Books that made a difference to Gillian Anderson

Gillian Anderson is an award-winning film, television, and theatre actress whose credits include the roles of Special Agent Dana Scully in the long-running and critically-acclaimed drama series, The X-Files, ill-fated socialite Lily Bart in Terence Davies' masterpiece The House of Mirth, and Lady Dedlock in the BBC production of Charles Dickens' Bleak House.

One book that made a difference to her, as told to O, The Oprah Magazine:

The Speed of Light
by Elizabeth Rosner

A brother and sister, children of a Holocaust survivor, live in the same building. He's essentially an agoraphobic who has internalized the grief and pain of his parents; his sister has escaped it, or she thinks she has. When she has to go to Europe, she asks her housekeeper to check in on her sibling. You see a relationship develop between the brother and this South American woman, who has witnessed the massacre of her family. At one point, she leaves him a paper bag full of lemons. On each one, she's written a word or two to help him through the day. The gift of these succulent-smelling fruits is a wonderful image of a hidden man being led out of his skin through her beautiful gestures. I decided that I was going to option the book, adapt it, and direct it. That's still my goal.

Read about the other books that made a difference to Anderson.

--Marshal Zeringue