By Bond Robertson 
Kerry Andreessen (52) has had great success with Catering in Svendsen and For the Rest, I Think Carthago Should Be Destroyed. This fall, he is currently with the novel Not People I Can Count On.
What are you reading now? What do you think?
– “When We Stop Understanding the World” by Benjamin Labatut. I really enjoyed “The Maniac” by the same author, and although this book is not very popular, there is enough good stuff to keep me reading.
The other book I'm working on now is Annie Dillon's American Childhood, which is a memoir about growing up in Pittsburgh in the 1950s and 1960s. Smooth prose.
What is a book that left an indelible impression on you? And why?
– There are many, but if I had to choose one, I would take “The Last Recordings of Thomas F. for the Public” by Kjell Eskildsen. I read it when I was 20 and have read it several times since.
Which author should write the book about you? And why?
– Anne Otterholm or Trude Marstein. They both knew me well, and both had the sense to exercise their dictation liberties.
What self-help book have you read recently? And why?
– “Simple” by Ottolenghi. I've gained a different relationship with thyme.
What book did you smuggle? Why smuggling?
– For someone who helped translate a fictional story about One Direction, there is no longer any shame.
What fictional character can't you stand? And why?
– Novel characters like J.D. Salinger's Holden Caulfield or J.M. Coetzee's David Lurie are insufferable primarily because the authors did a good job, and so I have no problem reading about them.
…And which fictional character would you sleep with? And why?
– What a stupid question. I could lie down with Marcel in On the Trail of Lost Time. But not in twelve volumes.