The fragrant Mark Sarvas hosts the popular and controversial lit. blog The Elegant Variation. His debut novel, Harry, Revised, will be published by Bloomsbury in May 2008. He was able to find time to answer our pointless questions, and we hope that no weak, cowardly review escaped his gaze as a result.

1. What’s the first thing(s) you read in the morning? The New York Times–it’s my home page–and email, to see who I’ve offended now.

2. What’s your favorite guilty pleasure website? David Lebovitz blogs about Parisian food, with which I am obsessed, and love to torture myself with his pictures in between my own Paris trips.

3. What job do you fantasize about having? Yours.

4. Last movie you saw? The Rape of Europa, a documentary about the looting of Nazi Art. I’ve wanted to see it for ages but it’s been hard to catch up with in guerilla distribution. It finally arrived in LA last week (for a day) but I saw it a week earlier in NY.

5. Last book you read? Hah! You’re kidding right? Books I just finished include Phillip Knightley’s The First Casualty and Kevin Sites’s In The Hot Zone for a review I’m working on. The last book I finished for pleasure was Jane Gardam’s wonderful novel Old Filth from Europa Editions. Other recent remarkable reads include David Leavitt’s new novel The Indian Clerk, and Penelope Fitzgerald’s The Bookshop.

6. Best show legendary biz/movie star encounter. Meeting Paul McCartney when I was sixteen. You can find the whole story here, replete with embarrassing photos.

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