What Stead Reads

Author C.K. Stead, 80, talks to the Financial Times about which books changed his life and what he’s currently reading. “The cat is on the bedside table, the books are on the floor,” Stead says. “They are the latest edition of Frank Sargeson’s Letters, Ian McEwan’s Sweet Tooth and the current issue of [the arts magazine] Areté… The only [books] that I can think of that might have influenced the way I see myself and the world have been books about Zen Buddhism. I’m not that kind of person, subject to sudden revelations.” Stead’s latest novel is Risk (MacLehose Press).