We asked the big-hearted, hilariously observant author for the upcoming books that bring her joy, how she got out of her quarantine reading slump and the authors who have inspired her most. What was the last really great book you read? There was a memoir last year by Lacy Crawford called Notes on a Silencing, and I found it so powerful and so well-written. And it’s just mesmerizing, amazing and so courageous, and it reads like a novel. But then you realize it’s true. I can’t say enough good things about it. What was your pandemic reading experience like? For most of the lockdown part of the pandemic, I read like Little House on the Prairie. I couldn’t read anything more demanding. And then I picked up Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan, and it was so funny and so good. I credit it with single-handedly pulling me out of my lockdown reading slump. Is there a book people might be surprised to find on your shelf? There’s a book called Adrift by Steven Callahan, which is about how he lived for 76 days lost at sea on a rubber life raft after his boat sank. And I’ve always liked the book, but then with my first son, I had this really extended bed rest in the hospital, and I was reading that book all the time because I was like, “If he could do that, I can do this.” Is there an author who has really influenced your own writing? I just love Stephen King. I think that he’s so talented, so creative, just on another level. And then Anne Tyler I think is really a genius, and I’ve read all her books like a million times. Have any books influenced your life as an author? I moved to London with my now husband when I was 30, and the first two books I read when we got there were Bridget Jones’s Diary [by Helen Fielding] and High Fidelity [by Nick Hornby], and I just thought I’d died and gone to heaven. I was like, I’m going to love living here. And that was when I really realized you can write a comic novel with deeper things. I was a little stuck and I thought I had to write a thriller, which is completely out of my comfort zone, or some really deep, unfunny book, and I don’t think I’m capable of that either. So both of those books were such eye openers and so brilliant. I just feel like I was super lucky to have them come along at that point in my life. What three books are you most excited to read this summer? We Run the Tides by Vendela Vida: “If you combine a suspenseful thriller, a beautiful coming-of-age story and a nostalgic trip through the ’80s into one glorious novel, this is the result. I’m not at all sure how Vida pulled it off—I can only stand back and admire her skill.” (Ecco) Worldly Things by Michael Kleber-Diggs: “I started my writing life as a poet, so it always makes me happy when I can recommend a poetry collection. Worldly Things is smart, luminous, inspiring—and still manages to be funny. Don’t miss it.” (June 8, Milkweed Editions) Songs in Ursa Major by Emma Brodie: “This book brings the reader behind the scenes of recording studios and offers a love letter to the ’70s music industry, but it’s so much more than that. It’s a brilliant examination of creativity, sacrifice and what we do for art.” (June 22, Knopf)
