Booker's Dozen @ Laura Weinstein

Laura Weinstein answers 13 questions in a Booker's Dozen.

TPQ: What are you currently reading?

LW: Ten Drugs by Thomas Hager; An Irish-Speaking Island by Nick Wolf; and She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb.

TPQ: Best book you have ever read?

LW: Fiction = Blindness by Jose Saramago; Nonfiction = Remembering Survival by Christopher R. Browning.

TPQ: A must-read before you die?

LW: Blindness And Fatelessness by Imre Kertész.

TPQ: A preference for fact or fiction?

LW: Definitely fact. But I'm trying to read more fiction.

TPQ: Favourite female author?

LW: I think Wendy Brown is brilliant. Her book Walled States, Waning Sovereignty is so smart, and it was published in 2010 but it's maybe even more relevant today.

TPQ: Favourite male author?

LW: Can I say Jose Saramago? I've already mentioned his work twice!

A Berlin Book Tower in memory of the Nazi book burning.

TPQ: First book you ever read?

LW: The Lorax by Dr. Seuss.

TPQ: Favourite childhood author?

LW: S.E. Hinton. I still love The Outsiders.

TPQ: Any book you point blank refuse to read?

LW: Not really, since I use some odious stuff for my research. But I wouldn't read crap like Triggered by Trump Jr. for pleasure. I'd have an aneurysm.

TPQ: Any author you point blank refuse to read?

LW: Again, not if I have a research-related reason. But I can't think of any reason I would have to read David Irving's ahistorical ramblings. He's a Nazi apologist and Holocaust denier.

TPQ: Pick a book to give to somebody so that they would more fully understand you.

LW: A Plea for the Animals by Matthieu Ricard.

TPQ: Last book you gave as a present?

LW: I gave my husband The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson. And A Day In the Life of Marlon Bundo (Better Bundo Book) from John Oliver's show. All of the profits go to The Trevor Project and AIDS United, so everyone should buy a copy.

TPQ: Book you would most like to see turned into a movie?

LW: Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney.

Laura Weinstein is an independent scholar whose expertise focuses on Irish history and politics. She lives in New York City with her husband and three rescue cats.