The Proust Questionnaire has its origins in a parlor game popularized (though not devised) by Marcel Proust, the French essayist and novelist, who believed that, in answering these questions, an individual reveals his or her true nature. Thank you Vanity Fair!

1. What is your idea of perfect happiness? A gigantic table filled with friends, vintage Vogue magazines, and a keg of iced coffee.

2. What is your greatest fear? That I will wake up inside the spider chase scene from the second Harry Potter movie.

3. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? I am very bad at returning tupperware and loaned books. Don’t give me anything you need back the next day.

4. What is the trait you most deplore in others? Bad tippers, impatient and/or incurious conversationalists, and people who rush me in the grocery checkout line are no friends of mine.

5. Which living person do you most admire? My mother. I respect and understand her more and more as I age. Also Hunter Harris, one of the funniest writers I’ve had the pleasure of reading in recent years.

6. What is your greatest extravagance? My Rent The Runway subscription that allows me to refer to myself with confidence as one of Boston’s most stylish residents. There are tens of us!

7. What is your current state of mind? Introspective.

8. What do you consider the most overrated virtue? Temperance.

9. On what occasion do you lie? Whenever the topic of Santa Claus comes up around children.

10. What do you most dislike about your appearance? The tree ring-esque forehead lines that appeared after I hit my late twenties.

11. Which living person do you most despise? Whoever you’re thinking of, I’m sure you’re correct.

12. What is the quality you most like in a man? Playfulness.

13. What is the quality you most like in a woman? Bravado.

14. Which words or phrases do you most overuse? “Fabulous” or “Here’s what I’ll say…”

15. What or who is the greatest love of your life? Paul Simon’s Graceland album.

16. When and where were you happiest? At 15, kayaking around the Baltic with a bunch of Swedish teens and eating hunks of cured meat and cheese and bread with our hands.

17. Which talent would you most like to have? I’d love to just open my mouth and sing with perfect pitch.

18. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? To see with 20/20 vision for once.

19. What do you consider your greatest achievement? Making a successful career pivot at a very young age.

20. If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be? A golden retriever living on Nantucket.

21. Where would you most like to live? In a little apartment overlooking the harbor in Galway. Above a pub with live music and excellent fries.

22. What is your most treasured possession? An ancient, dusty typewriter from the 1920s that I would love to be able to use one day.

23. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? Signal problems at rush hour on the Blue Line.

24. What is your favorite occupation? “Cultural Critic”

25. What is your most marked characteristic? My glasses. Can’t live without them!

26. What do you most value in your friends? Empathy and generosity.

27. Who are your favorite writers? Zadie Smith, Hunter S. Thompson, Eve Babitz, and Haruki Murakami when he’s not writing about women.

28. Who is your hero of fiction? Philip Marlowe, if only for his perfect zingers.

29. Which historical figure do you most identify with? Nora Ephron, but she would hate to be considered “historic.”

30. Who are your heroes in real life? Investigative reporters and war correspondents.

31. What are your favorite names? I love the names of old gods and goddesses. Is there a more perfect name than Aphrodite?

32. What is it that you most dislike? The feeling of seaweed wrapping around your legs when you’re swimming.

33. What is your greatest regret? Not saying “I love you” enough.

34. How would you like to die? Being smothered by too many sleepy kittens.

35. What is your motto? Life is long and I’m still young!