Of Charles Baxter's fiction, Ron Hanson wrote in The New York Times Book Review, "Baxter's stories are intelligent, original, gracefully written, always moving, frequently funny and -- the rarest of compliments -- wise." In our interview, Baxter talks about how he was a bit of a bookwork as a boy. "I always hid behind books," he recalls. "I slouched down in my chair, and I put the book up in front of my face. Nobody could see me; that was just the way I liked it."