"My second-favorite Max Ophuls film. He loved the chain of life, where everything swirls around, just like the beautiful heart-shaped earrings of the title, as they pass from hand to hand. The opulence of the belle époque story is reflected in Madame de’s sumptuous Venetian glass dressing table mirror, and all the opulent settings throughout the film."

"This is an all-time favorite for a Darwin lover. I can read it again and again and always find something new. Also, though the last 30 years have seen a veritable cataract of books about Darwin and Darwiniana, I keep returning to Janet Browne’s superb two-volume biography, Charles Darwin: Voyaging and Charles Darwin: The Power of Place."

""One of my favorite science-fiction movies is Gravity starring Sandra Bullock. As a rocket scientist, I was blown away by the stunning visual effects and three-dimensional-like movement. Plus, I am thankful that producers and writers cast a woman as an astronaut to bring science concerns to the forefront of American and international discussion.""

"In the first of his Slough House books Mick Herron does something truly remarkable: He mines in familiar territory—the world of espionage—and yet manages to find a completely fresh seam, of pure gold. With his utterly engrossing characters, subtle wit, and deft plotting, this is the beginning of one of my all-time favorite series."

"Breaking the Waves, I saw that when I was — and this was ill-advised [laughs] — I was in Bucharest, alone with the flu. I don’t know what possessed me to put that in to watch, but I think you could imagine it was pretty devastating. It’s so raw and amazing, and Emily Watson is one of my favorite actresses."

"For when you need a sweet-hearted com-rom This book is an unlikely all-time favorite of mine—and it’s a study in emotional courage. The hero of this story just tries so hard. He gets it wrong over and over...but he never gives up. It’s a story that makes me laugh and genuinely cry every time."

"I keep lists of everything, and I have a list of my favorite movies; but I haven’t picked five, so I’ll just kind of go randomly. I have a list of 147 right here. That being said, not all of them are impressive — a lot of them are just musicals that I watched when I was younger."

"Tom Hanks remains one of my favorite actors. I remember seeing that movie at a very impressionable age. It was such a cool storyline, and Tom Hanks is a brilliant actor… and I always wanted to have an apartment with my own vending machine in it, after that. That was the coolest thing. And the trampoline."

"One of the books that I could just afford to buy was Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan of the Apes. I had just enough money to buy it. I read it from cover to cover up my favorite tree in Danny’s garden, Beech. I fell in love with Tarzan and was very jealous when he married the wrong Jane!"

"This is my favorite Wes Anderson movie. He is obviously such an incredible visualist, and there was something about Max Fischer that I really related to—I always felt like an outcast, but I had a ton of ambition. It’s quite a feat to make something so visually arresting while also making you laugh and breaking your heart."