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Boots!

Where would we be without books?

Where would we be without good?

No, Tenton bird. It's a rhetorical question, sir, but where would we be without books?

From KCRW and KCRW.com, I'm Michael Silverblatt, and welcome to Bookworm.

Today, my guest is Harry Konsru.

He's the author of Gods Without Men, a very mysterious and interesting novel published by Knapp.

Now, the title, which is wonderful, comes from a story by Balzac, in which he says of the desert,

that it's the place of gods without man.

You know, that's a very particular kind of American atmosphere.

You're of Indian descent, raised in England, and this book required a real American twang.

How did you achieve it? Well, firstly, thanks for saying that I did.

I've lived in the States for four years now, and before that, I had always been very drawn

to the sound of American English and to the kind of directness of various forms of American

artistic expression actually.

And the way I approached this book, I mean, it kind of drew me to it rather than me really

intending to write it.

I actually came to the States to work at the New York

Public Library on a book set in 16th century India, which for one reason or another didn't

happen. And then I went with some friends to Joshua Tree and was so forcefully struck

by the landscape and by the atmosphere of the high desert that it became

...