Since landing the loveable role of Jim Halpert on NBC’s The Office, John Krasinski’s been busy – acting, producing and directing his way to the ranks of Hollywood heavyweight. An avid reader, his 2009 directorial debut was a passion project inspired by David Foster Wallace’s Brief Interviews With Hideous Men. Three years later, he’d bring a Dave Eggers story idea to screen in Gus Van Sant’s 2012 Promised Land.
In a list of favorite books for The Week, Krasinski included classics by Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, along with acclaimed short story collections from Wallace and Eggers. Find his favorites below.
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
“I had the very good fortune of happening upon A Moveable Feast when I was visiting Paris, the backdrop of Hemingway’s most biographical book. May we all live at least one day as Ernest did! In this memoir of his time in Paris in the 1920s, he romanticizes a period in his life when he had very little by celebrating good books, good wine, and good friends.” -JK
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (also rec’d by David Bowie, Haruki Murakami, Hunter S. Thompson, Florence Welch & Ta-Nehisi Coates)
“My highest recommendation in the “reread” category. Sure, you’ve read Fitzgerald’s masterpiece somewhere between freshman and senior year in high school, but I can guarantee it will mean so much more now. Reading this again, when you’re a little older and a little wiser, is like being in a room you’ve been in before. Only this time the lights are on.” -JK
The Jaws Log by Carl Gottlieb
“This is, without a doubt, one of the greatest books about making movies. Gottlieb, who wrote the screenplay for Jaws, gives a day-to-day account of the process of making the film, from choosing the location to building the shark … or rather, sharks! You get to see the magic—and madness—of moviemaking, from the crazy shoot to the blockbuster hit. If you have ever had a fascination with how movies are made, why not learn it from the best?” -JK
How We Are Hungry by Dave Eggers
“The author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius is definitely one of the best writers around. No one can put you in a world quite like he can. And in How We Are Hungry, a book of short stories, you have the luxury of having that experience multiple times.” -JK
A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments by David Foster Wallace
“A fantastic introduction to one of the greatest authors ever. This 1997 collection of essays is one of Wallace’s best works. I can confidently say that the title essay is the single funniest thing I have ever read on paper. I can also confidently say … no one will ever write the way he did.” -JK
(via The Week)