What kind of reader were you as a child? Your favorite book? Most beloved character?

I had parents who could be talked into reading just one more chapter of C. S. Lewis’s Narnia books, one more chapter of “The Hobbit.” I followed them around the house, book in hand. Eventually it was made clear that if I learned how to read, everyone would be happier. I spent the next few years reading and rereading all of Tolkien. And then T. H. White. Around the same time I became deeply attached to an edition of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” that belonged to the dentist’s office. It wasn’t in great shape, by which I mean someone had bled on it. Maybe multiple someones. She wasn’t happy about it, but my mother finally bought it for me so we could bring it home. I loved the Scarecrow; I loved Gandalf, Merlin and Diana Wynne Jones’s Chrestomanci, another magician. If I had a type as a child, I suppose it was the kind of guy who hovered around on the outskirts of the story, pockets full of magic, occasionally doing something useful.

If you had to name one book that made you who you are today, what would it be?

“The Hobbit.”

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

I’d like to make everyone read Molly Gloss’s “The Hearts of Horses,” a historical novel set in the early 1900s, about a circuit rider, Martha Lessen, in Oregon, who goes from ranch to ranch, breaking horses. It’s the kind of book that makes you feel better about having to live in the world with people.

You’re hosting a literary dinner party. Which three writers are invited?

Why is the prospect of hosting a dinner party for much-admired living writers so much more terrifying than the idea of hosting the dead? I’ll go for the monkey’s paw option and say Grace Paley, Tove Jansson and Joan Aiken. In any case, I regularly meet up for breakfast/lunch/dinner/work/gossip with the writers Holly Black and Cassandra Clare. I think we all have a pretty good time.

Any book you regretted reading?

I read most of Piers Anthony’s Xanth books when I was a kid. I don’t regret that, necessarily, but I do feel bad about insisting that my dad read them too.

What’s the one book you wish someone else would write?

I want more books by the writers that I love. So another novel from Ursula K. Le Guin. Another collection from Z. Z. Packer or Karen Russell. Mat Johnson’s next book. More Susanna Clarke. I’d also like more Angela Carter, more Laurie Colwin, more Shirley Jackson, another Eva Ibbotson romance. But since that’s not possible, let’s go with something that seems both possible and overdue. How about a biography of Angela Carter? If I could pick someone to write it, it would be Julie Phillips.

Whom would you want to write your life story?

Bryan Lee O’Malley. Or, how about this? Let’s skip the book and go straight to a biopic directed by Ernst Lubitsch. He’s welcome to come to that literary dinner party, too.