My Own Little Corner of the World: The Charlatan's Boy by Jonathan Rogers: Hearing from the Man himself!

As the CSFF blog tour continues, I would like to introduce you to the mastermind behind The Charlatan's Boy...Mr. Jonathan Rogers!

Jonathan took a few minutes out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions for us! Here's his responses:

1. Who is your favorite literary character (not including one you have written about)? Why?

I don't suppose I would ever answer this question the same way twice. So I'm just going to tell you who my favorite character is today. Today, I'm going to say Wendell Berry's Jayber Crow. Or Wendell Berry's Burley Coulter. Wendell Berry is a national treasure; his characters are so beautifully drawn, so complex. They are so earthy, in every sense of the word. And yet it is through their earthiness that they speak to real transcendence. Wendell Berry has had a huge impact on me as a writer.

If you had asked me another day I might have told you my favorite character was John Ames of Marilynne Robinson's Gilead. Or Don Quixote.

I've never read/heard of Jayber so I guess I need to check these characters out! I have also never read Gilead or Don Quixote! *gasp*

2. Who would you most want to have dinner with (living or dead) and why?

Well, Jesus is the obvious answer here. Having said that, I should also acknowledge that there are plenty of people who say they'd like to sit down to a meal with Jesus who wouldn't enjoy it as much as they think they would. Jesus could be pretty hard on the self-satisfied and the self-righteous. So I hope I would enjoy sitting down to dinner with Jesus; it would do me good either way.

If we disallow Jesus as an answer (and maybe we should) I'm going to say my wife. That's why I married her; because I wanted to have dinner with her as often as possible. I'm only half joking. It's actually a pretty important part of my worldview. In the world's economy, it's the rare and the hard-to-come-by that has the most value.In God's economy, the things that are the most valuable also happen to be the most readily available. Love, friendship, grace, forgiveness--these things are there to be scooped up by the fistful. That's the astonishing thing about marriage: the dearest things in the world become the fabric of our daily lives. You could have knocked me over with a feather when I found out that the woman I wanted more than anyone in the world wanted me too.

If you're looking for a celebrity answer, I guess I'd have to say Mark Twain, who told great stories. Or Saint Patrick, who had an incredibly winsome faith (although he didn't speak English, so that would be a problem).

I love these answers! Well said!

3. What book are you currently reading?

I just finished Russell Banks' Cloudsplitter, which tells the story of John Brown, who led the raid on Harper's Ferry before the American Civil War. I'm in the middle of A.S. Peterson's two book series, The Fiddler's Gun and The Fiddler's Green. Really great books.

Cloudsplitter sounds really good! I've only read one of A.S. Peterson's books but I really enjoyed it!

4. Name one book (other than one you've written) that you would recommend to a young adult reader (I have a lot of high school students who read my blog). Tell us why it should be read.

Andrew Peterson's books are great--On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness and North! Or Be Eaten. They're really funny and have a whole lot of heart. Andrew is actually the brother of A.S. Peterson, whose books I mentioned in the previous question.

Oops! Guess I haven't read anything by A.S. Peterson. I was thinking that was Andrew! I have read North! Or Be Eaten. Loved it! :)

5. Any parting words of wisdom to readers?

Cultivate the habit of repentance. Being good at repenting is more important than being right all the time.