When it comes to romance, some people just have more game than others. You might send flowers to your loved one for no reason, or leave romantic notes on their pillow, but have you ever thought to read them a 272-page historical novel about Nazi Germany’s siege of Leningrad as a bedtime story? You haven’t? Scrub.
Sen. Cory Booker, on the other hand, knows what’s up. In a Washington Post profile of Booker’s girlfriend, Rosario Dawson, the actress revealed that Booker read David Benioff’s novel City of Thieves to her over the phone (in, we have to assume, installments).
In a review of Benioff’s 2008 novel for Kirkus, a reviewer called it a “glorious second novel,” a “gut-churning thriller” and “the perfect novel for a Democratic presidential candidate to read to a movie star known for her breakout role in the 1995 indie film Kids.” (OK, we made up that last part.)
At the Cut, Amanda Arnold dubbed Booker “an Audiobook Boyfriend,” and noted that the senator also had a de facto book club with a previous girlfriend. Their choice? Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones, which is narrated by a murdered teenage girl.
We can’t wait to see which upbeat, romantic novel Booker chooses next. A Little Life? Flowers for Algernon? A Prayer for Owen Meany? Let us know what you decide, Senator!
Michael Schaub is an Austin, Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
