The five-time Oscar nominee wants to thank the old boyfriend who gave
her a fascinating French novel of over-the-top amour—and a shot of
intellectual confidence; the cookbook/storybook that turned her on to
Italian cooking; and the haunting modern classic by Richard Yates
that inspired her next film.

An ex-boyfriend and I used to go to breakfast every Sunday in London
at a funny old café near Earl's Court. Afterward we'd go into this
enormous bookstore, and we'd have to buy the other person a book. It
was a really nice thing to do. I think sometimes when you're young,
and even when you're older, purchasing a book for yourself or anyone
else can be terrifying. I left school when I was 16, and I always
felt—actually still do in some ways—intellectually insecure.

He was 11 years older, this boyfriend, and this was his way of
letting me know that it was perfectly okay to have an opinion, of
helping me overcome my own insecurities—which is pretty spectacular.
One day he picked up a copy of Thérèse Raquin, and I thought, You've
got to be kidding me. But he said, "This is one of the most
extraordinary love stories ever written." And that book, which is one
of the five that changed my life, has never left me.

Thérèse Raquin By Émile Zola

This story seeps into your insides—the way Zola describes the
intensity of the relationship between a woman and the man with whom
she has an affair. When you meet Thérèse, she barely speaks. She's so
numb and stagnant. I think we've all been in those emotional places
at one time or another. That lack of courage, lack of confidence, has
always profoundly disturbed me. She is transformed through passion
and desperation. She and Laurent love each other so much that
everything else fades away. They don't think beyond being together.
And, of course, it's the act that makes that possible—drowning her
husband—that destroys them.

Made in Italy:Food & Stories By Giorgio Locatelli

Food is one of the sexiest, most glorious pleasures that can possibly
be had. I happen to love preparing it, I love eating it, I love
sharing it. I cannot stand cookbooks that don't have pictures. You
want to have evidence that this is going to be delicious. I love
Giorgio's book because where there's a recipe, there's a picture of
it. It's full of his love of food, the various taste sensations he's
experienced throughout his life, recipes, and pages of ingredients. I
actually know this family, but that aside, this genuinely is one of
my favorite books. Giorgio talks you through the stages of making
something in a way that's incredibly coherent and easy to follow.

Revolutionary Road By Richard Yates

Frank and April Wheeler meet in New York. He has bohemian ideas; she
is a woman who believed that she was going to be something special
among a group of special people. After they move to the suburbs, you
see quite clearly the isolation they feel once severed from the city.
In the moments when the two are happy, you see how happiness can be
reignited in a relationship that's starting to go sour, but they
insist on seeing themselves as a kind of golden couple, destined for
a more glamorous life. It's really a story about disappointment—and
how that can destroy one's soul. [Winslet plays April in a movie
based on the book, co-starring Leonardo DiCaprio and directed by her
husband, Sam Mendes, in theaters in December.]

Boost Your Child's Immune System By Lucy Burney

My copy is covered in splotches and coffee rings—it literally goes
everywhere with me. I found it through my sister, whose son is two
months younger than my daughter. He had allergies that manifested in
chronic eczema, and Burney helped her figure out what he might be
intolerant of. Then my daughter got whooping cough, even though she'd
been vaccinated. So I thought, Hang on, I need to know more. I think
every parent has a different theory about parenting, and we live in a
world where one day pomegranate juice is said to be good for you, and
one day it's blueberry juice. We all want to do the right thing for
our children, and I have found this book an incredible way to help
mine have a healthy life.

The Waterline By Joseph Olshan

This novel begins with two young boys playing at the edge of a lake,
and one drowns. That event influences everything to come for the
survivor—his relationships, his fear of love, his failure to trust. I
read the book a long time ago, but one thing has stayed with me: the
way a trauma in childhood—though the memory is so blurred and
disjointed—can affect us deeply without our even realizing it.

Kate Winslet is the new ambassador for Lancôme's Trésor. She will
star in Revolutionary Road, due out in December.

Source: Oprah.com (Thanks titanicfan on the Forum)