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December 29, 2013

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JJ Abrams:Director and writer admits he has books on magic on shelves

Source: Agencies | December 29, 2013, Sunday | Print Edition

Q: Describe your ideal reading experience (when, where, what, how).

Even the question breaks my heart; we have three children, so this magical reading place and time you’re suggesting doesn’t really exist in our current reality. But the ideal one? I’d say it would involve a sunny day, a shady tree, a comfortable blanket, no obligations and a book.

Q: Who are your favorite novelists?

My knee-jerk answer: Mark Twain for his amazing use of language and humor, and HG Wells for his wild, prescient imagination. I want to say Salinger, too, but all this is making me sound like I’m still in junior high. I have a great affection for the writing of Graham Greene and am amazed by the soul and poetry of Colum McCann. And I can’t tell which is more incredible: how Stephen King can grab you by the throat in whatever damn genre he’s writing in, or that as soon as you’ve finished his latest novel, he’s published another one. His skill and prolificacy is otherworldly. Like, maybe literally.

Q: Of all the characters you’ve written across different media, who is your favorite?

I suppose my favorite that I’ve created was Sydney Bristow, the central character from the TV series “Alias.” She was a character with a secret, and that is always a fun place to start. I love how she was sweet and romantic and looked like the girl next door, but was also lethal and brave as hell, and would do nearly everything for love of country. But she wasn’t a superhero; she was terrified at almost every step. But still, she would do the right thing. I think we would all like to believe we would behave like that when the going gets rough. Also, we had Jennifer Garner playing the role, and she elevated absolutely everything.

Q: What books might we be surprised to find on your shelves?

My friend Sarah Vowell once looked at my bookshelves and asked, in that voice of hers, “Do you have any chapter books?” My shelves are filled mostly with ridiculous volumes that I love: magic books; film critique and movie “making of” books; design and font technique and collections; how-to, craft and construction books; and psychology texts. One of my favorites is “Sleights of Mind,” which talks about the neuroscience of our perception of magic. A very cool read.

Q: What books and authors have your three children introduced you to?

Like most bipedal parents, we all discovered Harry Potter together, reading the books aloud to our kids. But one of my favorite children’s authors was introduced to us by our youngest son. When he was in kindergarten he brought home some books by Mo Willems, who has one of the most remarkable comedic voices I’ve ever read. His sense of humanity — of heart and generosity — is staggering. I was so blown away, I got his number from his agent and called him. I was essentially a sycophant, expressing what a deep fan of his I am, how I would love to work together one day. He was quiet on the phone, almost monosyllabic, disinterested. Frankly it was a bit of an odd reaction.

It wasn’t until the next day that I discovered that I had, in error, called Mo Williams of the Portland Trail Blazers.

Q: Which writers inspire you?

Chris Ware, for one. Ware’s graphic novels have the emotional wallop of a Philip Roth or Thomas Pynchon. Wildly complex and damaged and lonely characters populate his worlds, and they are rendered gloriously, both in text and imagery. I’ve never seen someone use the cartoon panel quite like Ware; applying repetition and subtle shifts in light and color, he expresses the passage of time with extraordinary insight and tenderness. In other cases, he takes deeply funny and often painful detours to examine the history of a small detail of someone’s life —a forgotten object on a shelf for example — and somehow brings sublime clarity to a character’s condition in the process. Plus, his lettering is freakin’ gorgeous.

Q: If you could meet any writer, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you want to know?

My mind is swirling with answers. Dickens maybe? To hear how “Edwin Drood” was supposed to end, and what it was like publishing novels one chapter at a time? Not sure. The truth is that the writer is almost never as fascinating as the writing. If you can’t find the answer in what you read, you probably won’t find it talking to her.

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