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Has a book ever brought you closer to or come between you?
A few years before my father died in 1978, he wrote a book called “Families: A Memoir and Celebration.” It’s about his family in Mississippi, where he was born, and the family he formed with my mother. I read every year. I was 10 when he died and most of my memories of him come from that book. It’s like a letter from him. I can hear your voice in its pages. This makes me feel closer to him, and one day my son, who bears my father’s name, can read and feel closer to him too.
What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned from a book recently?
Neanderthals and humans lived at the same time. Yuval Noah Harari’s “Sapiens” was a revelation. I also read a recent book by my friend Peter Staley called “Never Silent: ACT UP and My Life in Activism”. I wrote a foreword. I learned a lot about the heroic work he and other activists did to save lives during the worst years of the AIDS epidemic.
What genres do you particularly enjoy reading? And which do you avoid?
I don’t read many nonfiction books except for something someone suggested to me, but when I find a great novel I love nothing more than to lose myself in it.
How do you organize your books?
My books are organized according to the personal connection I feel with them. The ones that are most important to me are in my library and divided into categories: books I’ve read and loved; books written by family members or about my mother’s family; books with names or notes in them belonging to my mother, father, brother, or grandparents; Books about artists I love or collect. In other rooms there are books belonging to my mother, father and brother, as well as other books that I have read over the years. We’re probably talking about 3,000 or 4,000 books in total.
What book might people be surprised to find on your shelves?
I don’t know if I’m surprised, but the book that always pleases me is a copy of “Don Quixote” with illustrations by Salvador Dalí. It belonged to my mother and on the inside cover she wrote the year she read – 1949.
What is the best book you have ever received as a gift?
A few years ago, I was given a notebook my father made when I was a kid growing up in Quitman, Miss., during the Depression. It’s filled with ticket stubs from the local theater and other memorabilia from his childhood.
What kind of reader were you as a child? What childhood books and authors are you most attached to?
As a child, I had trouble reading. I think I started weekly visits to a so-called “reading doctor” in third grade. Her name was Jeannette Jansky, and years later I realized I had mild dyslexia and she was a respected expert on children’s learning disabilities. Made a huge difference in my life. He taught me to type without looking at the keys and I started to really enjoy reading. As a kid, I had a book called “Handmade Houses” that I was obsessed with. I still have it. A photo book of all kinds of huts and houses built by hippies in the woods – this was the early 70’s. As a child, I was very concerned about how people got along, so I tended to read biographies. I read one that I love about Helen Keller. I also loved the Fonz and read a book called “The Fonz: The Henry Winkler Story” when I was 8 years old. I actually keep it in my office at CNN. Henry Winkler was very important to me when I was a kid. Meeting him as an adult – and discovering what a kind and gracious person he is – was incredible.
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