My Life In Books
GIRLS STAR Zosia Mamet SHARES THE BOOKS THAT HAVE STAYED WITH HER
My favourite book as a child was…
From The Mixed Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler by EL Konigsburg. I read this book over and over as a little girl. The magic and romance of the story was one of the things that made me fall in love with literature. The visuals of Claudia and Jamie bathing in the fountain and sleeping in Irwin Untermyer’s bed are ones I will never forget.
The character I relate to most is…
Mickey in In The Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak. His head is in the stars, his body is in cake batter and he’s having the time of his life.
My favourite line from a book is...
‘If only there could be an invention that bottled up a memory like scent. And it never faded, and it never got stale. And then, when one wanted it, the bottle could be uncorked, and it would be like living the moment all over again,’ in Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. It’s one of my favourite books ever. The tale of Manderley and its inhabitants is wondrously whimsical and mysterious, while also being exceptionally grounded. Du Maurier captures the human desire to never forget so beautifully.
The last book that made me cry is…
The Friend by Sigrid Nunez. I didn’t just cry, I sobbed at the end of this novel. The last sliver of the book had me choking on my own tears.
The one book I think everyone should read is…
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai. It’s a story of the human experience looked at from myriad different angles. Makkai weaves a beautiful tale about how people cope when they, or the ones they love most, are staring death in the face. Anyone with a heart and a love of words should read this book.
The character I love the most is…
Ignatius J Reilly in A Confederacy Of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. Because how could you not love this fabulously zany mad hatter of a character?!
The book that has got me through a difficult time is…
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. He is a genius with the ability to tell a story that will have you doubled over laughing one moment and tearing up the next. This was the first book of his that I read. I was going through a rough patch in my life and this book was like a salve. Sedaris’s razor wit and fabulously quirky stories forced me to laugh again. The heart of his writing made me feel seen and reminded me I wasn’t alone.
My all-time favourite book is…
This is an impossible question to answer. There are too many to count, but for the purposes of this, I’ll begrudgingly pick one of my many favourite books, Sex And Rage by Eve Babitz. Babitz is a legend – her work is one of the things that made me want to become a writer, and as a child of Los Angeles, this book holds a very special place in my heart. Nobody writes LA like her.