By
Pike on
Friday September 20, 2024 09:25 pm
NEW INTERVIEW FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES:
Her own is among the anonymous tales included in “Want,” a new collection she has edited: “It only felt right, given I was requesting courage from everyone else.”
What books are on your night stand?
It’s a big pile that includes “Poor,” by Katriona O’Sullivan, and “Kairos,” by Jenny Erpenbeck. But next up is my friend Andrew O’Hagan’s tome “Caledonian Road.”
How do you organize your books?
I don’t — I just plonk them down in various piles. I’ve tried keeping notes of who recommended what, so I have some context, but then I forget where I’ve put the list.
Describe your ideal reading experience (when, where, what, how).
Sun/hat/liquid/work accomplished for the day/no distractions other than my own head saying this is too good to be true — surely, I should be doing something else.
What’s the most interesting thing you learned from a book recently?
Holly Whitaker opened my eyes to how obsessed our culture is with drinking and all the ways the alcohol industry has historically targeted women, in her riveting book “Quit Like a Woman.”
Which character in literature would you most like to play?
Lisbeth Salander. I love her ambiguity, that she lives by her own set of moral rules and is perceived as being both sociopathic and sane and capable.
Have you ever gotten in trouble for reading a book?
I should have gotten caught for sneaking looks at our neighbors’ “Story of O,” but I think I might have gotten away with it.
How have your reading tastes changed over time?
Not particularly. Though I think I’m more curious about writers from other cultures.
How did you enjoy co-writing a series of sci-fi novels? Would you do it again?
I’m not so sure. I’d rather make more time for reading other people’s writing.
When did you first read Nancy Friday’s 1973 book on women’s fantasies, “My Secret Garden”?
In 2018, when researching for the series “Sex Education.” It was more a curiosity about the internal worlds of my character Jean’s potential clients. And to help open my mind into that world and that vocabulary.
What advice did you get from family or friends when you suggested the project that became “Want”?
Anytime I brought it up, women and men were incredibly excited by the premise.
Did it ever get boring?
I got a bit “snow-blind” from time to time after they had been organized into sections! But never boring.
Why did you decide to anonymously include your own fantasy in the book?
It only felt right, given I was requesting courage from everyone else.
Do you expect you’ll write a memoir at some point? Why or why not?
Yes, but I’ll need help dislodging things, because I have an atrocious memory.
What’s the last great book you read?
Probably “All Fours,” by Miranda July.
What books are you embarrassed not to have read yet?
“Middlemarch,” “Passages,” the list goes on.
You flagged your favorite books of 2023 to your Instagram followers, and asked them to recommend books back. Did you follow any of their advice?
Yes, and ended up reading and posting about the wonderful “How to Say Babylon,” by Safiya Sinclair. It introduced me to a culture and religion I knew little about. And as I wrote, it’s a tribute to mothers, a lesson for fathers and a testament to the unique power of books to show us new worlds.
What’s the best book you’ve ever received as a gift?
Rick Rubin’s “The Creative Act: A Way of Being.” It’s a spiritual and creative guide from an unexpected source in Rick, who is a music industry legend. And it’s also a great gift because the book itself is incredibly aesthetically pleasing.
You’re organizing a literary dinner party. Which three writers, dead or alive, do you invite?
Tennessee Williams, David Foster Wallace and Toni Morrison.
A version of this article appears in print on Sept. 22, 2024, Page 6 of the Sunday Book Review with the headline: Gillian Anderson.
Source link: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/19/books/review/gillian-anderson-by-the-book-want.html
