BEST AUTHOR BEST : JAMI ATTENBERG

The author of '' A Reason to See You Again '' knows the day will come when she finds one of her signed novels at a yard sale. '' I am kind of living for that moment,'' she says. '' Who will betray me first ?''

.-  What books are on your night stand?

Right now a nice stack of poetry collections : Rosa Alcala's '' You,'' Zoe Hitzig's '' Not Us Now '' and Tyree Daye's '' A Little Bump in the Earth.''

I always keep an eye out for new collections at bookstores or at literary festivals. I save them for when life feels extra grim and then I'll read a new one. Poetry does something wonderful to my brain that is different than the kind wonderful thing prose does.

.-  What's the most interesting thing you learned from a book recently?

I have read a dozen books or so about menopause in the past year [ perhaps my favorite is Jancee Dunn's '' Hot and bothered '' ], and I enjoyed learning how menopause only occurs in human and five species of whales.

In the whole world, these females are respected for their wisdom and become the leaders of their pods. Like, sign me up for a whale life.

.-  What's the last book you read that made you cry?

Kaveh Akbar's '' Martyr ! '' The last 100 pages or so in particular were so touching.

.-  What's the most useful book or writing you've ever read [ aside from your own '' 1000 words '']?

Starting out as a writer, I recall reading '' Exercises in Style,'' by Raymond Queneau, which retelles the same scene in 99 different ways. Before then, I think I had only one idea of what writing a book should look like, and that idea felt rather serious and dramatic.

From '' Exercises '' I learned that writing could - and should - be playful, an experiment.

.-  What's the last book you read that made you laugh?

Kristen Arnett's '' Stop Me If You've Heard This One,'' which is out in March, is one of the funniest books I've ever read.

.-  '' God early days of a book are so fun,'' you recently posted on X. One day earlier you posted : '' Publishing a book makes you insane. ' Which is it?

I can say these two tweets taken out of context could be confusing. The first one was in regards to starting to write a new novel, which I am doing now,when things feel fun and inventive and like anything can happen.

No rules, just play. The early days of any project are often the best part of the process for lots of people.

The second tweet really demonstrates the highs and lows of being a writer. We can feel good about the act of it, the writing itself, but the final execution - and that means selling it, editing it, watching it get packaged, then reviewed and critiqued by critics and strangers on the internet, wondering if anyone will care, worrying about sales, and all that - makes you insane.

Monetizing your art? Madness lies this way. But away we go anyway. This is my 10th book and I want to say I know better by now, but not by much. Maybe by book 20.

The World Students Society thanks The New York Times.