Abrams' latest thriller, Rogue Justice, is out May 23.
Stacey Abrams is a bibliophile.
“From there, things just unfolded,” she says.
Stacey Abrams and her book Rogue Justice.Lynsey Weatherspoon for EW / Doubleday
“I found myself researching and learning about cyber crimes and energy grids and dove in.”
“I was like, ‘Ooh, what if someone were blackmailing the FISA court?
Because they’re not supposed to tell anybody what’s happening to them.”
Rogue Justice by Stacey Abrams.Doubleday
In this case, it’s the FISA court.
The complexity of our energy grid and just how fragile it is was a revelation .
We should know that nobody’s actually in charge of our power."
Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey.Viking Books for Young Readers
While you awaken to this new anxiety, remember that books can be a great refuge.
A book I read in secret as a teenager
I didn’t.
My mom was a librarian, and she was really good about letting us read pretty broadly.
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.Puffin Books
That was one of those nice moments of juxtaposition and conflation.
A book that changed my life
The Phantom Tollboothby Norton Juster.
I also loved Milo being vaguely bored with the world.
The Wind-Up-Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami.Vintage
It was a perfect encapsulation of all of the things happening in my head at that moment.
A book I’ve read over and over
Ender’s Gameby Orson Scott Card.
I know he comes with his own complications, but that book is fabulous.
Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li.Tiny Reparations Books
And his willingness to so raw.Native Sonj was transformative for me.
He seemed like such a mean person, and I never wanted to read his work.
A book I’ve pretended to have read
None.
10256664.Doubleday
I’m very comfortable admitting what I don’t do.
It’s often at the top of my mind.
I love that book on so many levels.
Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward in ‘The Long Hot Summer’.Everett Collection
I know Murakami’s beloved by so many.
A book I wish I’d written
I just readA Portrait of A Thiefby Grace Li.
I certainly couldn’t write her book, but her conceit is so resonant.
It’s about these five college students who steal art from five major museums to return it to China.
The first thriller I ever read
The Firmby John Grisham.
Plus, he’s from Mississippi, which is where I grew up.
The gold standard in thrillers
The Firm.
That and then the Reacher books written by Lee Child.
The person I would stick in the middle of that is Karin Slaughter.
Because she makes you actually like everyone in her books.
It’s basically this guy who’s trying to find his dad.
They realize that that time travel is not just about chronology, it’s also about linguistics.
So he lives in the present, indefinite.
The main character rescues the dog that doesn’t really exist.
It’s this really clever conflation of two of my favorite things language and science fiction.
She’s an extraordinarily prolific, remarkable writer, and incredibly thoughtful.
Sitting right beside her is Octavia Butler for the same reason.
My literary crush
He does terrible things, but for the right reasons.
I love Jason Bourne.
I have a dear friend whose daughter is finishing college and going on to study race and politics.
I had just bought a copy ofGod and Blackness.
The book I’m reading now
I am readingPovertyby Matthew Desmond.
I read two books at once, so I’m reading that one and I’m readingNeverwhereby Neil Gaiman.
