The ##

Here at The ## we have a segment called Tumblrviews where we interview authors of popular Tumblrs websites. Today’s is with Lauren Leto, co-founder of Texts From Last Night, which, she wrote recently, went viral exactly one year ago. She first paid the site’s designer with a pair of Wayfarers.

What are your 10 favorite books?
TOP 10?! Christ. I don’t know. It changes. Here are the ones I know for sure:

• Dostoevsky’s Brothers Karamazov (THE GRAND INQUISITOR, ANYONE?! ANYONE?! Best passage of any novel in modern literature, period.)
• Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina
• Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
• Franny and Zooey by JD Salinger (Typical — I have a theory that one out of every three people who “love to read” are HUGE fans of F&Z. And yes, I put “love to read” in quotes because they’re usually people who also “love Woody Allen” but have only seen Annie Hall — we’re talking about fainsters [faux intellectual hipsters].)
• Walter Lippmann’s Drift and Mastery
• Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead
• Family Circle by Susan Braudy

What are the first five tabs in your browser every morning?

• TFLN’s admin page
• Twitter (embarrassing)
• Google (to figure out the meaning of some sex act in a text we received, etc.)

What’s your favorite obscure blog?
Dlisted.com (Is that still obscure? Michael K is the man).

And what’s your favorite obscure book?
Right now? Powering through Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bilgakov on the recommendations of several friends who acclaim it as one of the most underrated books in Russian literature and I’m beginning to agree.

Can you explain your Salinger Project?
Yes! It probably looks psycho. I made it in ninth-grade as a final project for my English class. I was grounded the last month of school and had nothing else to do but read Salinger’s work and biographies about his life. I went a bit overboard.

Do you have an all-time favorite text on TFLN?
The Simba one. I remember where I was when I posted it I laughed out loud in the middle of the coffeeshop. It was the funniest thing I’d ever read.

(519): and then she said I drew a line on her forehead with my cum and whispered “Simba” 

My friends and I always joke that the text would be even funnier if she said he also raised her over his balcony as all his friends bowed below, but we take what we can get.

Have you ever submitted your own TFLN?
I’m not going to incriminate myself!

Have you ever “Binged” anything?
Not in public? What does that mean?

Have you been tempted to start “BBMs From Last Night,” to appeal to the Investment Banking crowd?
Luckily, I’ve never tried to appeal to the Investment Banking crowd.

Favorite Mad Men character?
I’m terrible with TV. I’m being honest when I say, all I do is read.

If you could put one book on an Out of Print T-shirt, what would it be?
I’d say Franny and Zooey, but then I’d get the ten trillion people approaching you to tell you about how that is one of their most favorite books and I’d hate ‘em for it. I guess I’d get Lippmann’s Drift and Mastery on a shirt, that way if people approached me about it — I’d know they were pretty fucking sweet (and also possibly Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy majors!).

What apps do you have on your iPad?
TFLN app, iBooks, WordsWithFriends.

How did you come up with the idea for TFLN? Were you shocked by how quickly it grew?
Law school was boring me to death so I found a way to live through my friends. AND I get to read a lot (15,000 text messages a day, anyone?). Of course I was shocked with how quickly it grew — we thought we’d be lucky if we could make $100 on Google AdSense from the site. I never dreamed it’d grow to this size.

Do you suspect people fabricate TFLN?
YES, and I can TELL when they’re making a text up. They’ll send in the same text five different ways. I’m a drunk not a dingbat.

Do you still read TFLN?
Yes, I post a lot of the texts on my friend’s Facebook walls. Many texts relate to things I know my friends have done/want to/would do.

Favorite restaurant in New York? Favorite bar in New York?
I just moved here! Like, DAYS AGO. I don’t know yet. Frankies 17 is amazing Italian food. I liked this one place in Williamsburg that had mulled wine, but I don’t know the name of it.

What is your opinion of Tucker Max?
He’s TUCKER MAX. It’s always interesting with him.

What are your plans for the future?
The same plans as I have everyday, Pinky, to take over the world. MWAHAHA.