Bette Midler Still in the Captivity of 19th Century Novelists

Among all the characters you played in different media, which one came to you as the richest, the most novelist?

I’ve played a few characters who started their lives as characters in real novels, but I guess I’ll have to go with CC Bloom in “Beachs.” I know it’s emotional, but still the years, the ups and downs, this relationship, the amazing performances by Mayim Bialik and Barbara Hershey – you can’t deny that it definitely hits a chord.

Which character from literature would you most like to play?

Any woman of a certain age in anything from Shakespeare, Dickens, Congreve, Dryden or Sheridan.

What is the last book you read and made you laugh?

“I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.” The scene in the church where a woman takes the soul and rushes the priest is one of the funniest things I’ve ever read.

What was the last book that made you cry?

“I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.”

What topic would you like more writers to write about?

Race and Reconstruction. The evil of the accused Andrew Johnson should be something everyone knows, but it is not. Our children should be made aware that we are still living with the consequences of Reconstruction. I’m 75 years old and that was news to me.

What genres do you particularly enjoy reading? And which do you avoid?

I fast read memoirs, diaries and biographies. James Beard’s memoir “Delights and Prejudices”, Alex Haley’s “Malcolm X” impressed me a lot, Andre Agassi’s memoir was great. “The Diaries” by Bob Dylan, the best actor of them all, is the “Life” of Keith Richards? The next day I went out and bought a guitar. Patti Smith’s “M Train”, Levon Helm’s “This Wheel’s on Fire” are great, both David Ritz’s Aretha, Roseanne Cash’s “Bodies of Water”, Mike Stoller and Jerry Leiber’s his autobiography “Hound Dog”. The three-volume Duc de Saint-Simon at the court of Louis is magnificent. I recently got a copy of the unedited diaries of Chips Channon, YIKES. Still, my favorite is Quincy Troupe’s “Miles: The Autobiography,” co-authored with Miles Davis. And I go on record to say I LOVE Mariah Carey’s autobiography, “The Meaning of Mariah.” He sent me a box of Kleenex. I never, ever read horror.