What book ruined your ability to enjoy “light” literature forever?
One by Harold Robbins. I don’t even remember the title.
Which author would you like to invite to dinner, just to argue with them for three hours?
You won’t believe this, but I’ve had dinner with Miguel Barnet several times, through a mutual friend.
Which book did you pretend to have read with the most conviction?
Anything by Hess.
Which literary character would you kill yourself?
Holly Golightly. If she’s not mine, she’s no one’s.
Which “classic” book do you consider a punishment to read, yet still defend in public?
I don’t defend books. If they can’t defend themselves…
What is your guilty literary pleasure, the one you hide behind a fake copy of Proust?
A Long Hard Road Out of Hell, the biography of Marilyn Manson.
What book do you treat as a sacred object, but whose first page remains more pristine than your new Kindle?
Bomarzo. Two or three friends have told me it’s worth reading.
Which author would you trade places with, even if it were just to have a scholarship at the Sorbonne?
Hunter S. Thompson.
Which bookstore has stolen the most money from you with your consent?
A secondhand bookstore called Enramadas, in Santiago de Cuba. It doesn’t exist anymore, and that’s fine: the guy who used to go in there looking for novels for up to 3 pesos doesn’t exist either.
Which books have you started more than three times without getting past page 40?
The Magic Mountain. I’ve been trying since the nineties. I’m almost convinced that I’ll never get through it. Fuck you, Hans!
What Latin phrase do you use to sound profound, even though you don’t really know what it means?
Cartago delenda est. I like it because it has a good story behind it: they say that Cato the Elder used to say it, even when it wasn’t relevant. I do the same.
Which literary character would you like to have as a therapist, knowing that they would ruin you emotionally?
Raoul Duke. I reread the novel just because I like that bastard so much.
What is the most absurd edition you have ever bought just for its aesthetics?
I’ve never done anything like that, and I tend to stay away from people who do.
What literary genre do you pretend to despise because your intellectual friends do?
Poetry. All my poet friends despise it, or so they say.
Which contemporary author do you pretend to be uninterested in but secretly wish you had written their books?
Chuck Palahniuk.
How many books do you have to read and how many do you still buy each month?
None. I’m at that age and have that personality where I prefer to reread than discover. I don’t buy books. One of my favorite sites on the entire internet is called I Love PDFs.
What literary scene made you close the book and stare at the ceiling as if you had experienced something?
In Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” a man sits down and a small cloud of dust rises from between his legs.
What book would you give away just to test whether someone is worthy of you?
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
What is the most heinous literary crime? Dog-earing pages, underlining books, or not reading?
They’re all the same to me. I value people more than books. My favorite people, and many of my friends, don’t read.
Do you read the author’s blurb before starting a book, or do you prefer to ruin the experience for yourself?
It depends. If it’s not a Cuban publisher, I don’t read the blurb. The blurbs on books published in Cuba seem to be written to discourage you from reading the book.
Which fictional library do you deserve based on your level of literary neurosis?
No fucking idea.
Have you ever stolen a book? Which one(s)?
I was always too cowardly to steal, but I asked others to steal for me. A great friend of mine would steal The Catcher in the Rye just for me, wherever he found it. He had three copies.
What is your greatest achievement as a reader: surviving Ulysses or finishing Don Quixote?
Rayuela.
What book would you have liked to write just so you could sign it and show it off?
The Road.
At what age did you realize that reading didn’t make you a better person, just more unbearable?
In my twenties. My sister used those exact words during an argument.
Which supporting character deserved more attention than the main character?
The lawyer Oscar Zeta Acosta, alias Dr. Gonzo.
How many bookmarks do you own, and how many do you actually use (besides the lottery ticket that you didn’t win, of course)?
None. I read a lot in PDF format.
Which author do you think is brilliant, but you’d rather not have at dinner?
Alessandro Baricco.
What phrase do you use to justify not finishing the books you start?
“Fuck you,” Hans!
If your life were a book, on which shelf in the bookstore would we find it: “unnecessary drama,” “pretentious fiction,” or “essay on disappointment”?
Pretentious fiction. I am calmly convinced that one day I will write something worthwhile.
