He’s Played Churchill and Lear. But for John Lithgow, Audiobooks Test His Mettle.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/24/books/review/john-lithgow-by-the-book-interview.html

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“Stamina is the real challenge: a hoarse voice, a tired brain and a sore ass,” says the actor and author, whose latest book is “Dumpty: The Age of Trump in Verse.” “But as with all the spoken arts, the only bad experience is bad writing.”

What books are on your nightstand?

At the moment, “She Said,” by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, which I can barely put down. Also Stephen Fry’s new book, “Mythos,” a larky retelling of all the Greek myths, many of which I never did get straight. And Nell Freudenberger’s fine new novel, “Lost and Wanted,” though I must declare my bias: She’s my goddaughter.

What’s the last great book you read?

As a reader, I’m an enthusiast but distractible and not very discriminating. If I finish a book, I consider it great.

Are there any classic novels that you only recently read for the first time?

I recently spent time in the North of England and took along George Eliot’s “The Mill on the Floss.” Good choice, as it turned out.

Describe your ideal reading experience.

In the early 1990s I spent months shooting a film in Brazil. Every day we motored on the Amazon River to and from the film set, an hour each way. That’s when I read Gabriel García Márquez’s “Love in the Time of Cholera.” If you know the book, you’ll know what a perfect reading experience that was. A riverboat figures big.

Which writers — novelists, playwrights, critics, journalists, poets — working today do you admire most?

To be honest (and currying no favor), my most compulsive reading these days is on the Op-Ed page of The New York Times. Krugman, Collins, Blow, Egan, Kristof, all of them.

You’ve narrated audiobook versions of Dr. Seuss stories and other classic children’s books. Has that experience affected your own writing for children?

Not really. Doing audiobooks is a pretty solitary experience, especially with children’s books. The children are not there when you’re recording, so it’s not nearly as much fun as the real thing. My writing for kids was mostly influenced by authors who had fun but took children seriously: E. B. White, A. A. Milne, Maurice Sendak, Beatrix Potter et al. Them, and my own kids.

What is the experience of recording a book like for you? How is it different from the acting work you’ve done?

Recording a lengthy audiobook is two or three full days of nonstop reading in an airless recording booth. Stamina is the real challenge: a hoarse voice, a tired brain and a sore ass. But as with all the spoken arts, the only bad experience is bad writing. Recording a good novel can be pretty thrilling when emotions ambush you. That goes for all emotions: tears, chills and laughter. You get the feeling you’re connecting with a listening audience that hasn’t tuned in yet.

What book would you most like to see turned into a movie or TV show that hasn’t already been adapted?

This is a tough question because, in my experience, the best movie adaptations do not necessarily come from the best books. Screenwriters need to take liberties and with a great novel, writers are often too faithful for their own good. There’s yet to be a really good film of “The Great Gatsby.”

Of all the characters you’ve played across different media, which role felt to you the richest — the most novelistic?

I read “The World According to Garp” a couple of years before the movie was made. I loved the character of Roberta Muldoon on the page but I never dreamed the book would (or could!) ever be a film. When I was offered the role I was astonished, but in the end I judged myself to be the perfect Roberta. That said, Winston Churchill (in “The Crown”) and Roger Ailes (in the upcoming “Bombshell”) were pretty novelistic.

Do you count any books as guilty pleasures?

I would say anything by P. G. Wodehouse is a secret pleasure. He’s the only writer who reliably makes me laugh out loud. But there’s no guilt involved: He was a fabulous writer.

Has a book ever brought you closer to another person, or come between you?

My sisters Robin and Sarah Jane are voracious readers and they often tell me what to read. No question: Books bring us together.

What’s the most interesting thing you learned from a book recently?

Michael Lewis’s latest piece of investigative journalism, “The Fifth Risk,” blew my mind with its revelations about the inner workings and recent evisceration of the federal government bureaucracy.

Which subjects do you wish more authors would write about?

I’m happy to wait for the brainstorms of really good writers. Who would have thought that the author of “Moneyball” and “The Big Short” would turn his attention to the departments of energy, commerce and agriculture? And write a riveting book about them?

How do you organize your books?

I don’t. They’re all over the place, and when I look for one I can never find it. My professor wife keeps her books in splendid order but she ignores mine and tolerates the mess.

What book might people be surprised to find on your shelves?

“The Churchill Factor,” by Boris Johnson.

What’s the best book you’ve ever received as a gift?

I’ve recently received some terrific gift books from the authors themselves. I must list them all to slight none: “A Good American Family,” by David Maraniss; “The Library Book,” by Susan Orlean; “The Dutch House,” by Ann Patchett; and my aforesaid goddaughter’s book. I’ve been forcing all of them on everyone.

Who is your favorite fictional hero or heroine? Your favorite antihero or villain?

I loved the brooding Abe Lincoln in “Lincoln in the Bardo,” by George Saunders, but Mickey Sabbath in Philip Roth’s “Sabbath’s Theater” is my favorite: a fantastic hero, antihero and even villain, all rolled into one. Mickey is outrageous, transgressive and wildly theatrical. Now there’s a role I’d love to play, though I’m probably too tall.

What kind of reader were you as a child? Which childhood books and authors stick with you most?

I was a ponderously slow reader and still am. I can’t shake the sense that I should be reading at the pace with which the author would be speaking. Maybe this is because my father read copiously to me and my siblings when we were kids, from the Childcraft series, “Tellers of Tales” and “The Jungle Book.” Around the age of 10, I started collecting copies of “Classics Illustrated,” major literary works reduced to the format of comic books. I amassed about a hundred of them and bound them in cardboard binders. I was very proud of my collection but, to my shame, I only looked at the pictures. Eventually I started reading actual novels but it was always a big project (and still is).

If you could require the president to read one book, apart from your own, what would it be?

“Becoming,” by Michelle Obama.

You’re organizing a literary dinner party. Which three writers, dead or alive, do you invite?

Three great humorists: William Shakespeare, Jane Austen and George S. Kaufman.

Disappointing, overrated, just not good: What book did you feel as if you were supposed to like, and didn’t? Do you remember the last book you put down without finishing?

Quitting halfway through? I’m too embarrassed to tell you. But I will confess that, with age, it’s starting to happen more often.

What do you plan to read next?

I’m waiting to hear from my sisters.