Five-Minute Friday: Nicole Vazquez
Name: Nicole Vazquez
Day job: Is it a job if I don’t get paid for it? Let’s revisit this question six months from now.
Extra-curricular: The Literary Dilettantes, Book Lush, Side B Magazine, feminism (that’s an activity, right?) and writing.
Favourite book of all time: The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Literary pet peeves: Really self-involved characters who constantly misunderstand things because they’re too busy making everything about themselves. Also female characters who build their entire existence around some guy.
Guilty pleasure: Trashy teen historical novels.
Three favourite authors: Just three? I’ll say Edith Wharton, J.D. Salinger, and Martin Amis. I’m going to refrain from saying Donna Tartt because she only has two books, but if I could choose an author to be my mentor, I’d pick her.
Favourite fictional character: I recently read True Grit, so I’m going to go ahead and say Mattie Ross, for her utter fearlessness.
Other recommended reading: The Photograph by Penelope Lively, The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine by Alina Bronsky, French Leave by Anna Gavalda, There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbour’s Baby by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya, Dangerous Laughter by Steven Millhauser, and Tin House Magazine!
We interview one of our ravishing readers every week about their literary loves and hates, fictional character crushes and what reads they recommend. Want to be featured as a For Books’ Sake five-minute Friday? Just tell us in the comments or send us an email.
What do you think?