We are so thrilled to chat with Nora Zelevansky author of Will You Won’t You Want Me? Here, Nora shares a few facts about herself and the five books that have inspired her writing most…
Always a stack of novels that I’m trying to get to! Right now, Life After Life and The Swans of Fifth Avenue. And then some Tata Harper hand cream and a lavender pillow spray.
Wow. This is definitely the most difficult question. I think I can only say what I hope it is: evocative, sharp and relatable.
I’ve learned to be quite flexible now that I have a two-year-old. I’m probably as happy on my couch with my laptop on my lap, as I am at a sweet, cozy café with a yummy muffin in front of me. But I do have dreams of a proper retreat, where I have views of the water and can really just relax and take it all in.
J.D. Salinger, specifically Raise High The Roofbeam, Carpenters and Franny and Zooey
Salinger is probably my favorite writer of all time. I reread these two books (and also A Perfect Day For Banana Fish)—or even just passages—regularly to remind myself of the pinnacle. I just think they’re so poignant and well-written. They’re funny and tragic, evocative and everyday. And, actually, I love them so much that Marjorie reads Franny and Zooey in Will You Won’t You Want Me?. In that instance, the book is supposed to be an example of her going back to appreciate something special that she ignored as a teenager, but also she’s reading a section about an iffy young romantic relationship.
You should see my copy of Raise High The Roofbeam. It looks like a dog mangled it, I’ve read it so many times.
Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice
Well, I hate the be a cliché as a female writer, but my mother and I read Pride & Prejudice together for the first time when I was a preteen probably. It’s just one of the best love stories ever; and, every time it gets retold, I want to read or watch it again. It’s just so clever and such a fantastic escape, with such a satisfying happy ending.
Joan Didion, Slouching Towards Bethlehem
Speaking of clichés, but what can you do? Greatness is greatness. My older sister introduced me to Joan Didion as an older teen and I have been a loyal devotee ever since. When I first started writing, I really exclusively wrote personal essays, so she especially spoke to me in that medium. Specifically, her essays “On Keeping A Notebook” and “Goodbye To All That” have had an enormous impact on me as a writer—especially in thinking about the act of writing itself. I am not one to underline passages, but I have in those chapters. They’re just so direct and clear and have such a strong sense of place. She makes you feel tugs of nostalgia for times you never experienced yourself. Her writing makes me laugh and cry. It doesn’t get better than that.
Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything Is Illuminated
Again, I reread passages from this book regularly just to remind myself about strong writing. Just the notion that a complicated, funny story for adults could also read almost like a fable or a satire is interesting to me. There’s a sweetness and also an absurdity to the story. I just think the writing is aspirational.
For my fifth choice, I’m torn between two very different books, neither of which necessarily inspired me to become a writer, but both of which I admire and taught me something.
The first is Tana French’s In The Woods. I love mysteries and people tend to think of them as being all about plot instead of strong writing. But Tana French writes descriptions that are so moody and evocative that you’re sucked in regardless of the story itself in many ways. Just the opening passage of this book is something great.
The second is Jonathan Tropper’s This Is Where I Leave You because it’s a simple story about family relationships, but it makes me laugh out loud and that’s a difficult thing to do in a book.
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