"While most people tout “The Color Purple,” and rightly so, I love, beyond measure, “Possessing the Secret of Joy,” which is a not quite sequel to “The Color Purple” about Tashi, the wife of Celie's son Adam, and how something that happens to her body at a very young age shapes the rest of her life. This is the novel that taught me how to write fiction with political ambitions. It is searing and wondrous and painful and every time I read it, the ending wrecks me. And still, I go back for more. That's how important this novel is."

"I can tell you a recent book I read that I was incredibly moved by: I read Olive Kitteridge when I was making United States of Tara, and it was my introduction to Elizabeth Strout's writing, who I think is so incredibly talented," the Unbelievable actress told OprahMag.com. "She knows and understands humanity on a level that very few people can express. So I was given an advanced copy of the sequel, Olive, Again—and man, I couldn't put it down! It moved me to tears. I laughed out loud, and I just love everything that Elizabeth Strout writes"