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"  The creator of Scandal, Grey&amp;#039;s Anatomy, and Private Practice on the reads that inspire her writing \u2014 and her whole life. Stephen King taught me how to suck people in. As a child, I spent about 85 percent of my time with my nose buried in a book. I remember spending most nights huddled under the covers with my flashlight, reading Stephen King novels and short stories. When I was 9, each night I would read as many pages of The Stand as I could until Stephen King had scared me too much. Then I&amp;#039;d lock it inside my closet so the characters couldn&amp;#039;t get me. Honestly, I feel like I learned some of the best storytelling rules from his books. I read Little Women every time I break up with a guy. I&amp;#039;ve been turning to Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy for heartbreak solace since I was 13 and found out the guy I liked was interested in someone else. I&amp;#039;d go home and cry to my sisters, and then I&amp;#039;d read Louisa May Alcott. There&amp;#039;s some profound comfort in that book for me--Jo becomes a writer and finds her heart in a most unexpected place. Above all, we learn what Jo has always known: No matter who the guy is or how great he is, no one loves you like your sisters. The Kid saved my sanity while I waited for my kid. I&amp;#039;m 32, I&amp;#039;ve had a home visit, I&amp;#039;ve filled out the paperwork, and now I&amp;#039;m waiting and waiting to be picked by a birth mother to adopt her baby. Through it all, I keep on my person a tattered copy of this Dan Savage book. How the story of a white gay couple adopting a baby boy feels like exactly the same journey as a single black woman adopting a baby girl is its magic. Columbine convinced me to tell a hard story. I wanted to end the sixth season of Grey&amp;#039;s Anatomy with a hospital shooting, but I was worried about the portrayal of violence and how to convey the deeper message to the audience. Then I came across this book by Dave Cullen. Reading it broke my heart open. It&amp;#039;s not about a shooting as much as it&amp;#039;s about what happens to people who survive this kind of tragedy. It&amp;#039;s written with a raw honesty that helped me glimpse the emotional toll this kind of event can have. Anyone concerned about gunviolence in schools should consider it required reading. To Kill a Mockingbird just gets better with age. I&amp;#039;ve read Harper Lee&amp;#039;s masterpiece over and over again. It&amp;#039;s a great read at age 11 and 23 and 35. Recently, at 42, I took it on vacation to read again. Age changes the book, like a painting that changes when you look at it from different angles. I used to spend all my time thinking of Scout. Now I spend most of my time focused on Atticus and Tom and Boo Radley. It&amp;#039;s timeless and perfect; I can&amp;#039;t wait to share a copy with my daughters. Especially with my daughter named Harper. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.redbookmag.com/life/money-career/interviews/a14941/shonda-rhimes-interview-on-books/>