BOOKS
What do you read for solace? For escape? For sheer pleasure?
I read Alice Walker for solace. I love a great deal of her writing, but I always go back to The Color Purple. When I couldn’t afford therapy, I’d read about Celie and her depressing life that was somehow still filled with hope and color. “This life soon be over. Heaven last all ways.” Just reading those two sentences would make me feel better about my own troubles.
For escape, I read David Sedaris. It feels like I’m always on a six-hour plane ride, and I love to take that time to listen to a Sedaris audiobook. His tales about his family, or living in Japan or France, or his part-time job as an elf during Christmas, whispered in my ear as I try my best to sit still and pretend I’m not smelling a million farts trapped in business class, are very soothing.
I read Zane for straight-up pleasure. She is one of my favorite writers for erotica. I’m secretly a weirdo, and I really like reading about people making panicked love to each other when they really shouldn’t. I feel like a lot of Zane’s stories are about forbidden romance, one way or another, and I live for it! Her books always have interesting titles and covers. I remember when I worked in an office as a phone sex operator, I would read her book “Gettin’ Buck Wild” on the train on the way to work while feeling embarrassed when other commuters would see the cover of the book and wink at me. But also I’d be getting some great ideas about what to say to callers once I got to work. The embarrassment was worth it. I made pretty good money on the phones.
What book might people be surprised to find on your shelves?
I have a picture book of X-rays of different household items that people have gotten stuck up their butts. That’s pretty surprising.
If you could require the president to read one book, what would it be?
The president cannot read.
–Gabourey Sidibe, “By The Book,” New York Times 
another eye opens 