When I was having my phone interview for this job as the Beaufort Book’s summer intern last month, I was asked the dreaded “What are you reading now?” question.

Of course, I should have been expecting this question going into an interview with a publishing house. However, I was totally unprepared and I panicked. At the time, I was deep in the throes of a chemical engineering term project and was struggling through Industrial Boilers and Heat Recovery Steam Generators: Design, Applications, and Calculations. I quickly deemed it an unacceptable answer. Looking back, I can’t remember exactly what I said in the interview – I probably mumbled something about Margaret Atwood.

Released from the fascinating intricacies of industrial boilers, I can now give a more interesting answer. I started reading the first volume of The Diary of Anaïs Nin last week. I haven’t gotten far, but I absolutely love it.

– Sylvia