The last book that made you laugh?

“Living With a SEAL,” by Jesse Itzler. It was unexpectedly funny. He really grabs you and drags you into his experience. One of the main lessons I took from the book — we can all push ourselves far more than we do — is delivered with a sense of humor that actually makes me more motivated than I would have been if it wasn’t so much fun.

The last book that made you furious?

Michelle Alexander’s “The New Jim Crow.” I opened it feeling like I knew a lot about mass incarceration, but she presents her case with such an unrelenting avalanche of evidence and data that I found myself even angrier at the depth and breadth of the problem. It is the one book I have given to my whole staff, and along with Senator Tom Harkin, I bought copies for every one of our Senate colleagues. I am happy that the urgency to reform our broken criminal justice system has found allies all across the political spectrum. To read that book is to conclude that this broken system is one of the most shameful, damning and tragic realities that currently exist in our nation.

Tell us about your favorite poem.

Langston Hughes is my favorite poet. Picking my favorite poem of his is tremendously difficult — there are many that have spoken deeply to me and have inspired me. One of my all-time favorites is “Dreams” — “Hold fast to dreams / For if dreams die / Life is a broken-winged bird / That cannot fly.” Hughes challenges us with such stark eloquence here, reminding us why imagination and aspiration are so important. Another poem of his I really like — especially at a time when national unity is so important — is: “There is a dream in the land / . . . This dream today embattled, / With its back against the wall — / To save the dream for one / It must be saved for ALL.”

And your favorite movie adaptation of a book.

Hmmm. I don’t know if I have a favorite. Most are just disappointing, once you’ve read the book. One I remember being excited about was “The Lovely Bones.” I was in a long-distance relationship, and my girlfriend decided we should read books together, so she chose first. I was not happy about her choice at first and tried to dissuade her, but to no avail. Before I knew it we were reading the book out loud to each other, over the phone, and I was drawn in; soon we were reading chapters on our own, and she was telling me to slow down and not get too far ahead. It was a beautiful, emotionally fulfilling book that I recommended to many, many others after I read it. So when the movie came out, it had absolutely no chance of living up to that experience. It’s so hard for any director to capture the grandeur of your imaginings; so hard for an actor to compete with characters who were first animated by the mind; no two-hour movie can encapsulate the breath and bounty of a book.

Who is your favorite fictional hero or heroine? Your favorite antihero or villain?

If I had to pick one, and it is painful to do so, it is Superman. I read comics (read graphic novels) as a kid and was drawn into the characters. I still love superheroes and am so happy that the Marvel and DC franchises have been given renewed life and vibrancy. I am enjoying the movies and TV programs and still have, in my home, big, colorful encyclopedias of both superhero universes that have definitely been well worn.

If you could require the president to read one book, what would it be?

It would be presumptuous of me to recommend a book to him — and the truth is, I’d much rather take a book recommendation from him than give one. I have great respect for the president, and being that he was a senator, I would want to know a recommendation he had for me at the beginning of my Senate career. But O.K., if you forced me, how about: “Bald Men Always Come Out on Top: 101 Ways to Use Your Head and Win With Skin.” I haven’t actually read that one, but it would be a gentle hint to him, basically saying: Come on, Mr. President, join the ranks of the bold bald men in America. Liberate your scalp. Let the gray go.