BEST AUTHOR BEST : RABIH ALAMEDDINE

'' IN my early teens, I considered Dostoyevsky the greatest writer ever,'' he says. Now : '' So earnest, so didactic, so humourless.'' His own new novel is '' The True Story of Raja the Gullible [ and his Mother ].''

.-  What books are on your nightstand ?

I have a lamp and a CPAP machine on my nightstand, so no space for books. My queen-size bed is divided into quadrants; I sleep in one, my two cats get one each, and one is for books.

The cats tell me this is a fair arrangement. On the bed : Scholastique Mukasonga's '' Our Lady of the Nile '' [ finished ] ; Horacio Castellanos Moya's '' Senselessness '' [reading]; Patrick Ryan's '' Buckeye '' [ next ]; and Thomas Bernhard's '' Wittgenstein's Nephew '' [ rereading soon, because his disgust with the world seems appropriate these days].

.-  What book might people be surprised to find on your shelves?

Many. I read everything, particularly when I'm depressed. A good friend was shocked that I liked Janet Evanovich's '' One for the Money.''

.-  Who is your favorite fictional hero or heroine?

Cleopatra, of course. I was 15 when I read '' Antony and Cleopatra.'' I desperately wished for a gorgeous general who is willing to die for me and say, as he's dying, '' I am dying, Egypt, dying.''

I've always wanted a lover who would consider me an entire country.

.-  Describe your ideal reading experience.

Ideally, somewhere with no internet or cell service. But really, anywhere. When I was 11, my cousins [ all girls, all older ] decided that I needed to stop read and accompany them on a walk.

There weren't many cars outside our mountain village in Lebanon, so we walked along the asphalt. When my cousins ahead of me weren't paying attention, I returned to my book and got lost again in the story.

I read as I walked. Suddenly, I banged my head. I'd walked under a parked truck and into one of its back lights. This is still a running joke in our families.

.-  Give me an example of your own gullibility.

Way too many. Let's say I believe students whose dogs eat their homework.

.-  Tell me about a mother-and-son novel that more people should know about.

'' Medea '' ?

The World Students Society thanks  The New  York Times.