T.C. Boyle's"Why I Read"

A few years ago, we launched an occasional feature in our monthly email newsletter called "Why I Read." We asked authors, mostly local, to answer that seemingly simple question. The replies were as varied as the question allowed: from the quirky (Dave Eggers) to the earnest (Joyce Maynard), from the episodic (T.C. Boyle) to the hilarious (Kim Wong Keltner). We've been trickling them out into the blogosphere on occasion.

Here's T.C. Boyle's reply.

PS. Our favorite book of his is Drop City--smart and fun and character-driven.

"I read in order to cease the eternal chatter in my brain and ease up on the straitjacket of consciousness for a few nanoseconds at a time. My favorite reading takes place in nature--I love to hike to some remote place, read for an hour or two, then hike back. In fact, the best day I had last year occurred on the third of January during a blizzard in Sequoia Park. I took a fine book--sorry, don't remember what it was now--a fine dog and a bottle of rum out into the teeth of a three-blizzard, went a couple miles into the woods, read the book under a pine to keep the blowing snow off the page, drank the rum (some of it, anyway), and finally came back home to a nice fire after the chill began to seep in. Now, I tell you, that afternoon was the ultimate in reading pleasure."
-T.C. Boyle, author of many fine books

Thanks, Mr. Boyle. Here are others, if you're curious: Beth Lisick, Susan Choi, Peter Rock, Dave Eggers.

Why do you read?