So many great authors and then ...Cheryl Strayed?? Really?
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Please reserve these interviews for people who write for a living, rather than celebrities who get their books published because of their fame.
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I'm convinced it takes a Southern girl to explain the contradictions, confusion and misunderstanding of characters in great books written by gifts from heaven like Ms. Lee. I had a little trouble digesting the later version of Atticus, but Ms. Witherspoon led me to the light. Hey, everybody love Scout.
3
I enjoyed the range of titles and the passion Ms Witherspoon feels for literature. I have loved watching her mature as a young woman and grow as an actress. She is wise and compassionate and mature.
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Reese, I hope many of your followers read this interesting column. Do you read to your children?
Books are one of humanity's greatest possessions.
By the way, "Winnie the Pooh" still ranks as a favorite, even at 82.
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One of the best columns! Reese is a devoted, enthusiastic reader with great friends!
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I wish you would reserve this feature for those who write for a living.
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I recently learned that Ann Patchett's Bel Canto, which I read for the first time earlier this year, is being made into a movie with Julianne Moore in the role of Roxane Coss. Nothing against Ms. Moore, but I'd love to see Reese Witherspoon in the role.
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This was one of your very best author interviews and made me feel as if I know Reese. Great to know she is such an enthusiastic reader and I’ll try some of her recommendations.
I agree with her completely about not reading books where women are kidnapped - and I won’t read ones where women are killed by serial killers in gruesome ways. Some of these books are written by female authors and they are completely off my lists. Apparently they sell because they keep coming...but not to me.
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Oh, how I would love to be a guest at that dinner party. It is a well curated guest list by a thinker and fellow lover of great works of fiction and non fiction. I'd likely be the sole male, but oh well.
3
Impossible to submit a book to her book club or production company. And I have a grest track record in the biz. So Ms.Witherspoon, get your assistant to google "Smasher" on Amazon. It's the first novel to show a camp for juvenile offenders. It's a realistic, outrageous, funny book about a young Latino who gets six months in camp for stealing a BMW. And he did it so he could get a tumor removed for free at the L.A. County hospital and 3 hots and a cot.
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I dreaded reading this after noting she has a new book out and feared she'd plug her book once or twice but fortunately she didn't and offered good answers.
I love "By the Book" but when authors use the questions to plug their own work, it just tarnishes the whole article.
I wish the editors would reject answers from those that use the questions to try and sell more copies.
There's one "By the Book" from a comedian who used the questions to plug her own book not once, not twice but three times! Ugh.
3
If you'd like a fuller view of witherspoon's wit, watch her performance on youtube when she's arrested. She just can't believe she's not being listened to. Everything that's wrong with the coastal/Davos elite is rolled up into one entitled child, as she recites the classic line: “Do you know who I am?” Keep clicking around and you’ll find more oscar-worthy performances. Pathetic.
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"I can’t stand stories in which women are held physically captive. I don’t like any of it and it bothers me how often I encounter this plotline."
Thank You! I feel the same way about American and British detective TV shows. It seems like every plot line is about a serial sexual predator with women either mutilated or being held captive. Writers rarely have a mystery about men being the target and victim.
I love how Reese's feminism comes through in all that she does. I am a big reader and a big fan!
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My ideal reading experience: a great book. Anytime, anywhere, anyhow. Gee but Ms Witherspoon came off as a bit of whinger and I don't get that.
2
I just cannot get past her comments when she was arrested for a DUI "do you know who I am?"
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The lead-in for this article reminds me of my young self. As a Mother of three under five, and later, three under fifteen, I dreamt of committing a victimless crime and being sent to prison where I could read, uninterrupted and forever. Never could think of the perfect crime, but something even better happened: I have grown old, with plenty of time to read, uninterupted and forever.
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@Bluebeliever Your sentiment appeals to me. I often think that although I would not commit a crime but were I wrongfully convicted, I could make do with exercising, losing weight, listening all day to NPR and reading everything in the prison library. A year or two would be adequate.
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@Bluebeliever
I'm with you there. I now have time to read and can lose an entire day reading. What better way to lose yourself.
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A victimless crime. That’s brilliant! My fantasy was to have a minor and not too painful health issue which would send me to the hospital for a few days, supplied of course with a large stack of books. I too have grown old and treasure the increased reading time, but there’s still not enough.
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She "wishes she had five days in a cabin just to read, with 'no emails, no text messages and no obligations or deadlines.'"
Count your blessings, Reese!
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@P
Aw geez--there's always one at a party.
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She is so smart and awesome! The insight about the world not being ready for Scout as the moral center of To Kill a Mockingbird is really thought provoking! Thank you Reese:)
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Peter Sedaris is smart and funny but so is Elle Woods.
Legally Blonde was not only inspiring but makes me howl with laughter. Thank you Ms. Witherspoon.
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You’re right. David (not Peter) Sedaris is very funny.
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I think you mean David Sedaris.
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