Into It: Minnie Driver

What actress and musician Minnie Driver is reading, watching, and listening to...

from the July 6, 2007 edition

... Reading?

I've just finished reading Eat, Pray, Love [by Elizabeth Gilbert], which is amazing. It's not that it's light – it's incredibly deep and connected and wonderful – it's just that she writes with such lightness. I am reading again, for the millionth time, The Whitsun Weddings by Philip Larkin, which is one of my favorite anthologies of poetry. For those who think that British people are repressed thinkers, they should read this! His soul is so mighty and his poetry is divine.

... Watching?

I think Flight of the Conchords is the best thing that has been on television in a hundred years. It's on HBO. It's from New Zealand – about guys who are in a band, but they're also comedians. They're ingeniously funny.

... Listening to?

I've got to say that Wilco's ["Blue Sky Blue"] is the best record of the year. I think it's one of the most beautiful records I've ever heard. I really like this band [called] Midlake. "The Trials of Van Occupanther" has a song called "Bandit." It's all about, have you ever wanted to be set upon by bandits and have them make you give up everything you've got, and start anew? It's such a great idea for a record. It's super-romantic, but it just misses being pretentious, I think, because they're so consistent in the themes on their records. I'm a fairly obsessive Spoon fan and I've been listening to a lot of "Gimme Fiction." I don't imagine [their music] is a painstaking, ridiculously indulgent process. They seem like they are having such a good time playing the music. [Lyrics] are very important. A tune will stay with you, but lyrics are what connect you to the artist.

• Minnie Driver, star of "The Riches" on FX, releases her second album, "Seastories," July 10 on Zoë records.