"The likes of which I had never heard before - white soul boy funk - it was a great album for a party soundtrack and hash joints. I just love the mad percussion and pseudo African backing vocals, though I don't have a clue what Mr. Byrne is singing about."

"I’m kind of a weirdo; I love prison movies and war movies, which leads me into Schindler’s List. I think it really captured a moment in time that we aren’t proud of as a human race, and I just think [Steven] Spielberg knocked it out of the park."

"The lives of two women—a poor grifter and a reclusive heiress—collide in explosive and unexpected ways. When I gave the book a “blurb,” I wrote: “Pretty Things is awesome. Simple as that. I loved every page. Janelle Brown is your new must-read author.” Still true."

"I remember being really disturbed by the eyeballs when I was a kid. Their faces looked like Kabuki masks: haunting and ugly. I love this sort of phantasmagoria, all the minutiae of detail and references. I’m a fan of Hieronymus Bosch, and this has a similar visual density."

"The darkest, most disturbing book that enthralled me as a teenager. Dostoyevsky brings the reader inside the mind of a seemly normal person who becomes tortured and ultimately ruined by a single act. Also, I was in love with the poor, tragic Raskolikov, and I think I still am."

"Yeah, not a lot of rom-coms. [laughs] Yeah, maybe a little bit. I do have to say, though, the next one I was going to say is The Princess Bride. That’s one of my favorite films of all time. It’s such a great movie. I still quote it."