BEST AUTHOR BEST : LAURA DAVE [ 2 ]

.-  BESIDES '' PEYTON PLACE '' which you've written about, do you count any books as guilty pleasures?

It's not exactly a guilty pleasure, but I love '' Heartburn,'' by Nora Ephron, in a way that makes me blush, which can feel a little like guilt.

It's my comfort book and I reread it every year. More often than not, to be honest.

.-  You once said : '' I listen to the same song on repeat the entire time I'm writing. And for every book, it's a different song.'' Really?

Yes, as crazy as that sounds. It helps me find a rhythm to the storytelling and stay inside that rhythm. I worked on '' The Last Thing He Told Me '' for 10 years, on and off.

Every Time I picked up the manuscript, I returned to Bruce Springsteen's '' If I should Fall Behind. [ Live at Madison Square Garden ].''

.-  What was the song for this book?

'' Cardigan,'' by Taylor Swift. The last verse became a type of siren call for my main character, whose spouse had disappeared years before. Yet, there she was, still seeing him in everything - and believing that she knew the end of their story in the way no one else could.

.-  What book would you most like to see turned into a movie or TV show that hasn't already been adapted?

Can I answer with a play ? '' The Real Thing,'' by Tom Stoppard, is my favorite thing I've ever read and may very well be the my favorite thing I'll ever read.

I'll never forget sitting in the audience with my mother, the first time I saw it performed. I felt like I stepped outside of my skin.

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

Ernest Hemingway, Joan Didion, Stephen King and Nora Ephron. I realize that four not three, so while I'm breaking the rules, I'll also invite Ina Garten, because I loved her memoir and because I doubt that there has ever been a dinner party in the history of dinner parties that she hasn't made better.

The World Students Society thanks Scott Heller and The New York Times.