John Jodzio

John Jodzio is a winner of the Loft-McKnight Fellowship. His stories have appeared in One Story, Barrelhouse, Opium, The Florida Review and various other places in print and online. A collection of his short fiction, If You Lived Here, You’d Already Be Home, was recently published by Replacement Press. He lives in Minneapolis. Find out more at www.johnjodzio.net.


what are you reading now

I've just started two new books in the last few weeks -- There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor's Baby by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya and then The House of Tomorrow by Peter Bognanni. I did a reading with Peter recently and really loved what he read. Next in my stack is The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender.


classic you’ve been meaning to read

Still wanting to break open Moby Dick. People keep telling me it's hilarious, so my expectations are set pretty high.


last book to induce gut-busting laughter

Barrel Fever by David Sedaris. I read it for the first time about 15 years ago, but laughter-wise nothing has come close since.


book you borrowed and never returned

I used to bartend weddings at this old mansion and they had this fantastic library that was easily broken into with a credit card and a butter knife. I "checked out" an old copy of Hemingway's The Nick Adams Stories about five years ago that still hasn't made it back.


collected stories of

Amy Hempel.


book you’ve planted on a coffee table to impress someone

In college there was this girl named Rachel that I liked a lot. Once at a party I heard her talking to one of my friends about Jim Thompson. I invited her to my next party and prominently placed my copy of Savage Art: A Biography of Jim Thompson on the milk crates that were serving as my coffee table. Don't think she ever noticed it -- she was way too busy making out with my friend Jason on my couch.


if you could subscribe to only one literary journal

Can I bring back defunct ones? If so, I am going with Gordon Lish's The Quarterly. If not, I'll go with either Opium or Barrelhouse.


best thing you’ve read online recently

This story is from last October, but I just discovered it the other day rooting around on Hobart. Kevin Wilson's "My Hand, Dead Tissue Severed at the Wrist."


most anticipated upcoming release

Just ordered a copy of Citrus County by John Brandon. Arkansas was so great and I can't wait to get started on his new one.


recommended reading list:


Short Story Collections that I Lent To Girls Who Were Never Going to Love Me To Try And Make Them Love Me (Read and Unread, Returned and Unreturned)


- Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger

- Twenty Grand by Rebecca Curtis

- CivilWarLand in Bad Decline by George Saunders

- Strange Pilgrims by Gabriel Garcia Márquez

- Tabloid Dreams by Robert Olen Butler

- Kissing in Manhattan by David Schickler

- The Brutal Language of Love by Alicia Erian