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Produced by the I-Lab at WBUR Boston.

From The New York Times and WBUR Boston, this is Modern Love.

Stories of Love, Loss and Redemption.

I'm your host, Magna Chakrabardi.

There's something wonderful about sharing your favorite books with the person you're falling in love with.

And Carla Derris was a long time book lover with a lot of favorites.

But she also had a secret.

Uzo Aduba reads Carla's essay, How Bibliophiles Flirt.

She stars in Mrs. America on FX on Hulu, which premieres on April 15th.

You might also know her from her Emmy award-winning performance as Suzanne Crazy Eyes Warren in Orange is the New Black.

During six years of singlehood in my 20s, I became a person I did not know.

Before, I had always been a reader.

I walked to the library several times a week as a kid and stayed up late into the night reading under my blankets with a flashlight.

I checked out so many books and returned them so quickly the librarian once snapped,

Don't take home so many books if you're not going to read them all.

But I did read them all. I said, unloading them into her arms.

I was in English major in college and went on to get a master's in literature.

But shortly after the spiral bound thesis took its place on my shelf next to the degree, I stopped reading.

It happened gradually, the way one heals or dies.

When I created my OKCupid profile, screen name, Ms. Bibliophile 52598,

I filled out the favorite book section, letting my taste in literature speak for me.

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