BEST AUTHOR BEST : TERRY TEMPEST WILLIAMS

Thoreau and Erdrich are important to her, but so is '' Valley of the Dolls.'' She opens her new book, '' The Glorians : Visitations From the Holy Ordinary,'' disobeying the advice of a writing teacher.

.-  WHAT'S the best book you've ever received as a gift?

My grandmother gave me a copy of Roger Tory Peterson's '' A Field Guide to Western Birds '' when I was 5 years old.

.-  What's the last book you recommended to a member of your family?

'' The Buffalo Hunter,'' by Stephen Graham Jones, to my father, who is 92. He reads close to a book a day.

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

Maybe '' Valley of the Dolls,'' by Jacqueline Susann. It belonged to my mother and I saw it on her  bookshelf every day of my childhood. That white cover, with its scattered pills, has become like familiar wallpaper, a comfort.

The memory of my mother reading her legs stretched out on an ottoman, a Coke on her side table, complete with lemon slice.

When I asked why she loved these thick novels about women, she said :

'' I read to escape the mundane details about my life.''

.-  What's your go-to classic?

'' Walden,'' I began reading it when I was a junior in high school. I underlined my hardback copy with a green felt-tip pen. I typed up a page of my favorite quotes that still resides in the back of the book.

Each time I go to Walden Pond, I take my book with me and write a paragraph inside its cover about  what I saw.

.-  The last great book you read?

How about a pairing ? N. Scott Momaday's '' Earth Keeper '' reads as a prayer, and Jorie Graham's new collection of poems, '' Killing Spree,'' a brutal beauty.

.-  Do you count any books as guilty pleasures?

Maybe '' Elizabeth Takes Off,'' Elizabeth Taylor's delicious memoir on weight loss and much more, read in the bathroom on a Saturday morning, refilling it repeatedly with more hot water.

This great publishing continues to Part [2]. The World Students Society thanks The New York Times.