In an email interview, the author shared how her mother first discouraged, then championed, her wish for a literary life. SCOTT HELLER
How do you organize your books?
The only thing organized in my house are my books. I have over 5,000, divided into signed books, fiction and nonfiction. I even have brass plaques of the subject areas, like Dogs and Horses. I’m basically a book fetishist.
Do you prefer books that reach you emotionally, or intellectually?
Both. Extra credit for a book that reaches your soul, too.
Who is your favorite fictional hero or heroine?
Nancy Drew. The character of a young woman driving a roadster anywhere she wants, doing anything she wants, grabbed me and didn’t let go. She speaks to me still. I just bought a roadster.
What’s your favorite book no one else has heard of?
I adored “History,” by Elsa Morante, which is about a woman living through wartime Rome. Morante is underappreciated here, but you could draw a throughline from her to the terrific Elena Ferrante, who wrote “My Brilliant Friend.”
What books are on your night stand?
First up is my go-to fave Adriana Trigiani’s “The View From Lake Como.” Also: Kristin Harmel’s “The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau,” S.A. Cosby’s “King of Ashes,” Daniel Silva’s “An Inside Job,” Tananarive Due’s “The Reformatory,” B.A. Shapiro’s “The Lost Masterpiece” and James L’Etoile’s “River of Lies.”
Have you ever gotten in trouble for reading a book?
Growing up, I got in trouble for reading any book. My family wasn’t into reading, and the only book in our house was TV Guide. I fell in love with books at the library, but anytime I was reading, my mother would say, “Stop reading, it’ll ruin your eyes. Go outside and play.” I loved my mother dearly, but she didn’t realize I was already outside and playing, just in a book.
What did you do in the new book that you’d never done before?
Almost everything in “The Unraveling of Julia” is new for me. It’s about a woman who inherits an estate in Tuscany from a stranger who may be her grandmother, then learns that her benefactor had delusions of grandeur, believing herself a descendant of Duchess Caterina Sforza from the Renaissance. My heroine begins to experience the same delusions, so there’s psychological instability and straight-up dread in the novel, which I’ve never done before. I’m going Gothic, baby!
What’s the last great book you read?
The fabulous “Full Bloom,” by my daughter, Francesca Serritella. “Strangers in Time,” by David Baldacci. “The Florios of Sicily,” by Stefania Auci. The audiobook of “The Lehman Trilogy,” by Stefano Massini, narrated by the great Edoardo Ballerini. “Shantaram,” by Gregory David Roberts. “The Golem and the Jinni,” by Helene Wecker.
Are there any classic novels that you only recently read for the first time?
“The Leopard,” by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa.
You’ve been a real booster for your daughter and her work. Who was that for you?
My mother. When I got published, she made a poster with my picture, captioned Local Author. She drove with it in the back window of her Dodge Omni for the next 15 years. That’s love.
What’s the last book you recommended to a member of your family?
I recommended “The Creative Act: A Way of Being,” by Rick Rubin, to Francesca, and she loved it, too. Rubin narrates the audiobook, which offers genuine insight about life and art, mixed with Zen balm.
What’s the last book you read that made you laugh?
Nate Bargatze’s charming audiobook of his memoir, “Big Dumb Eyes.” Gary Shteyngart’s “Little Failure.” I also loved Barbra Streisand’s audiobook of her memoir, “My Name Is Barbra.” She’s a goddess, a phenomenal storyteller and laugh-out-loud funny.
Your title character shares your birthday and horoscope sign. What do you and she have in common?
Everything that matters. If you don’t open your soul when you write, you won’t reach anyone else’s.
I read that you took a class with Philip Roth as a Penn undergraduate. What was he like as a professor?
It was like taking physics with Einstein. Each week, Roth would deliver an extemporaneous lecture about the novel he’d assigned us. It wasn’t a class, it was a virtuoso performance.
What’s the most interesting thing you learned from a book recently?
I learned so much about organized crime in Naples from “Gomorrah,” by Roberto Saviano. It’s a fascinating book, and there’s no single fact that struck me except that Saviano had to live under police protection after his book was published.
You’re organizing a literary dinner party. Which three writers, dead or alive, do you invite?
My fave Gothic Queen Daphne du Maurier, Elsa Morante and Dante.
The post Nancy Drew Inspired Lisa Scottoline’s Recent Splurge appeared first on New York Times.
