Anna Fitzpatrick is a spectacular fashion blogger, web editor, and all around cool person. She’s also an avid reader. She was kind enough to answer some questions about books and reading.
Photos were shamelessly stolen from the WORN Fashion Journal blog.
What kind of a reader are you?
I tried to read everything I can get my hands on – fiction, non fiction, history, poetry, short story, graphic novels, biographies, magazines, plays. I’m always scared to focus too much on one subject because of all the other things I could be reading, if that makes sense. Also, I’m obsessed with making reading lists and looking at “best of” lists – I probably spend more time organising my bookshelf than I do actually reading.
Has a book ever influenced the way you live your life, or your way of thinking about things?
Lots of the feminist stuff I read encourages me to take a more critical look at society and the way I might embody patriarchal ideals, though I can’t think of a particular book at the moment. Franny and Zooey made me feel less alone when I was an angsty self-important teenager (I mean, I still am an angsty, self-important teenager, but only until May).
What’s your favourite book about fashion?
I liked Mary-Kate and Ashley’s Influence, if only because it had interesting interviews with some artists I really admire. I just read a book called It’s So You! which was a collection of essays about personal style by people like Kim Gordon and beatnik author Diane Di Prima.
Do you judge a book by its cover?
Yes! Well, I’m really picky about editions. I hate reading books that feel cheap; I’m talking about quality of the cover, texture of pages, etc. Dover Thrift Classics are the worst. I bought a Dover Thrift edition of Wuthering Heights and I just couldn’t read it. Finally, I waited and shelled out for the Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition – the one with the gorgeous Ruben Tuledo illustrated cover. And hey, now it’s one of my favourites.
What book do you pretend to have read, but never actually have?
Hm….the original texts for the Canterbury Tales, in medieval English. I’ve read some of them, but the translations are just so much easier when I have a million other readings to do before class. Please don’t tell my professor.
If you were a book, what book would you be?
A pop-up book.
How do you get the books that you read – buy, borrow, trade?
I try to get as many as I can from the library – hey, nothing beats that price – but I do purchase more books than I should. I really like that new book smell and feel.
Anna’s Must Reads
Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger. Really good collection. A Perfect Day for Bananafish and Just Before War with the Eskimos are my personal favourites.
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. Wonderful children’s book, especially if you like Alice in Wonderland-type stuff.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon. It combines comic books, magic tricks, the Holocaust, and Salvador Dali. If it were a movie it’d have thirty Oscars by now.
The! Greatest! Of! Marlys! By Lynda Barry. It will tug at your heartstrings and make you miss your childhood.
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I shouldn’t love Heathcliff. But I do.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is on my reading list, I’m eager to find myself a used copy. Great interview!
Yeah, I want to read the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay too! I should probably read all of Anna’s suggestions because the two that I’ve already read would probably be at the top of my own must read list…
Great interview!
I’m going to have to look into “It’s So You!” – I’ve been reading lots of Diane Di Prima lately, and am really enjoying it. I’d love to read what she has to say about personal style.
I totally understand being picky about editions. The way a book looks is important to me, too. (I am easily scared off by tiny type, small margins and big, intimidating chunks of text.)