Paula Poundstone began her career like so many comedians: busing tables for stage-time at open-mic nights and even hitting the road on a Greyhound bus to tour different open mics around the country. From this humble beginning she went on to be the first woman to win a Cable ACE Award for Best Stand Up Comedy Special for the HBO Special Cats, Cops and Stuff and was the first woman to solo headline the White House Correspondents Dinner in 1992. In 1994 she took home a local Emmy for her excellent field pieces for NPR’s acclaimed “Life & Times” series.

A master of crowd-work, Poundstone’s shows are different every night. Her improvisational style works well for her, not only onstage but as a regular on the NPR show “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!” She has been a major supporter of libraries throughout the years and  is a national spokesperson for the American Library Association’s United for Libraries division which helps Friends of Libraries groups across the country.

What are you reading at the moment?

I just finished reading Grunt by the wonderful science writer, Mary Roach. I just started reading Between the World and Me by Ta Nehisi Coates. It's really good. It makes me want to talk to him about everything. I am also rereading To Kill a Mockingbird. It gets better with every read.

What book(s) or other media do you keep coming back to again and again?

I read unbelievably slow. I was reading Into the Silence, about the Europeans who first attempted to climb Mt. Everest, for longer than it took them do so. Therefore, I don't reread many things. I do, however, make an exception for Charles Dickens. The more times I can read about Mrs. Gummidge the better. Mary Poppins is my favorite movie. I don't watch it over and over, because I always want it to feel special. I also love Cool Hand Luke and Shawshank Redemption.

You are very involved in library and literary causes (thank you!!) Did you spend much time in libraries growing up? What was their impact on your life and work?

I love books. I like to be around them. A library is like a baby; It is full of possibility. I just heard a story on NPR about three Syrian college students who, undeterred by the war, have struggled to continue their education. They set about collecting books for the purposes of their own studies and have also created a secret underground library in Syria. They look for books, sometimes while dodging sniper fire, amidst bombed out buildings. Not only that, but Syrians frequent their library. Books are important.

Your style of spontaneous crowd-work was honed in the early days of busing tables for stage-time. This skill has served you amazingly well, and seems to be a fantastic tool for your work on Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! Is there anything else you do or read in preparation for the show?

I am ashamed to say that I use one of the most horrendous publications to prep for "Wait, Wait…" I read parts of The New York Post. It drips with mean spirit and right-wing editorial. I use it for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it opens like a magazine. I am usually cramming for the show, on the Go Airport Shuttle or the airplane. I know there is a way of folding a real newspaper in such a way as that one could read it comfortably in a small space, but I don't know how. Also, the rag I read has a wealth of news of the weird in it and, truth be told, that's important information for the "Lightening Round."

Your second book is set to come out in 2017. Is there a title yet? Can you tell us a bit about your process when it comes to writing? Does it differ greatly between writing books and writing comedy specials, or does the process mostly take on the same form?

My new book The Totally Unscientific Study of the Search for Human Happiness comes out in May. Each chapter is written as a science experiment, including a hypothesis about what I or someone else thought might make me happy. I then carry out the experiment. The key, however, is how it works in my real life of raising three kids and a house full of animals, while working as a stand-up comic. My hope was for it to be a funny book. So far, the few people that have read it (Lily Tomlin, Dick Cavett, Carl Reiner, Peter Sagal, Roy Blount, P.J. O'rourke, Garrison Keillor, Pete Docter) tell me that it meets that benchmark. I'm hopeful that it will be well received when it finally has a cover, and my punctuation has been corrected.

I am the slowest writer in the world. I could teach a masters course in procrastination. When I finally sit down to write, I use one of my favorite pens or a pencil and a carefully chosen notebook. The drag of the pen on the page is important to me. I start with notes. Anything I think of is, hopefully, scribbled somewhere. I often write across the lines, and not atop them. My first book and workbook series I wrote by hand and gave to a typist. For this book, however, I used an evil computer.

War is Hell, and a lot of effort goes into keeping soldiers alive, healthy and intact through the experience. In Grunt: The Curious Science Behind Humans at War, Mary Roach delves into the science behind that effort, from dietary inventions to fashion sense, from movie studio simulations to being embedded on a submarine, she seeks to answer questions you never knew you had about what it takes to look out for our troops and their support staff. Caffeinated meat anyone?

Name an award and Ta Nehisi Coates has probably won it or come close. As a librarian I am asked on a near daily basis for Between the World and Me, Coates’s memoir and ruminations on race written as a series of letters to his son. The tragic and often divisive events of the past few years are here written about in a fluid and powerful style that brings home what it feels like to be systemically discriminated against in modern America.

Racism in America is also at the heart of To Kill a Mockingbird, viewed this time through the eyes of a six year old girl growing up in 1930s era Alabama. The Pulitzer winning novel soon became a staple of English classes across the country, telling the story of a young girl’s first real introduction to racism and the complexities of racial tension, class and the law in a way both easy to understand and to empathize with. One can feel Scout’s innocence slipping away, and can’t help but recall their own introduction to these matters. Along with print and e-book copies, there is an excellent audiobook available, read by Sissy Spacek. The controversial and recently published sequel, Go Set a Watchman, has an equally well done audiobook read by Reese Witherspoon.

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