? One book that changed your life. Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion, specifically the story "Goodbye to All That." It showed me that if you can fall in love with a place, it can also break your heart. And that when you feel that terrible emptiness, it’s OK to leave. When she spoke at the LA Times Festival of Books this year, I was somewhat dismayed to learn that her broken-heartedness in NY mostly came from professional jealousy, while my 20-something self reading the story was facing one of those overwhelming 20-something existential crises. Anyway, a few months later I did pick up and leave.
? One book that you?ve read more than once. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon. I keep writing papers about it.
? One book you?d want on a desert island. Uh, Macbook? Plus satellite internet hookup? No? Then I’m jumping on the Riverside Shakesepare bandwagon.
? One book that made you laugh. Shoot my if you must, literary elite, but A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers cracked me up. I was sharing a hotel room with my sister and she kept saying "what are you laughing at?" and I’d stop sniggering and quiet down and apologize. Then I’d laugh again and she’d snap at me again. Repeat.
? One book that made you cry. I cry far more at movies than at books. That said, I think Love In the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez got me all weepy.
? One book that you wish had been written. Seems to me that I will never, no matter how hard I try, be able to read all the books I’d like to. So I haven’t dwelled much on what isn’t around to add to the ever-growing list. Although if you’d asked me when I was 7, I would have asked for more Nancy Drew books.
? One book that you wish had never been written. Everything by "JT Leroy." Wouldn’t we all be better off?
? One book you?re currently reading. The Nasty Bits by Anthony Bourdain. Ah, to be a punk rock world-traveling food writer with a penchant for dive bars and street food.
? One book you?ve been meaning to read. Infinte Jest by David Foster Wallace. Footnotes? Bring ’em on.
Already played, so many different books! About Last Night, AC, Dan, Danielle, Dorothy, Ed, Emily, Erin, Hobgoblin, Jenny, Jordan, Kate, Mark, Melissa, satyridae, Stefanie, Sylvia. And probably more that I missed.
I too laughed my butt off at AHWOSG. There should be support groups for people like us.