"Pride and Prejudice. I love sweeping British drama period pieces and I hope that one day I can do one just like that, because, to me, I love old English literature. And I’m a big Keira Knightley fan. It’s just so beautiful aesthetically and in terms of story."

"It came out in 1964. He said things that hadn’t been said in print [the book investigates human imagination and creativity in the arts and sciences – Literature Ed]. I don’t like to read now – I don’t read nothing’! Why not? My eyes are crummy, so I can’t read that comfortably."

"This is the best book for understanding the early history of society, literature and politics of Northern Europe. Without Saxo’s research and extensive work in compiling ancient texts and oral stories, our knowledge of early Nordic, Germanic, Celtic and English cultures and nation-building would be far poorer than it is."

"I have to include Faulkner. With multiple narrators, shifts in time, and sentences that go on for a thousand words, it is an Everest-like challenge. But its epic story of the doomed Sutpen dynasty is a masterpiece of Southern literature. Read it slowly (you pretty much have to) and savor every word."

"One of the most beautifully told family sagas in world literature. Exploring gender identity, ethnic identity, American dream, immigrants, family memories and collective myths… but to me this is primarily a novel about belonging—how we fail but still somehow find the hope and the will to continue to try to belong."