What is Marc Acito reading?

The current featured contributor to Writers Read: Marc Acito, author of How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship and Musical Theater.

He writes:

I like funny books. There, I’ve said it. Call me a lightweight. (Please. I’ve been on a diet since I was fourteen.)

And, contrary to the paleolithic opinion of Christopher Hitchens in the January Vanity Fair, I find women to be very funny indeed. Lately, in fact, I find myself positively swimming in a sea of estrogen. In quick succession, I’ve devoured three terrific titles: [read about Acito's picks]

But why female writers?

I think it’s because, more often than comic male writers, they not only tickle the funny bone, but they tap an emotional vein. In my reading, I look for writers who achieve what I strive (and strive some more) to do myself — make readers laugh, make them cry, and make them think.

Visit Marc Acito's website and read an excerpt from How I Paid for College.

Check out Acito's five favorite authors.

The Page 99 Test: How I Paid for College.

Writers Read: Marc Acito.

--Marshal Zeringue