What book read for school had the greatest impact on you?“The Catcher in the Rye,” by J. D. Salinger, or “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” by William Shakespeare. The former taught me how powerful a single voice can be; the latter taught me how complex and how beautiful a play can be.

What do you plan to read next?“All the Single Ladies,” by Rebecca Traister. A formidable journalist, she’s traced the historical rise of the independent woman.

If you could require the president to read one book, what would it be?“Altered Genes, Twisted Truth: How the Venture to Genetically Engineer Our Food Has Subverted Science, Corrupted Government, and Systematically Deceived the Public.” I’ve been disappointed in Obama’s stance on G.M.O.s and the public’s right to know what’s in its food (88 percent of Americans want labeling).

The last book that made you furious?“Slow Death by Rubber Duck: The Secret Danger of Everyday Things” and “Toxin Toxout: Getting Harmful Chemicals Out of Our Bodies and Our World,” by Bruce Lourie and Rick Smith. Our bodies, and more tragically, the bodies of our children, are paying a price in toxicity for big business. We are being poisoned, and we are poisoning the earth — cancer, autoimmune diseases, behavioral issues. . . . It’s difficult to not attribute the dramatic uptick to environmental factors, what’s happening with our food system, and what’s being put in our personal-care products.

The last book that made you furious?“Slow Death by Rubber Duck: The Secret Danger of Everyday Things” and “Toxin Toxout: Getting Harmful Chemicals Out of Our Bodies and Our World,” by Bruce Lourie and Rick Smith. Our bodies, and more tragically, the bodies of our children, are paying a price in toxicity for big business.

The last book that made you laugh?A lot of women writers make me laugh: “Uganda Be Kidding Me,” by Chelsea Handler; “Bossypants,” by Tina Fey; “Where’d You Go, Bernadette,” by Maria Semple; “Year of Yes,” by Shonda Rhimes.

The last book that made you laugh?A lot of women writers make me laugh: “Uganda Be Kidding Me,” by Chelsea Handler; “Bossypants,” by Tina Fey; “Where’d You Go, Bernadette,” by Maria Semple; “Year of Yes,” by Shonda Rhimes.

A lot of women writers make me laugh: “Uganda Be Kidding Me,” by Chelsea Handler; “Bossypants,” by Tina Fey; “Where’d You Go, Bernadette,” by Maria Semple; “Year of Yes,” by Shonda Rhimes

A lot of women writers make me laugh: “Uganda Be Kidding Me,” by Chelsea Handler; “Bossypants,” by Tina Fey; “Where’d You Go, Bernadette,” by Maria Semple; “Year of Yes,” by Shonda Rhimes.

What’s the last book that made you cry?“A Little Life,” by Hanya Yanagihara.

What books are currently on your night stand?“The Screwtape Letters,” by C. S. Lewis; Kelly Brogan, M.D.; “Originals,” by Adam Grant; “The Path: What Chinese Philosophers Can Teach Us About the Good Life”; “Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End,” by Atul Gawande.

What books are currently on your night stand?“The Screwtape Letters,” by C. S. Lewis; Kelly Brogan, M.D.; “Originals,” by Adam Grant; “The Path: What Chinese Philosophers Can Teach Us About the Good Life”; “Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End,” by Atul Gawande.

What books are currently on your night stand?“The Screwtape Letters,” by C. S. Lewis; Kelly Brogan, M.D.; “Originals,” by Adam Grant; “The Path: What Chinese Philosophers Can Teach Us About the Good Life”; “Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End,” by Atul Gawande.

What books are currently on your night stand?“The Screwtape Letters,” by C. S. Lewis; Kelly Brogan, M.D.; “Originals,” by Adam Grant; “The Path: What Chinese Philosophers Can Teach Us About the Good Life”; “Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End,” by Atul Gawande.

The Catcher in the Rye was assigned reading for me in seventh grade. I think the reason everybody in the world connects with this book is because it's about being isolated—just slightly outside of what you perceive to be the norm. It's the ultimate story of being a little bit on the outside, and I think everybody sort of regards themselves as being that way. And the language! It was the first book I ever read that made me laugh out loud.

My mom, who has this very rich voice, would read this book to me when I was really little. I would lie there in bed, and she'd say, 'Goodnight moon,' and do the whole thing. So I associate this book with safety and love. My parents got me the French translation for Christmas a few years ago (I've always been a bit of a Francophile), and I keep it by my bed. I just love the idea of blessing everything that's near and dear to you before you go to sleep with a simple 'Goodnight.'

The whole family dynamic in Franny and Zooey is fascinating. But for me, this book is all about the end, when Franny comes apart in the bedroom. The delicacy of someone that intelligent being so close to falling to pieces is intriguing to me.

This is one of the most visual books I've ever read. I just felt as if I was witnessing every scene firsthand, and my imagination was painting the most colorful pictures of North Africa, the cafés and the desert. I remember that when I read it, I was completely taken away from my life. Actually, I think this was one of the books Ethan [Hawke] gave me.

One of my all-time favorite novels is Crime and Punishment. I read it in high school, and for some terrifying reason, I really identified with Raskolnikov. It's so funny, because he sort of behaves amorally, but he has an incredible sense of right and wrong. Obviously, I couldn't identify with him as a killer, but I could understand what it means to know that something's wrong but do it anyway. I was 17 when I read it, and the feeling of having betrayed one's sense of right and wrong—and then living with the consequences—was something that I could completely identify with.

My mother, who is this brilliant actress [Blythe Danner], started reading Jane Eyre to me when I was probably 9 or 10 years old. It was the first adult book that I got lost in. There's one scene when Jane is a child living with her relatives, and an older cousin begins to torture her. She fights back, but ends up getting locked away in a room as punishment. I so felt her frustration. When I read it again later in school, I connected to different parts of the book—especially the scenes with Jane as a young governess, new to Rochester's house and rather unsure of herself.

In the middle of all this, I went into work one day and found that Ethan had left me a big cardboard box full of his favorite books: The Stranger by Albert Camus, Motel Chronicles by Sam Shepard, The Passion by Jeanette Winterson, to name a few. Isn't that the best present? He gave the books to me with the intention of taking me outside myself and having me connect with poetry and literature—things he thought would give me perspective and make me feel better. It was such a generous gesture.

In the middle of all this, I went into work one day and found that Ethan had left me a big cardboard box full of his favorite books: The Stranger by Albert Camus, Motel Chronicles by Sam Shepard, The Passion by Jeanette Winterson, to name a few. Isn't that the best present? He gave the books to me with the intention of taking me outside myself and having me connect with poetry and literature—things he thought would give me perspective and make me feel better. It was such a generous gesture.

In the middle of all this, I went into work one day and found that Ethan had left me a big cardboard box full of his favorite books: The Stranger by Albert Camus, Motel Chronicles by Sam Shepard, The Passion by Jeanette Winterson, to name a few. Isn't that the best present? He gave the books to me with the intention of taking me outside myself and having me connect with poetry and literature—things he thought would give me perspective and make me feel better. It was such a generous gesture.

I have a lot of time to read when I'm on a movie set, and I've been really lucky to have been given some great literary works over the past several years. I have the issue of Poetry magazine in which "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T. S. Eliot was first published, and I have first editions of the works of J. D. Salinger.