Lane Moore: 5 Books That Make Me Feel Less Alone
Lane Moore is best known as an award-winning sex and relationships editor, a comic, a rock singer, an actor, and the author of How to Be Alone: If You Want To, and Even If You Don’t. But Lane’s story has had its fair share of ups and downs, from teaching herself how to become her own parent, to living as a homeless teenager in her car, to moving to New York City to pursue her dreams.
“When I didn’t feel like I had anyone who understood me, or saw me, or loved me in the way I wanted to be loved, books were my friends.”
Even as she felt increasingly cut off from others, she looked to her childhood heroines (like Anne of Green Gables) and romantic heroes (like Jim Halpert from The Office) to remain a hopeless romantic, and believed that she could create for herself the family she never had. “As far back as I can remember when I didn’t feel like I had anyone who understood me, or saw me, or loved me in the way I wanted to be loved, books were my friends. TV was my friend. Movies were my friend. I could turn to them, and they would take me in every time. Here are 5 books who took me in and kept me for as long as I needed to be loved.”
Want more of Moore 😏?
Join us on November 7th for the launch of her book, How to Be Alone. You can also follow Lane Twitter and Instagram.
Lane’s Book Picks:
1. Anne Of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
ANNE. OF. GREEN. GABLES!!!!!!!! GILBERT BLYTHHHHE!!! Man, I identified so wholly and eternally with Anne as a child: too loud, too passionate, loved words way too much in a way that made people uncomfortable, she was too much, she didn’t fit, she was housing so much pain in her little orphan body, and so was I. But then One Day she found a magical family who loved her and cared for her; the dream for many people who, like Anne, weren’t born into that. I really think the reason so many kids love books about orphans is because so many kids were born into families who have no idea what to do with them and it is so painful. And this book helped so much.
2. Matilda by Roald Dahl
I quote and reference Matilda and Anne of Green Gables so much in How To Be Alone because they really shaped me as a child who wanted so much to belong somewhere. Years later, I’d watch the movie alone constantly and weep when Miss Honey is just this magical angel who understands Matilda and loves her, easily, and without hesitation. Again, the dream for unloved/lonely/too many feelings little kids everywhere.
3. Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia by Marya Hornbacher
This is one of my all-time favorite books. Yes, it’s a memoir about anorexia and bulimia, but it’s so much more than “just” that. Marya’s words, for many years, stayed with me like a close friend. I read this book over and over again when I felt like I had no one and I needed a friend who was just as messy and emotional and angry and too loud and too big as I felt I was.
4. YOU by Caroline Kepnes
There’s something oddly comforting about Joe’s creepy yet weirdly attractive vibe that makes you feel like you’re hanging out with your close friend who you kind of hate who also kills people and hates women and fuck, why do you want to hang out with him? I’ve gotten rid of the Joe-esque men in my life, but reading this book, and knowing it was written by a woman who also hates Joes, is weirdly intimate and soothing to me. But I watch Scream 1–4 like every Friday, so there you go.
5. Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
I will never stop wanting the Practical Magic house or to live by the sea and have a family of witches who all have long hair and hug me a lot. Never.
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