Jeffrey Brown is the author of graphic novels including Clumsy and Unlikely--not to mention a director of videos by Death Cab for Cutie and screenwriter for a forthcoming film by the director of Hannah Takes the Stairs. Little Things: A Memoir in Slices (Touchstone, $14, 9781416549468/1416549463, April 1), a collection of autobiographical short stories, is his first full-length book in several years. Dealing with every aspect of daily life--crushes, work, friendship, death, and music--it shows how even the smallest and most insignificant parts of life can be the most meaningful. In April 2009, Touchstone will also publish Brown's next memoir, Funny Misshapen Body, about his coming of age as a young cartoonist at the Art Institute of Chicago.
On your nightstand now:
Schulz and Peanuts, the new biography by David Michaelis. I'm only a short way into it, but so far I really like how Michaelis has drawn revealing moments out of the Peanuts strips.
Favorite book when you were a child:
Small in the Saddle by Mark Alan Stamaty. Unfortunately out of print, but you can find it used. Humorous, infinitely detailed and charming, this is a book I can still go back and enjoy today, all nostalgia aside.
Your top five authors:
Chris Ware, Haruki Murakami, Dan Clowes, Lydia Davis and Grant Morrison. Although I don't know if this list is really accurate. Maybe just this week? These things change, and every time I look at the book shelf the list might change. But this group is pretty consistently near the top.
Book you've faked reading:
The Book of Joshua. There was lots of skimming through that one.
Book people think you've faked reading:
Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time. I went through a phase where I read a lot of physics, starting out with easier reading like Lawrence Krauss and moving on to the likes of Kip Thorne and Richard Feynman.
Book you are an evangelist for:
The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan. A reasonable, intelligent counterpoint to a modern world surprisingly filled with aggressive beliefs in myth and superstition.
Book you've bought for the cover:
Most recently, Amy Fusselman's 8. Although technically, I only picked the book up and looked at it because of its cover, and after reading some bits along with realizing that I'd read her other book, The Pharmacist's Mate, I decided to buy it.
Book you ignored at first because of the cover:
Cormac McCarthy's The Road. I was late to the bandwagon. In my defense, there's something about the softcover that feels nicer than the hardcover.
Book that changed your life:
Chris Ware's Acme Novelty Library series of books. I don't know what I'd be doing if I hadn't started reading them, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be answering these questions.
Favorite line from a book:
"Look at those big bales of hay!" It's from a DK book about tractors, so this may be my 15-month-old son's influence here . . .
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
The Catcher in the Rye. Salinger's masterpiece is THE apex of adolescent coming-of-age literature. So it'd be interesting to read it for the first time being somewhat older and possibly even wiser.
Book you sold to a used bookstore and then went back and bought again:
My Most Secret Desire by Julie Doucet. This book disappeared when I sold off pretty much my entire comics collection a while back. Silly, since I've ended up re-buying a lot of those books. I found a limited edition signed version of this book, which is kind of nice, so maybe it's okay that I bought it twice.
Book you've given as a gift the most times:
Don't Go Where I Can't Follow by Anders Nilsen. Beautiful, touching, heartbreaking. The truest statement of love in the form of a book I've ever seen.