Jodi Picoult

Jodi Picoult: By the Book

New York Times SUNDAY BOOK REVIEW   — October 9, 2014

What books are currently on your night stand?

“We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves,” by Karen Joy Fowler; “One Plus One,” by Jojo Moyes; “The Rosie Project,” by Graeme Simsion. Also stacked are the books I have recently read and loved: Luanne Rice’s “The Lemon Orchard”; Chris Bohjalian’s “Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands”; John Searles’s “Help for the Haunted”; Jo-Ann Mapson’s “Owen’s Daughter.” In related news, I can no longer find my alarm clock when the buzzer goes off.

Who is your favorite novelist of all time? And your favorite novelist writing today?

I remember discovering Hemingway when I was in college. I had been assigned some of the Nick Adams stories for the Princeton syllabus, and I must admit: I didn’t understand the wow factor at first. It wasn’t until I read the short story “Hills Like White Elephants” that I was appropriately blown away. Here’s a piece about abortion that never actually mentions the phrase, and in fact the omission (and its reason for never being uttered) is the most critical element in the story. It’s one thing to craft a reputation as a novelist for the words one uses — it’s a whole new playing level to be revered for what you don’t say, but manage to convey anyway. My favorite contemporary novelist is Alice Hoffman. Her work lies in the dreamy world where love collides with magical realism, reminding me of Gabriel García Márquez. With every book, she has startling, beautiful turns of phrase that take my breath away.

What’s your favorite movie based on a book?

As someone who’s written a book that was badly translated to film, I am very sensitive to this topic, and always on the lookout for movies that are faithful adaptations of stories I’ve loved. I still don’t really understand why Hollywood continues to fix things that are not broken. My gold standard for book-to-film translation is “Out of Africa.” In that memoir, Isak Dinesen — whose Gothic fairy tales are lush and elaborately written — dramatically alters her style to describe her life. The more personal the story she tells, the more she strips down the language — and the barest bones are used to tell of her relationship with Denys Finch Hatton. We now know, from other memoirs and original source material, that the writer’s relationship with Finch Hatton was one of the seminal moments of her life; it’s almost as if her deliberate parity of description was meant to keep the private private; to suggest that ordinary words simply could not convey the depth and parameters of this relationship, thus the writer was not even going to make the attempt to do so. The filmmakers took all the ellipses in Dinesen’s memoir and filled them in visually, revealing Dinesen’s complex relationship with Finch Hatton through images the way she could not in prose.

And which book do you think should be made into a movie?

I’ve recently finished Deborah Harkness’s “Book of Life.” The whole series is like Harry Potter for adults — it’s very visually rich, and I would love to see a filmmaker do it justice. Imagine a witch who sees spells all around her in various threads of color. Cool, right?

What’s the best love story you’ve ever read?

“Romeo and Juliet.” For years, I waited to meet a guy whose pickup lines, with my responses, would automatically turn into a sonnet. Sadly, I think that kind of guy went out of fashion with doublets and hose. What’s wonderful about Romeo and Juliet, of course, is that as long as there are adolescents who believe that they are the first to invent true love, and as long as there are parents to stand in their way, the story is relevant. And when you think of how this plot has been adapted and resurrected — from “West Side Story” on Broadway to “Warm Bodies,” the recent film about a star-crossed romance between a zombie and a live girl — you realize how mutable and timeless the nugget of Shakespeare’s story is.

What kind of reader were you as a child? Your favorite book? Most beloved character?

One of my first memories is of getting a library card. My mom was a huge reader, and every week she’d come home with a stack of books, and all I wanted was to be like her. I started reading at age 3, and I was so excited when, for my birthday, I got a reading lamp that sat next to my bed, so that I could read before I went to sleep at night. I was a voracious reader, and I remember several children’s books that were special: “Where the Wild Things Are,” “Umbrella,” “Little Blue and Little Yellow.” As I got older, I started inhaling the All-of-a-Kind Family chapter books, and the “Little House on the Prairie” series. I remember wanting to be as kind and calm and beautiful as Mary, but realizing deep down that I was probably a lot more like Laura: headstrong, messy, and too smart for my own good.

If you had to name one book that made you who you are today, what would it be?

When I was 13, I read “Gone With the Wind.” I memorized entire passages and could act out scenes between Rhett and Scarlett, playing both roles — which also explains why I didn’t have a boyfriend until I was 15. It was the first book that made me realize an author could create an entire world out of words, and it was the first time I thought, “Maybe I could do that.” I’ve revisited the book numerous times, and I’m always intrigued by how manipulative and shrewd and needy Scarlett is — but how she’s also impossibly strong.

And of the books you’ve written, which is your favorite, and why?

My favorite is “Second Glance.” It’s about the things that come back to haunt us: ghosts, and history. It illuminates a period in the 1920s-30s that very few people know about: when various states were in the business of racial hygiene, getting rid of people who were considered ​an economic and social drain on the community.

The other reason I love “Second Glance” is because the research was the most remarkable I’ve ever done — I went ghost hunting with the Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS). They explained to me that dying is like getting on a bus: You’re supposed to go to the end of the line and get off. But sometimes the bus stops at a rest stop and you get off to use the restroom — and when you come back, the bus is gone. That’s a ghost. They then took me to a home in Massachusetts ​whose owners had contacted them after hearing moans and groans in the attic. I was given the key to the padlocked attic door, and the ghost hunters set up a video camera on a tripod to record paranormal energy. I was the last one out of the attic; I closed and locked the door. The couple had two kids, ages 6 months and 22 months, asleep in their separate rooms. Downstairs, the homeowners described coming home to find all the faucets running, all the cereal spilled into a pile on the kitchen floor. One night at 2 a.m. they heard calliope music and found a child’s toy piano playing — without batteries — on the steps of the attic. I went to check on the kids, and on the floor outlining the edge of each crib, I found six pennies per room that had not been present 10 minutes earlier, all dated between 1968 and 1973. I unlocked the attic door, went to the video camera tripod and found another 15 pennies underneath (all dated between 1968 and 1973) that had not been there when I left. Was I scared? No. Did it make sense? No, and I’d seen it with my own eyes. Also, pennies with those dates were ​scarce. Eventually the ghost hunters went back and determined that there was something paranormal in the house, and did research — two people died there. One in 1968, and one in 1973. I’ve done a ton of research for my writing, but that remains the coolest.

If you could require the president to read one book, what would it be?

I would be honored if the president read “Nineteen Minutes,” the book I wrote about a school shooting. (O.K. In truth, I wouldn’t just be honored. I’d probably faint.) It addresses what happens when bullying is ignored by schools, and what it means to be a kid who feels marginalized, and why the media is fostering future school shootings by focusing their 24/7 coverage not on the victims, but on the shooter. (This is obviously done for ratings, but may in fact be what makes another kid on the fringe think: “Hmm. No one notices me, but maybe this is how to get my 15 minutes of fame.”) Most importantly, the book illustrates the staggering emotional cost of a school shooting — something that is routinely left out of pro-Second Amendment arguments against gun control. Come to think of it, maybe the president isn’t the one who needs to read this book. Maybe I could require the head of the N.R.A. to read it instead?

You’re hosting a literary dinner party. Which three writers are invited?

Alice Hoffman, because I idolize her writing and because she’s just the loveliest, kindest lady. Toni Morrison, because she’s Toni Morrison. The only regret I have from my education at Princeton was that after hearing her read from “Beloved” while it was a work in progress (seriously, you could have heard a pin drop in the room as she commanded it with her voice and her prose), she went on to teach there — after I graduated. And Mary Morris, who was my mentor and is an impossibly gifted writer of fiction and memoir, and who really did teach me everything I know. I would bake a very delicious chocolate dessert to thank each of them for the gifts they’ve given me: Alice Hoffman made me a hungry reader again, after I was burned out from being an English major; Toni Morrison showed me a pinnacle to which I aspire as a writer; and Mary Morris gave me the tools of my craft.

Disappointing, overrated, just not good: What book did you feel you were supposed to like, and didn’t? Do you remember the last book you put down without finishing?

The one genre I absolutely cannot stand is Russian literature. You need genealogy charts to just figure out the characters, every novel is a thousand pages and pretty much everyone dies. One year my son went on a Russian lit kick and tried to get me to read some Tolstoy, but I just couldn’t. Life’s too short. Which, come to think of it, is coincidentally the theme of most Russian literature, too!

What’s the one book you wish someone else would write?

One that explores why our country is so contentiously divided along the fault line of religion — a construct meant to unite, but that more often creates schisms. All the hot-button political issues in this country — abortion, reproductive rights, gay rights, the death penalty — all have ideological roots in religious beliefs that are often archaic or that have been cherry-picked to support specific points of view. I hope that same book can explain why our country, which was founded on religious freedom, so often finds itself tangled up in the screen that should separate church and state. Also, I would like Jon Stewart to write it, because he has a way of swiftly illuminating the truth when you think you’re just there to be entertained.

Whom would you want to write your life story?

Nathaniel Philbrick. First off, compared with the Revolutionary War or the wreck of the Essex, my life would be a cakewalk to research. In addition, Nat’s the consummate historian, a detailed investigator, and his writing is captivating — something that is not a given for nonfiction. But most of all, he’s just a really nice, humble guy.

What books are you embarrassed not to have read yet?

Please do not tell my former professors, but I never finished Thackeray’s “Vanity Fair,” and yet still managed to pass my comps and graduate with honors.

What do you plan to read next?

“The Book of Unknown Americans,” by Cristina Henríquez.