My favorite book as a child
A Wrinkle in Timeby Madeleine LEngle.
I loved the science in it and the geeky kid heroes.
An illicit book I read in secret as a kid
That would beJaws.
Credit: Doubleday
A book that really cemented me as a writer
The Doomsday Conspiracyby Sidney Sheldon.
I thought, Oh my God.
I didnt know that there was adult thriller fiction.
I was like, Im pretty sure I could do something like that.
The classics Im embarrassed to say Ive never read
The Scarlet Letter.
How long do you have?
[Laughs]Moby-Dick.
Even if youve never been to The Louvre, youve just seen it.
Everyone who goes there has a reaction.
It is either deeply moved or …thats it?
Its not a piece of art you’re able to ignore.
But being in the presence of a great work of art?
You walk into the Grand Gallery it has its own room now and theres a hush.
Its like, theres a reverence in front of the artifact.
Hows that for a long-winded, artsy answer?
The fictional group of friends Ive always felt I belong with
Frank and Joe Hardy.
I wouldnt mind being Frank, Joe, and Dan Hardy.
I identify with Frank and Joe more than I do with Thomas Hardy.
[Laughs]
My literary crush
J.K. Rowling.
Just for everything shes done to inspire kids to read and shes just such a class act.
The last TV show I binged
Breaking Bad.
I was in Anguilla and ran into a literary agent on the beach, a pretty famous agent.
We got talking, and she said, Hey, have you seenBreaking Bad?
I said, Im not crazy about tumbleweeds or crystal meth or the Southwest.
Its not my thing.
She said, Watch the first five minutes.
The writing is so good, you would appreciate it.
So I said, Fine.
I watched the first five minutes…and seven days later I got to the end.
Id say that would have to be the one that people go, Really?
We had a much lower opinion of you!
I just find this idea of an inconsistent and unreliable narrator very annoying.
Am I going to get in trouble for saying Faulkner is overrated?
My all-time favorite movie
Cinema Paradiso.
I have this image of him looking through a tiny hole, looking out at this other world.
My guilty-pleasure TV show
Suits.
I think its cleverly written its wholly unrealistic in a really entertaining and respectable way.
The characters are beautiful, the sets are beautiful, and its got a lot of heart.
And who doesnt love Donna?
You cant watchSuitswithout having a crush on Donna.
The fictional character Id want by my side in a zombieapocalypse
Indiana Jones.
Hes got a great sense of humor and really good luck.
He gets out of everything somehow.
And Ive always wanted to know how to use a whip.
I havent readFifty Shades, so I have no idea.
Kelsey Grammer plays the mayor of Chicago who has a debilitating mental disease.
So hes governing a city as hes slowly going insane.
Its a great set-up and a great cast.
Everyone Ive recommended it to has loved it and said, Whydid that end?
It was so good!
And then there are some shows where youre like, Why is that still going?
The last book that made me laugh out loud
Clearly I need to read funnier books.
I still love the Beach Boys.
In fact, that was the first concert I ever went to.
There was a lot of marijuana in the air and my mother was horrified.
I, of course, had no idea what it was.
They didnt sound like the record thats all I remembered.
It was so loud and static-y, and I just wanted it to sound like the record.
I didnt go to another concert for years after that because it was a disappointment.
The song that always makes me feel better
Walking On Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves.
It is just unbridled happiness!
It is not shy in any way.
Sometimes When We Touch by Dan Hill always makes me cry, though.
What Im reading now
Im about to readAmerican Warby Omar El Akkad.
Im excited to read it.
It would be interesting.
I would stand in the other room making drinks, I think, and just listen quietly.
