The actress and activist, whose new book about climate change is “What Can I Do?,” likes “reading in graveyards leaning against old gravestones, though I haven’t had many opportunities of late.”
What books are on your night stand?
Well, we’re in a pandemic and I’m quarantined so it’s a stack: “Whose Water Is It, Anyway? Taking Water Protection Into Public Hands,” by Maude Barlow, “Are Prisons Obsolete?” by Angela Y. Davis, “Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community,” by Robert D. Putnam, and “Underland: A Deep Time Journey,” by Robert Macfarlane.
What’s the last great book you read?
“The Overstory,” by Richard Powers.
Describe your ideal reading experience (when, where, what, how).
My favorite is to read in restaurants alone while I eat. At home, I have a stand that holds the book and keeps pages open on the kitchen counter so it’s easy to read while eating. Now that I’m single, I read in bed, mostly in the evening, but when I was in my early teens my favorite place to read was sitting in the branches of an immense beech tree overlooking a very old graveyard. I like reading in graveyards leaning against old gravestones, though I haven’t had many opportunities of late.
What book should everybody read before the age of 21?
Girls: “Reviving Ophelia” by Mary Pipher.
Boys: “Real Boys,” by William S. Pollack.
What book should nobody read until the age of 40?
Women: “In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development,” by Carol Gilligan.
Men: “I Don’t Want to Talk About It: Overcoming the Secret Legacy of Male Depression,” by Terrence Real.
Which writers — novelists, playwrights, critics, journalists, poets — working today do you admire most?
Ta-Nehisi Coates, Charles M. Blow, Frank Bruni, Jane Mayer, Ann Patchett, Arundhati Roy, Mary Karr, Jared Diamond and Jeremy O. Harris.
What book, if any, most influenced your artistic development?
Books have had enormous influence on my life’s path and personal development and that certainly contributes to my “artistic” development.
What book would you most like to see turned into a movie or TV show that hasn’t already been adapted?
“State of Wonder,” by Ann Patchett, but it would be really challenging because of the Amazon locations.
What character from literature would you most like to play?
Nora in “A Doll’s House.” I did play her once, but I didn’t dig deep enough.
Do you have any comfort reads?
Mary Oliver’s and Emily Dickinson’s poetry.
What’s the last book you read that made you laugh?
“Life Will Be the Death of Me:
And You Too!” by Chelsea Handler.
The last book that made you cry?
“The Apology,” by Eve Ensler.
The last book that made you furious?
“Stamped From the Beginning,” by Ibram X. Kendi.
What’s the most interesting thing you learned from a book recently?
That trees communicate with each other, alert each other to danger, and tend to each other’s well-being. They can also learn. I think of the Amazon as I write this and my heart just breaks.
What moves you most in a work of literature?
When I come upon some idea or story that alters my personal trajectory and when an author has used unique words in a unique way to bring some moment or character alive.
Which genres do you especially enjoy reading? And which do you avoid?
I’m not interested in romance or scary novels. I will occasionally read classics — Dickens, Tolstoy, Proust — or terrific contemporary novelists. But I mostly read nonfiction books focusing on whatever topic I am trying to learn about. Lately, I’m reading books about racism by Black authors like Baldwin, Hurston, Langston Hughes, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Isabel Wilkerson and Ibram Kendi. I’ve spent years reading books about Christianity including about the Gnostic Gospels. I’ve read scores of books about childhood sexual abuse, everything written by Alice Miller.
How do you organize your books?
Novels and poetry fall into two groups, but all the nonfiction is organized by topic. The largest sections in my library are books by and about women, psychology, religion, biographies, politics, economics, labor and the environment.
What book might people be surprised to find on your shelves?
The Bible.
What’s the best book you’ve ever received as a gift?
“The Village of Ben Suc,” by Jonathan Schell. A group of American soldiers who had fought in Vietnam gave it to me. It changed my life. I left my French husband, moved back to the United States and joined the anti-Vietnam War movement.
What kind of reader were you as a child? Which childhood books and authors stick with you most?
I loved all the Nancy Drew mystery books and the novels about horses like “Black Beauty” and “The Black Stallion.” But reading “Green Mansions” when I was 12 was the most memorable. That’s when I lost awareness of reading and became the book.
Have you ever gotten in trouble for reading a book?
No, but I locked myself in a closet to read “The Amboy Dukes” when I was 11 because I was told there were sexy scenes in it. When I look through it now I can’t find any.
You’re organizing a literary dinner party. Which three writers, dead or alive, do you invite?
Shakespeare. I wouldn’t want to dilute that experience with anyone else. Besides, I couldn’t handle more than him. Maybe not even him.
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Jane Fonda Likes to Curl Up With a Good Book, Among the Dead - The New York Times
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