BEST AUTHOR BEST : GEORGE PACKER [ 2 ]

.-  What's your favorite book no one else has heard of ?

'' Small Moments,'' stories by Nancy Packer [ 1925-2025 ].

.-  Are there any classic novels that you only recently read for the first time?

Eliot's '' Daniel Deronda '' was a test of my digital-span attention span, and I kept having to reread her brilliant sentences. Things started to pick up on Page 606.

.-  Do you count any books as guilty pleasures?

Audiobooks. They're a little like cheating.

.-  You've mentioned John Dos Passos as an influence on '' The Unwinding.'' Who is today's John Dos Passos?

The closest would be creators of the great TV series of the past couple decades.

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

'' Moby Dick'' I was 22, teaching in a West African village and depressed, at ''the palsied universe lies before us a leper '' I had to put it down. But when I reread it a few years ago, I didn't feel like killing myself at all.

Books change with us.

.-  What's your favorite fictional hero or heroine?

Hans Castorp, '' The Magic Mountain.''

.-  Your favorite antihero or villain?

Macbeth.

.- Have you ever gotten in trouble for reading a book?

'' Story of O.'' I took it from my parents bookshelf and hid it under my shirt, but I was in trouble in my own mind.

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

'' Jenkem Vol. 2 : Skateboarding's Worst Kept Secret.''

.-  You're organising a literary dinner party. Which three writers, dead or alive, do you invite?

George Orwell. D.H. Lawrence. Margaret Atwood. I'd listen and pour drinks.

The World Students Society thanks Scott Heller.