Into it: Wendie Malick

... Reading?

Beside scripts? I read the Sunday New York Times Magazine and The Week in Review [section of the paper]. And I try to get through the puzzle. Beyond that, I read The New Yorker, and I have been picking through Thomas Ricks's book, Fiasco [about the Iraq war], which I'm finding fascinating. I want to read Barack Obama's book – The Audacity of Hope is such a great title. I've also been reading On Desire by William Irvine. It's that great question: What is a successful life? Are we, in fact, getting closer to real satisfaction ... or are we on this roller coaster? I loved Joan Didion's last book [The Year of Magical Thinking]. Her language is so gorgeous. I try to stay with her, where I wouldn't with everyone.

Sting was talking about this new album ["Songs from the Labyrinth"] that I'm really interested to hear. He and James Taylor are the "go to" artists when I don't know what I want to listen to, particularly if I'm feeling melancholy. James I know; we used to have summer houses near each other. He is like a great old pair of jeans; [it is] so comfortable being in the presence of his music. His early stuff is some of the most painfully beautiful music I know. Joni Mitchell's "Blue" ... that was one of those albums that I still find haunting and elegant and beautiful.

The only show I've watched with any regularity is Weeds, which is a very odd little thing, but it's quite fun. I try to watch The NewsHour every night and Jon Stewart when I can. Charlie Rose, too. What have I seen [at the cinema] most recently? Who Killed the Electric Car? and An Inconvenient Truth. So I guess you know where I stand politically!

• Wendie Malick plays the mother of the bride on "Big Day," premièring Tuesday, Nov. 28 at 9 p.m. on ABC.