15 Comfy Reading Chairs
- Book Lovers Wish List, BOOKS & HOME, READING ESSENTIALS
- October 9, 2017
CONTRIBUTOR
E. J. Bouinatchova
E. J. Bouinatchova was born in New England when people actually still farmed and fished for a living. She attended Emerson College in Boston, studying with Kristin Linklater in the performing arts program and later worked as an actress in Boston performing in everything from a comic book adaptation to Shakespeare. "Playing Prospero in the Tempest was the first time I discovered the power of a truly great character." As a lifelong artist, E. J.’s background is telling: "I come from a family of artists, musicians, builders, and engineers. One grandmother was a jazz piano player, the other a well-known painter and sculptor in Canada. My husband is an artist who works in digital effects and video games. His father was a sculptor is Russia. Our kids are going to be artsy-fartsy nightmares." Later relocating to Los Angeles, where she has lived for the past fifteen years, E. J. says, "Coming from small town New England, California was complete culture shock. But I like the diversity, and I love LA!" E. J. confesses a lifelong love of books. "I spent most of my childhood in the land of make-believe, always wanting to travel to other places and be other people. There just seemed to be too many possibilities to remain my boring old self all the time." E.J.’s previous occupations include florist, jazz & blues singer, Shakespearean actress, and video game tester. "I'm a video game nut," she acknowledges, "and I am an unabashed sci-fi/fantasy nerd, as well as a horror fanatic. I like wacky stuff and hate formal stuff; I got hitched under an apple tree on my parents' farm and climbed a tree in my wedding dress. I have a lot of contradictions; I adore the fanciful yet I am a passionate rationalist and skeptic, a devotee of science, logic, common sense, and critical thinking." E. J.’s sultry memoir, Fresh Cut, will be published by Open Books in Summer, 2015.
