Lit Lite Soirees

Lola Ogunnaike’s description of Lit Lite, a weekly series where performers select and read from their favorite bad books, made me want to check it out. Recent selections include work by Ethan Hawke, Naomi Campbell, and Eve Ensler.

“I am unfortunately one of those lonely sad people that reads a lot,” said [Lit Lite creator] Mr. Hendrix in an interview, “and I’ve always been drawn to bad books.” Asked why he prefers cringe-inducing texts to works from the literary canon Mr. Hendrix said, “Good literature is a little bit boring and precious.” He pointed to Jonathan Franzen’s “Corrections” and the works of David Foster Wallace to illustrate his point, saying he would rather curl up with “I Was a White Slave in Harlem,” the autobiography of the drag queen Margo Howard-Howard. Speaking of slavery and drag queens. Originally, Flotilla DeBarge, a statuesque drag queen who bears more than a passing resemblance to the talk show host Star Jones, was to read that evening from “Swan,” a novel by the model Naomi Campbell. Ms. DeBarge and Mr. Hendrix decided that while Ms. Campbell’s book was awful, it was not gripping; instead they opted for Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”

The show’s curators don’t just pick from the fiction shelves–their next selection is the Abercrombie and Fitch catalog (What? It has words?)