What are you reading?

I am reading "What is the What? The Autobiography of Valentino Achek Deng," a novel by David Eggers. I am about 3/8 of an inch through a 1 1/8-inch-thick book. It is based on Eggers' interview of Valentino Achek Deng. Deng was one of what the relief workers calls "The Lost Boys" of Sudan, one among the tens of thousands of children in Sudan who were displaced by civil war. ... So far, much of the book is stories Deng tells himself in his head, or imagines telling others if he wasn't gagged — literally or metaphorically. The stories are of his life in Sudan.

What do you like most about it?

I don't know if I like the book, yet. I do like novels inspired by history that deploy unlikely central characters, offering a different and unexpected vantage point into it. Another book I just finished of this genre is "The Book of Salt" by Monique Troung, set in Paris in the 1930s and seen through the eyes of Gertrude's (Stein) and Alice's (Toklas) cook — a gay man who escaped Saigon. ...

Do you gravitate to unexpected points of view when reading because in your art you also try to bring to life and legitimize people's experiences that aren't usually included in "official" accounts of history?

I certainly am drawn to art and writing that are watchful of and expose how hegemony is made. But simply placing an "other" in the center is not enough. I hate villain / hero / victim stories for their dumb propaganda.