His latest novel, A Calling for Charlie Barnes, is out now.
Here, Ferris answers EW’s burning book questions about his formative reading years and his current writing process.
What is the first thing ever that you remember writing?
Joshua Ferris is the author of ‘A Calling for Charlie Barnes’.Credit: Beowulf Sheehan; Little, Brown
Letters to my father.
My folks split in ‘83.
He moved to Chicago, the rest of us to Florida.
I know for a fact some fathers never write back.
What is the last book that made you cry?
Jeff Tweedy’sHow to Write One Song.
I’ve been reading it with my 12-year-old son, a young rapper.
Which book is at the top of your current to-read list?
Remembrance of Things Past.
Where do you write?
Which book made you a forever reader?
I probably hated to read as much as the next kid.
It comes in a bottle with a cork on top.
If you could change one thing about any of your books, what would it be?
What is your favorite part ofA Calling for Charlie Barnes?
Finding humor in really deplorable circumstances.
Even worse, it disillusions.
Laughter recasts the spell.
It is a uniquely human way of refuting the inevitable.
What was the hardest plot point or character to write?
A man is easily rendered a joke; just ask his ex-wives.
But he’s also a deadly serious proposition to himself.
Write a movie poster tag line for the book:
Live for Illusion, Die for Love.
