Christina Lambert, assistant professor of English, talks Indian food, literature, and paragliding.
If you could meet any author, who would you meet?
- S. Eliot loved to go out in London for a good dinner and a night at the theater. He’d often write his menu on the back of the playbill. I’d join for an evening of theater and good food, debrief the play we saw, and then sneak in a few questions about the “Quartets.”
Who is your favorite poet?
Right now, I’m on a real Denise Levertov kick. I keep telling folks that she’s having a revival, and what that mostly means is I’m encouraging people to buy her selected works or giving the book out as a gift.
What is your favorite movie?
I really struggle answering this question but love to go out to see movies. So, I’ll just say that I’d like to request everyone go see “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” so we can argue about them.
What is something you enjoy doing that most people don’t know about?
I once went paragliding in the Swiss Alps, and I would 10/10 do that again.
What is your favorite cuisine?
I love Italian and Indian food, but few meals can beat a perfectly cooked steak.
If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
If I could be anywhere right now, I’d choose to be sitting in front of St. Mary’s in Oxford, eating a scone, and sipping tea at Vaults & Garden.
What is a book that you would love to teach someday?
Marie Howe’s 2017 poetry collection, “Magdalene.”
What is your favorite outdoor activity?
Anything that happens on the water—paddle boarding, boating, swimming.
What is the most interesting object you own?
I’ve picked up a couple first edition books over the years, including “The Four Loves” and a few of Eliot’s plays. I also have an 1899 reprinting of “Persuasion.”
What is your favorite style of music?
I’ve come to realize that my go-to genre is sad, slow acoustic music, like Penny & Sparrow or Gregory Alan Isakov.
