BEST AUTHOR BEST : TORI AMOS [2]

.-  What's the last great book you read?

I'm rereading '' Landmarks,'' by Robert Macfarlane. The way this man writes about landscapes, particularly in the U.K. makes the wild tracks and the sea roads come alive.

.-  What kind of reader were you as a child?

My reading was inspired by my mother, Mary. My father, a pastor, believed that she was reading me  Bible stories.

But what she was doing, and I'm convinced this was her rebellion, because it was difficult to rebel, especially as a minister's wife in the late '60s if you wanted to stay married and accepted by the parishioners and society at large - was reading to me from the collection of Edgar Allan Poe's works.

.-  You published a book called. '' Resistance '' in 2021. Why a children's book now?

Francesco Sedita at Penguin reached out and said, '' I've been reading your liner notes for years, since the 90s. You usually thank the fairies and the muses. Do you want to write about them? ''

That was the jumping off point. We found the illustrator Demelsa Haughton, who just magically understood and was open to hearing about the muses and their stories. She captured them so beautifully.

.-  What's the last book you recommended to a member of your family?

'' Making Faces '' by Kevyn Aucoin - a gift I gave to the band, my collaborators, my extended family. People are looking at all of these tutorials online.

Some people know what they are doing, and some don't, so I thought let's go to the master. Kevyn Aucoin is and was one of the great revolutionaries in how to paint and light a face.

.-  What's your favorite book no one else has heard of?

'' The Dark Is Rising,'' by Susan Cooper, which came out decades before another popular series about a boy discovering he can wield magic.

I reread it now every year around winter solstice. I'm so envious of anyone who gets to experience these books for the first time. I want to be there with you, having s'mores and hot chocolate.

.-  How do you organize your books?

Let's put it this way : Being a librarian is a fantasy of mine. In my album '' Tales of a Librarian, '' I'm dressed in different imagined librarian costumes, and in the liner notes the tracks are organised by the Dewey Decimal System.

My own little libraries don't have a system, but I have dreams of one!

The World Students Society thanks The New York Times.