The Harvard Crimson peeked inside the literary super-marriage of critic James Wood and novelist Claire Messud last week–talking about laundry, dinner conversation, and the family library.
Both writers work at Harvard University, as Messud (author of “The Emperor’s Children”) is a Visiting Lecturer on English and Wood (author of “How Fiction Works”) is a Literary Criticism professor. Partway through the interview, the literary couple talked about the books they have read with their children.
Here’s an excerpt: “[Reporter]: What kinds of books are your children reading right now?
CM: Lucien is reading “Amos and Boris” [by William Steig], and we’ve read “Jack and the Bean Stalk.”
JW: Our daughter is reading “Harry Potter” and “The Railway Children” by E. Nesbit.” (Via Sarah Weinman)