Bob Woodward: By the Book

The journalist, whose new book is “Fear: Trump in the White House,” remembers reading “The Swiss Family Robinson” as a child: “It was, I believe, the first time I dropped out of my own world into another for a sustained period of time.”

What books are on your nightstand?

My nightstand is crowded. It holds books I’ve recently read, partially read, am waiting to read, and occasionally consult:

“The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr,” Ken Gormley’s exhaustive study of the controversial and historic Whitewater and Lewinsky investigation by special counsel Kenneth W. Starr; “The Line of Fire,” a memoir by Adm. William J. Crowe Jr. (written with David Chanoff), the underappreciated chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President Reagan, who took bold and secret steps to avoid accidental war with the Soviet Union; “Alfred Kazin’s Journals,” by the postwar intellectual and great literary critic, edited by Richard M. Cook; “Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar,” the biography by Simon Sebag Montefiore that holds little back about Soviet brutality; “Traps,” MacKenzie Bezos’ novel on the struggles of four modern women; “Genius,” short essays by Harold Bloom on 100 creative writers from Tolstoy to Henry James; the galleys of Steve Luxenberg’s forthcoming book “Separate: The Story of Plessy v. Ferguson, and America’s Journey From Slavery to Segregation,” to be published in February; “Once an Eagle,” Anton Myrer’s massive 1968 novel of 20th-century war; “All the King’s Men,” Robert Penn Warren’s epic 1946 novel about a cynical populist Southern governor in the 1930s narrated by a former reporter (my first read in college helped draw me to journalism); “Crossing to Safety,” Wallace Stegner’s 1987 novel showing the lasting power of long-term friendships between two couples in academia; “Cutting for Stone,” Abraham Verghese’s 2009 novel on empathy as a necessary force in the practice of medicine and life; and, lastly and valuably, “Muscle Pain Relief in 90 Seconds,” by Dr. Dale L. Anderson.

What’s the last great book you read (or reread)?

This summer I reread “Night of Camp David,” the 1965 novel by Fletcher Knebel (co-author of “Seven Days in May”). A United States president is thought to be mentally unbalanced; the book ends with some compelling twists.

Favorite recent great read?

“The Other Woman,” by Daniel Silva. A classic international spy mole hunt — cerebral and muscular.

What do you read when working on a book?

Favorite and familiar John le Carré spy novels — especially “Smiley’s People.”

What’s the most interesting thing you learned from a book recently?

I was reminded how poisonous and unhappy a life of intolerance and score-settling can be by John A. Farrell’s excellent and penetrating 737-page biography, “Richard Nixon: The Life.” As Nixon said in his farewell address the day he resigned, “Always remember, others may hate you, but those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them, and then you destroy yourself.”

At that climactic moment, he seemed to glimpse that hate was the piston that had defined his presidency and ultimately brought him down.

How do you like to read?

Hardback books in the morning. (I fall asleep too easily while reading at night.) I chronically read multiple books — dipping in and out. Kansas Republican Senator Bob Dole, who ran unsuccessfully against President Clinton in 1996, once told me his reading consisted of “skimming in detail.” It is too easy to get into the habit of spending an hour with a book and believing you have read it. This cheats both reader and author.

How do you organize your books?

Since I have written books on the last nine presidents — Nixon to Trump — I try to buy and read (or skim in detail) all the major books on those presidents. These are grouped by subject. Fiction and other nonfiction are … let’s say somewhat less organized.

What books might we be surprised to find on your shelves?

“Alone Together,” by Christian Williams, a former colleague from The Washington Post. It’s the story of his single-handed ocean sail in a 32-foot sloop, 2,700 miles from Southern California to Hawaii and back. Discovery: When you think you are alone, you are not. You bring all your memories, relationships, advances and setbacks. Williams’s sequel, “Philosophy of Sailing: Offshore in Search of the Universe,” is also brilliant. There are new things to discover about yourself and your life out there alone on the sea.

What kind of reader were you as a child?

The first book I recall reading all the way through was “The Swiss Family Robinson,” by Johann D. Wyss, about a family stranded on an island. It was, I believe, the first time I dropped out of my own world into another for a sustained period of time — the transformation that only a book can provide, requiring the imagination to stretch and fill in all details.

You’re organizing a literary dinner party. Which three writers, dead or alive, do you invite?

Lincoln, F.D.R. and Nixon — on the record, with multiple tape recorders running. Nixon, though, might not come. If not, I would substitute Eisenhower.

Whom would you want to write your life story?

Elsa Walsh, my wife of 29 years and a former writer at The Washington Post and The New Yorker and author of the book “Divided Lives.” She knows the secrets as well as the flaws and shortcomings.

What’s the best book you’ve ever received as a gift?

An inscribed copy of Katharine Graham’s “Personal History,” from Katharine Graham.

How do you decide what to read next?

Since I am a slow reader, a book is a big commitment of time. I try to pick something packed with human lessons that will not tempt me to skim in detail. I hope Jason Matthews, who was a C.I.A. covert operations officer for 33 years, will follow his “Red Sparrow” series of spy novels with another brilliant study in espionage tradecraft.