BEST AUTHOR BEST : JOE SACCO

'' Drawing human suffering realistically has become more difficult, '' says the pioneering comics journalist, whose new book is '' The Once and Future Riot,'' on India's sectarian violence. Next up : the Rolling Stones.

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

Adania Shibli's '' Minor Detail,'' a spare, powerful book about an obsessive search to uncover the facts of an obscure war crime,  caught me completely off guard.

.-  Do you prefer books that reach you emotionally, or intellectually?

I tend to read nonfiction that is often dry and scholarly. But even a woodenly written book, if it takes apart my preconceived notions, can emotionally unsettle me.

I remember reading Noam Chomsky's '' The Fateful Triangle '' and having to put it down every few pages to walk around and burn off my anger.

,-  Describe your ideal reading experience.

Sitting in the backyard on a lawn chair with a vodka martini, four olives.

.-  Do you count any books as guilty pleasures?

I feel guilty about reading comics or graphic novels. I've never shaken the notion that my time would be better spent reading prose. I am a bit of a traitor to my own medium.

.-  What books are on your night stand?

Dueling books about the formulation of our political system. '' The Radicalism of the American Revolution,'' by Gordon S. Wood, and '' Revolutionary America, 1763-1815,'' by Francis D. Cogliano.

Martha C. Nussbaum's book on Indian sectarianism, '' The Clash Within '' ; the second volume of Victor Klemperer's astonishing diary, '' I Will Bear Witness '', and '' The Million Year Picnic,'' a collection of comics drawn by Will Elder in the 1950s, because some guilty pleasures are definitely worth having.

.-  Do you draw or write to music?

I need silence to write, but I couldn't draw without music. Something unobtrusive but interesting like  Brian Eno's ambient work when I'm penciling or lettering, but anything goes when I'm inking, depending on my mood.

Waylon Jennings, John Coltrane, Neu!, Devo Howlin' Wolf, the Stones, and for some reason, over and over, '' Beatles for Sale.''

The Publishing continues to Part [2]. The World Students Society thanks The New York Times.