway through The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan. So--serious history, popular non-fiction and novel. I love all of them.
What I love about all the books above is that they all have strong narratives and complicated characters. And the authors write with precision and style.
Bookworm: Last but not least, if you were stranded on a deserted island, and were allowed to bring 3 items with you, what would they be?
Steve:
Whatever the machine is you use to desalinate salt water
A satellite phone
An inflatable raft
Bookworm:
Thanks again for stopping by Steve and best of luck with your work. The book with Scott Jurek sounds like it will be a really interesting one.
I do agree with your comment about your favorite books: 'What I love about all the books above is that they all have strong narratives and complicated characters.' I think that's the mark of a great story.
Readers, you can visit Steve's website here.
About the book:
What do you get when you plop a moody Midwesterner in Manhattan, the land of the quick and the mean, then grant him a dream job and visions of true love? One disaster after another…
In Lost on Treasure Island: A Memoir of Longing, Love, and Lousy Choices in New York City, Steve Friedman recounts with utter honesty and mordant clarity those fateful years, starting with his first job at GQ, including his awkward efforts to impress his terrifying boss and find his future wife. Friedman’s misadventures include real and imagined love affairs, catastrophic encounters at work and play, and desperate attempts to find authenticity – nearly all of which, in the end, fail miserably.
