The WORD book group interviewed Jo Walton via email about her marvelous book Among Others, and the answers were just too good to keep to ourselves. If you haven’t read it already, we Highly Recommend you go do that now and then come on back (although there really aren’t any spoilers, so it’s safe if you want to get a feel for the book.)
Q: One of the things we talked about is the fact that Morwenna is so blatantly (and marvelously) honest about the books she reads, to the point of vocally disliking some canon classics. Do you agree with Morwenna’s assessments of the books she reads? Or were they another way to describe her as a person? Or maybe both?
Definitely both.
Sometimes my mature opinion of a book is in disagreement with her assessment. But sometimes I absolutely agree—it’s just that when you’re grown up you can’t go around saying that something is the BEST IN THE WORLD OF ALL TIME EVER.
Q: On that note, have you read all of the books she’s read? We talked quite a bit about how jealous we were that she has so much time to read. Did you read many of them at her age, or later in life?
Yes I have, and I read almost all of them at that age. There’s an occasional exception where for thematic reasons I wanted her to have read something I didn’t get to until later. The only one I can think of right now is Sayers. I didn’t read Sayers until I was grown up.
Q: And most importantly, of all the books she reads, which is dearest to your heart? Which do you recommend to others?
One of the things I was trying to say about reading is that it isn’t by reading canon that you have the experience, it’s by reading a whole lot of stuff indiscriminately and developing discrimination in the process. I recommend books to different people for different reasons. I blog about old books on Tor.com if you want some specific recommendations.
Having said that, of course The Lord of the Rings is unquestionably the best book of all time, ever, including books written by aliens that no humans have read yet.
Q: Do you have a twin? Have you heard from any twins who read the book? None of our book group members are twins, and all of us wondered how our reading might have changed if we had been.
I do not have a twin.
I have heard from some twins, and generally positively.
Q: Do you consider Among Others fantasy, sci-fi, or something else? Who are you most hoping will read the book?
It’s fantasy about a science fiction reader.
I don’t know who I’m hoping will read it. I hadn’t thought about that.
Q: Why did you choose to focus on recovery from an accident rather than the accident itself?
More interesting. Less traumatic.
I’ve always been interested in the story of what happens to people after they save the world. Where can you go from there?
Q: Do you believe in fairies? (We are REALLY curious about this last one.)
No, I really don’t. I made up the magic system and the fairies for the story. What I believe in is landscape, and appropriate mythology for that landscape, and the fairies were the appropriate thing for the place where I grew up.
