Curiosity and Questions
The Body, Brain, and Books: Eleven Questions with writer and reader Christine Sneed
Welcome to another edition of The Body, Brain, & Books. If you enjoy reading these quick, insightful interviews brimming with wisdom and hope, please become a subscriber!
What are you reading now?
I’m reading Lena Valencia’s story collection Mystery Lights, which is very smart and fun (and some of the stories are decidedly creepy—ghosts, “mudmen,” aliens…). These last several weeks, I’ve been on a story collection binge: I read Curtis Sittenfeld’s two collections, You Think It, I’ll Say It and Show Don’t Tell, Fiona McFarlane’s Highway Thirteen, and Andrew Porter’s The Disappeared. I really enjoyed and admired them all. Before these books, I read Antoine Wilson’s Mouth to Mouth, which was immersive and addictive. So good! Some of these titles I’d been intending for a while to read and finally did with the aid of the Libby app (I also own hard copies of a few of these books but Libby was instrumental in getting me to sit down and commit).
What are your most beloved books from your youth? Did you ever hide any from your parents?
As I suspect many of your readers also did, I loved Charlotte’s Web as a child. I know I read it at least a few times, and I loved the cartoon version too that would be aired once a year or so on television—the rat Templeton who went on a huge, carnival-food binge at the county fair—I will forever remember him groaning after his excesses!
Oh yes, I did hide books from to time from my parents, with limited success. When I was twelve and checked out Fear of Flying from our town’s public library, my dad found me reading it soon after and no surprise, took it from me post-haste. Freshman year of college, not long after the fall semester began, I went to the campus library, checked it out and promptly read it.
What’s your favorite book to reread? Any that helped you through a dark time?
To be honest, I don’t usually reread books unless I’m assigning them to students. I will say that one book I keep meaning to reread because I loved it so much is Rebecca Lee’s Bobcat and Other Stories. She’s so funny and wise and these stories are unlike anyone else’s.
What’s an article of clothing that makes you feel most like you?
It’s probably a pair of smoke gray sweatpants my partner Adam gave me eight years ago—July 2017—which was about 9 months before we moved from northern Illinois to Pasadena, California. Coincidentally, these sweatpants were purchased in Patagonia’s flagship store in Ventura, CA, and I think of them now as a kind of bellwether for our move west. I wear them on cool nights, after I’m done working in my study. They’re a reward for getting through all the work of the day.
What’s the best piece of wisdom you've encountered recently?
“Five minutes at a time,” not “one day at a time.” I heard a contributor suggest this on a year-end episode of the New York Times’ Daily podcast.
Tell me about any special relationship you’ve had with an animal, domestic or wild?
My mother is a veterinarian, and I grew up with two cats, Judy and Lucy, and a dog, Zip, but as an adult, ironically, I haven’t had any animal housemates of my own. This is due to a few things: I know how much time and energy (and money—even more so now with veterinary care having become astronomically expensive in many towns and cities due in no small part to conglomerates acquiring previously privately owned practices) it takes to properly care for a dog or a cat (or a bird, fish, or guinea pig). And as an adult, I’ve always lived in multi-unit buildings that either didn’t allow pets or the space was too small to confine a four-legged creature to when I knew I’d be away from home much of the day.
I feel an especial affection for the red-whiskered bulbul that sings on many mornings and afternoons in the tree outside my study, and for the little squirrel whose pocket-like nest is in the branches of this same tree. She comes right to our door on some days, looking for peanuts (or whatever nuts we have on hand—she’s not picky, although she doesn’t seem to like pretzels!)
What's one thing you are happy worked out differently than you expected?
I’m very glad that the Wisconsin Supreme Court election went the way it did on Tuesday, April 1. I was dreading/expecting the opposite outcome.
Singing in the shower or dancing in the kitchen? Or another favorite way your body expresses itself?
Definitely dancing in the kitchen (although not as much as I’d like to—I seem always to be rushing to prepare one meal or another and get back to the other items on my to-do list). I take a longish walk every day too as my main source of exercise.
What are your hopes for yourself?
I’m trying to be less cynical and weary and sad about what really does seem to be a widespread decrease in curiosity about and sympathy for other people’s experiences and points of view. It’s easy to assign much of the blame to social media and Silicon Valley, and I don’t think we’re wrong to do so. We need curiosity and questions—not knee-jerk dismissals and excoriations that often issue from nothing but feelings, which of course aren’t facts.
What’s a kindness that changed your life?
Sheryl Johnston, a publicist and writer in Chicago, who, despite the short lead time, took me on when I was about to publish my first book, Portraits of a Few of the People I’ve Made Cry, in late 2010. She has since become a close friend, and has taught me so much about being generous, celebrating our successes, and moving past disappointments without undue bitterness.
What’s a guiding force in your life?
Creative people—writers and their books, filmmakers, musicians, and my partner Adam. We met in the fall of 2009 and got together the following spring. His ability to stay calm and rational in situations where I’m more prone to imagining the worst, to compulsive thought-broadcasting, to worrying and worrying—his sturdiness and relative placidity and sense of humor have been touchstones for me over the last 15 years, which have been nothing if not deeply turbulent in the world at large.
If you enjoyed Christine’s questionnaire, you may also enjoy this one with
:
⭐️⭐️Beyond is a reader-supported publication that pays contributors. Thank you to everyone who’s joined this beautiful, growing community devoted to bringing as much light as possible into this world of ours. If you would like to support my work, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. Beyond cannot exist without you! ⭐️⭐️
I love this idea of 5 minutes at a time! Thank you for the inspiration!
Hi Jane,
I've been wondering: how you do decide who to send these interviews to? They are all so intriguing, and I enjoy being introduced to new authors and the inside view of their lives and worlds.