You must be hard to buy gifts for, what’s something you don’t have but have always wanted?
"I’m actually not that hard to buy for. I am always happy to receive a book of any kind. If we’re talking big-ticket items, I have always wanted a mangle. A mangle is a machine for ironing laundry by passing it between heated rollers. I know that is the strangest answer but I really do want one. I find ironing to be one of my favorite ways to relax—weird but true. I also want a tepee and I asked Martha for a camel for my fortieth birthday. I’m still waiting."

"The Saarinen Grasshopper chair sits in one corner of the library and is populated by a growing menagerie including an octopus, giraffes, and Elmo, who is hiding in his box."

Photographed by Amelia Alpaugh