It’s probably not cool to admit this, but I don’t care. I am going to read Scott Muskin’s debut novel The Annunciation of Hank Meyerson, Mama’s Boy and Scholar based solely on his answers to these six questions (before it was based solely on the intriguing title). Anyone who is reading Philip Roth, pondering being Denis Johnson’s Jesus’ Son, name-checking Grover, and wants to go out to dinner with Alice Munro has got to put together an interesting book. Plus, his video on how to find his novel at the Har Mar Barnes & Noble made me laugh. Anyway, Muskin will be reading at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Common Good Books in St. Paul (if you need help finding Common Good Books and Muskin’s book, just watch this video

What book(s) are you currently reading?
I tend to nibble, but all these I am actively reading:

• Exit Ghost, by Philip Roth
• Franco, Spain, the Jews, and the Holocaust, by Lipschitz, Chaim (research for a new book)
• True Love, by Thich Nhat Hanh
• Gentlemen of the Road, by Michael Chabon (I am actually listening to it)
• The St. Croix: Midwest Border River, by James Taylor Dunn

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character? Who?
Brett from The Sun Also Rises. Oh, Brett.

If your favorite author came to Minnesota, who would it be and what bar would you take him/her to?
Oy, it would be so awkward, we'd both have breakdowns, but I am going to say Alice Munro and I would take her to the Lexington. Then maybe we'd after-party at Brit's, where she could no doubt find some less awed young man to dump me for.

What was your first favorite book?
The Monster at the End of This Book, by Grover. Spoiler alert: the monster is Grover.

Let’s say Fahrenheit 451 comes to life, which book would you become in order to save it from annihilation?
Oh my goodness, this is a serious, serious matter. You have to not only love the book and want it to be preserved for the future of literature, but also want to embody its world for all eternity. I am tempted to say Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson because I'd get to party without consequences, but for real I am going to go with poetry: Neruda's Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair.

What is one book you haven’t read but want to read before you die?
The Collected Works of Scott Muskin. But if you mean books actually in existence, then I would be remiss to die without having read Don Quixote. That would just be dumb. I should go read it right now.