BEST AUTHOR BEST : JENNY SLATE

 

Reading aloud to her daughter has at long last taught the actress and writer '' chillness.'' [ Beer and chocolate milk help, too.] Her new essay collection is '' Lifeform.''

.-  What books are on your night stand?

'' The Besieged City,'' by Clarice Lispector ; '' On Giving Up,'' by Adam Phillips ; 

'' Manhattan Transfer '' by John Dos Passos [ craving a reread ] ; '' Our Strangers,'' by Lydia Davis ; '' The Coin,'' by Yasmin Zaher ; '' Why Surrealism Matters,'' by Mark Polizzotti ; '' Chirri & Chirra Underground,'' by Kaya Doi ; '' My Favorite Things,'' by Maira Kalman.

.-  What's the last great book you read ?

If I have to choose, it is '' Soutine's Last Journey,'' by Ralph Dutli. I want to read books that provide a lots of information - Who was Chaim Soutine? Why did he paint what he painted?

What happened to Soutine and other Jewish artists in Paris when the Nazis came? - but give it via a spellbinding flow. Reading this book was like riding a dream.

.-  What was the last book that you read that made you laugh?

Jen Beagin's '' Big Swiss '' [ other reactions as well, let's get real, it does it all !]. 

.-  The last book that made you cry?

'' Loved and Missed,'' by Susie Boyt. Good Lord.

.-  What's the best book you've ever gotten as a gift?

My mother gave me '' Cat's Eye,'' by Margaret Atwood, when I was in seventh grade. It's about an artist affected by the social trauma of her teen years. I wasn't faring well in the social set, and it must have killed my mother to see me become suddenly quiet and flinchy.

The book completely rerouted my experience that spring. It was as if I were untangled from a net.

.-  What's your philosophy on book readings?

I love book readings. My philosophy is that I am there to perform the text and perhaps let it expand into a new zone, and that rather than trying to hold up whatever state I was in when I wrote the text, I'd like to show s combination of the original state and the reaction / connection I'm currently experiencing while I read. Aliveness and connection are the priority.

.-  You're organising a literary dinner party. Which three writers, dead or alive, do you invite?

Lore Segal, Grace Paley, Ron Slate. Basically the two writers who seem like my literary nana-angels and then, of course, my dad. Bring on the chopped liver.

Not to be greedy, but please have Leonora Carrington arrive with a surprise dessert, and make it that she brought Maira Kalman, and that they stay and do the dishes with me for a long time.

The World Students Society thanks The New York Times.