Reading is one of Witherspoon’s superpowers

March 18, 2020 8:21 AM

The perceptive and masterly author Ann Patchett interviews Reese Witherspoon at Patchett's Nashville bookstore. Patchett illuminates Witherspoon's lifelong love of books, and how that led to her wildly successful production company and bringing Gone Girl, Wild, and Big Little Lies from the page to the screen.
posted by kristi (5 comments total)

I hate that condescending "superpowers" usage for women doing normal things like reading books.

The worst case is still when the Microsoft CEO Satya made the statement "Women who don't ask for raises actually have a kind of superpower, because it makes them someone that others want to trust.", implying that most women are too meek to ask for equal pay, and the rest are untrustworthy.
posted by w0mbat at 9:37 AM on March 18, 2020 [3 favorites]

Sorry about that; within the context of my own head, I enjoy thinking of everyday things as superpowers - I frequently say that saying thank you is one of my superpowers, and I like thinking of myself that way.

Relevant to the interview, though, it takes place between two women who deeply love reading, and who have changed other people's lives for the better by embracing their love of reading. The more of the interview I read, the clearer it became to me that Witherspoon has developed a wide range of her own strengths and intentionally used them to make her industry better for hundreds of other women. In a pretty super way.
posted by kristi at 11:02 AM on March 18, 2020 [10 favorites]

I can't believe there are no pictures of her with the dog.
posted by MtDewd at 12:27 PM on March 18, 2020 [5 favorites]

Thanks for sharing. A lot of people, I find, claim that they love reading, but most love the idea of it more than the reality. There's a special secret thrill when you come across someone who genuinely does love reading - even if they don't read the same genres you do, like the same kind of books, etc. It doesn't matter.

we begin making slow loops around the tables and past the shelves, playing the parlor game devoted readers can never get enough of: Have You Read This?

Yes, exactly! I found the interview as a whole a bit on the hagiographic side, would love to have heard more about how particular novels, characters, arcs resonated with her own life and approach.
posted by smoke at 11:36 PM on March 18, 2020 [1 favorite]

Ha, that Microsoft CEO quote is utterly horrible, but reading genuinely is one of my superpowers - I get through 200 books a year, I can keep reading after my pupils have been fully dilated for an eye test, and I can spot a typo at a thousand yards. Ish. I'm joking when I say that my first language is *written* English, but I'm not sure I don't mean it.

Thanks for sharing this. Ann Patchett is one of my favourite authors, and I am always so pleased to see people in the public eye talk about reading.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 12:45 PM on March 19, 2020 [3 favorites]