Actor (and Debut Author) Sean Penn Recommends Some of His Favorite Books

Goodreads: You've been described as an avid reader. Why is reading important to you?

Sean Penn: I have an odd relationship with reading. I've always struggled with retention. That has usually forced me to read in as close to a single sitting as a book's length, or density will allow. This means that when I keep company with a book, all outside that book is excluded.

At some point, my reading life became dominated by nonfiction, with the odd novel or volume of poetry slipping in only rarely. With nonfiction, I often binge on books that are specific to one region, or area of interest. When reading about a place that is connected to traveling the areas written about, those scents and smells and personalities supplement my retention deficit.

Goodreads: Tell us about some of your all-time favorite books.

SP: I loved reading You Can't Win by Jack Black. I could see his images and feel the rumble of the trains. I heard the language and felt urged to jump inside it. James Thurber also gave me giggles. Harry Crews’ The Knockout Artist, [Salman] Rushdie, [Christopher] Hitchens, [Douglas] Brinkley, Richard Ford, Philip Roth, Cormac McCarthy all gripped my attention, but, in the end, it was [Charles] Bukowski for me.

I'm also a gigantic fan of [Jon] Krakauer's books. All of them. He's an immersive nonfiction writer. Into The Wild is one book that defied my otherwise lackluster retention. I wrote the first draft of its screenplay ten years after having read it, and didn't re-read it until I'd completed the draft. Really stuck with me.

Goodreads: If you could require everyone to read one book, what would it be and why?

SP: D.T. Max's biography of David Foster Wallace. It's the most immersive read inside a contemporary man and author I've read. The periods of isolation and depression that separated him from the rest of life for so many years should be a cautionary tale for those who voluntarily distance themselves through a social media that is anything but social. I also love David Rabe's Recital of The Dog. If it comes down to just one book, I'd say Steve Coll's Ghost Wars. It adds context to where we are today.

Goodreads: What are you currently reading and what books are you recommending to friends?

SP: I've been re-reading Alejo Carpentier's The Lost Steps. Brilliant beautiful book…and, I recommend it.