Barry Moser: A Self Portrait
Barry Moser Revealed
About Barry Moser
Revealing Questions
- Q. How would you describe your life in only 8 words?
- A. Busy and full of love, books and friends
- Q. What is your motto or maxim?
- A. Oh, time, strength, cash, and patience. (Melville)
- Q. How would you describe perfect happiness?
- A. Reading in bed, having watched a good film with my wife, my mastiff, my cats. Or maybe working in the studio during a snowstorm with a fire in the fireplace, Bach playing on the stereo, my mastiff asleep next to me, and one of my cats sleeping on my drawing table.
- Q. What’s your greatest fear?
- A. That I'll be found out.
- Q. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you choose to be?
- A. Anguilla, West Indies.
- Q. With whom in history do you most identify?
- A. Honore Daumier
- Q. Which living person do you most admire?
- A. Morris Dees
- Q. What are your most overused words or phrases?
- A. They could not be published I'm afraid.
- Q. What do you regret most?
- A. Not keeping a diary when I was younger.
- Q. If you could acquire any talent, what would it be?
- A. To either sing beautifully or to play the piano.
- Q. What is your greatest achievement?
- A. Illustrating the King James Bible.
- Q. What’s your greatest flaw?
- A. I drink too much booze.
- Q. What’s your best quality?
- A. I am honest.
- Q. If you could be any person or thing, who or what would it be?
- A. An English Mastiff that lives with me.
- Q. What trait is most noticeable about you?
- A. My white beard and bald head.
- Q. Who is your favorite fictional hero?
- A. Hard to pick a single one, but...Frankenstein's monster
- Q. Who is your favorite fictional villain?
- A. Again, hard to single one out...Tom Sawyer
- Q. If you could meet any historical character, who would it be and what would you say to him or her?
- A. Martin Luther King. "Thank you, sir."
- Q. What is your biggest pet peeve?
- A. Useless words, such as "Like" and "awesome."
- Q. What is your favorite occupation, when you’re not writing?
- A. Cooking.
- Q. What’s your fantasy profession?
- A. Concert pianist.
- Q. What 3 personal qualities are most important to you?
- A. Honesty. Diligence. Affectionate. Generosity.
- Q. If you could eat only one thing for the rest of your days, what would it be?
- A. Hamburgers.
- Q. What are your 5 favorite songs?
- A. Summertime. Georgia on My Mind. Ave Maria (Schubert). Four Last Songs (R Straus). Latter Days (Over the Rhine)
On Books and Writing
- Q. Who are your favorite authors?
- A. Flannery O'Connor. Jose Saramago. Mark Twain. Cormac McCarthy. Ann Patchett. Jayne Anne Phillips. Mary Ward Brown. Virginia Hamilton.
- Q. What are your 5 favorite books of all time?
- A. Too many to pick 5: but, The King James Bible. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Of Mice and Men. Belle Canto. Cold Mountain.
- Q. Is there a book you love to reread?
- A. I reread a lot of poetry, especially those of Wislawa Szymborska.
- Q. Do you have one sentence of advice for new writers?
- A. Yes, a one word sentence: WORK, WORK, WORK..
- Q. What comment do you hear most often from your readers?
- A. How long does it take you to do that?
- Q. How did you come to write Lousy Rotten Stinkin' Grapes?
- A. I illustrated the book. I did not write it. That was Marge Palatini. I came to illustrate it because the publisher offered me a commission to do so, and I needed the money.
