1. Has reading a book ever changed your life? There's one that taught me that, no matter how a life looks from the outside, you don't know how it feels on the inside. JFK: Reckless Youth by Nigel Hamilton takes the future President from birth to age 35. There are lots of Kennedy books available, and I've read many, but this one had a real impact on me. It's revelatory about how his childhood – the unending illnesses that plagued him, his parents' loveless marriage, brutal sibling rivalry with his idealized older brother – shaped him. I read this 30 years ago and have never been able to look at a photo of JFK without thinking of the pain, courage and loneliness behind the facade, and this book has made me more compassionate to others.
2. Do you prefer to read fiction or nonfiction? I bounce back and forth.
3. If you could be a character in any novel you've read, who would you be? Lily Rowan. She's a supporting character in the Nero Wolfe mystery series. Yes, she's an heiress and glitters in 1940s New York cafe society. But that's not why I want to be her. She's detective Archie Goodwin's best girl and I have a massive crush on him. Even better, Nero Wolfe actually likes her and lets her hang with the guys. I've always fantasized about life in Wolfe's brownstone – with its gourmet meals and orchid greenhouse on the top floor.
4. Has reading a book ever made you cry? Which one and why? Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter by Kate Clifford Larsen. She's the Kennedy who was lobotomized, which is tragic in and of itself. But in the many tellings of her often lurid saga, the thing that gets lost is that she was much loved by her three famous brothers. The book ends with a chapter titled "Rosemary Made the Difference," and includes all the laws that were shaped and passed by John, Robert and Ted Kennedy. I was on my evening commute when I got to it and tears were streaming down my face. We're all the better for her and she was never able to know or understand that.
5. How many books do you read a year? Between 35 and 50. Depends on how many really long books I pick up. This year, I plowed through both Streisand's memoir and Gone with the Wind and they were over 1,000 pages a piece. They each took me a month. (But I enjoyed them both.)
6. Name a book you had to read but hated. Moby Dick.
7. Why did you hate it? It's dense and dopey. Please don't come near me with that book ever again.
8. If someone wrote a book about your life, what would it be called? The Thing Of It Is. I'm told I say that a lot. Of course, one of my favorite authors, William Goldman, already wrote a book by that name. But whatever.
9. Have you ever written (or started to write) a book? Oh, I always have novel and short story ideas ping-ponging in my head. But I write fiction for myself and don't care if it's published or read. I was an advertising writer for 43 years. I don't need to write for public consumption anymore.
10. If you could pick a book you've read to make into a movie, what would it be? Siracusa by Delia Ephron. It's about two couples who take an ill-fated vacation to Italy. It's got a glamorous setting, the right number of main characters, and legit tension. Netflix, get on this!
11. What was your favorite book as a child? Abraham Lincoln by Ingri d'Aulaire and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire. When I was 6 years old, my family took a weekend trip down to Springfield to walk where Abe walked and I chose this as my souvenir. I read it over and over on the way home in the car and reread it for a book report. The illustrations are gorgeous and the stories made me feel like was Abe was my friend. (What better friend could you have?)
12. What are you reading right now? At this very moment, nothing. Yesterday I finished a biography of the Duchess of Windsor called The Real Wallis Simpson. I think next I'll grab a mystery. Let's see what the library has for me!
