BEST AUTHOR BEST : THOMAS McGUANE

'' I LOOK for subjective pulse of the author, '' says the novelist. '' I'm not interested in ingenuity.'' [ Among those he favors ; Hamsun and Turgenev.] His 18th book is '' A Wooded Shore and Other Stories.''

.-  What books are on your night stand?

Rereading : '' Mysteries,'' by Knut Hamsun. The craziest protagonist in literature. '' Nightmare Abbey,'' by Thomas Love Peacock. Delightfully pugnacious contempt for plot and human interest. Dostoyevsky, '' The Gambler.'' Nothing better on addiction.

.-  How do you organize your books?

Alphabetically, but there's often a rogue letter, pushing its neighbors off the end. At the moment, it's '' F. '' Back in the '' 70s it was '' B .''

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

'' Company Aytch,'' by Sam Watkins. A Confederate soldier's intimately detailed reminiscence of the agony and unspeakable horror of war.

.-  What's the most interesting thing you learned from a book recently?

That Hitler was lazy. From A.N. Wilson's short biography.

.-  What's the last great book you read?

'' Skylark,'' by Dezso Kosztolanyi. The life of an unattractive and unintelligent young woman living in a dreary backwater in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The depth of humanity Kosztolanyi brings to the sorrowful life of Skylark and her adoring parents is magical, and rewards anyone who overcomes its modest premise.

Reminiscent of Brian Moore's '' The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne,'' also superb.

.-  What's the best book you've ever received as a gift?

Probably Thor Heyerdahl's '' Kon Tiki,'' when I was a boy. I read it in a pup tent with my sister.

.-  What's the most terrifying book you've ever read?

Dante's '' Inferno,'' because of Dante's easily summoned malice. The Sea of Excrement, with its bobbing malefactors, is especially memorable. Sure rings a bell these days.

.-  How did you decide that '' A Wooded Shore '' should be the new collection's title story?

It's more personal, less an artifact, in case I don't do this anymore.

.-  "Whenever I'm in a bigger town for new tires, doctors or groceries, I'm on red alert,'' you told  The New Yorker. Is that anxiety reflected in your writing?

Probably so. I have a great capacity for imagining things going wrong. And leaving home is bewildering since I no longer recognize the country.

The '' Best Author Best '' publishing continues to Part [2]. The World Students Society thanks The New York Times.