Friday, October 17, 2014

Chelsey Philpot

Chelsey Philpot grew up on a farm in New Hampshire and now works as an editor and a journalist. She's written for the New York Times, the Boston Globe, Slate, and numerous other publications. Like Charlotte, the main character in her new novel Even in Paradise, Philpot attended boarding school in New England and then earned a degree in English from Vassar College and a master's in journalism from Boston University.

Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Philpot's reply:
Holy Toledo! What I am reading now is wonderfully random…but then again, my “currently reading” stack is always an eclectic mix.

My background is in journalism, so I devour myriad newspapers (New York Times, Boston Globe, my local paper, etc.) and usually have a stack of New Yorkers (I’ve been a reader since high school) beside my desk.

I review books (mainly YA and middle grade novels) for a bunch of different places, so I am always reading a novel or two at a time. I recently finished Jandy Nelson’s I’ll Give You the Sun (gorgeous!) and am working through a couple of horror novels for my October column for the Boston Globe.

Since I’m in the midst of writing my second novel, I’m reading both for research and inspiration. Tonight, I’ll probably make my way through a chapter of Walter Lewin’s For the Love of Physics (a mind- blowing introduction to the science behind rainbows, black holes, and other such wonders), and tomorrow, I’ll read poems by Walt Whitman, Charles Wright, Nancy Willard, and/or Paul Kane before I start typing.
Visit Chelsey Philpot's website.

--Marshal Zeringue