What are you reading right now?

My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh.

Tell us a bit about it:

It's a satire set in NY before 9/11, where a woman puts herself into a medically induced coma for a year. I've been looking for titles that relate to these strange times of self-isolation.

What is your favourite book of all time?

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Tell us a bit about it:

It's poetic. I find something new every time I read it. It gets misinterpreted in popular culture all the time as being overtly romantic but it's about loneliness, regret, disillusionment.

What book do you remember most from your childhood?

Goosebumps series [by R.L. Stine].

Tell us a bit about it:

I was an extremely anxious child but gravitated towards horror at a really young age. These books shaped the interests I have today.

Which of your books is battered from using over and over again?

The Collected Works of H.P. Lovecraft.

Tell us a bit about it:

An extremely problematic writer but many of his stories drip with atmosphere and the mythology-building he engaged in is second to none.

Which book do you feel depicts your own or another culture most vividly?

Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney.

Tell us a bit about it:

I feel like I've never read more real characters than the ones that Sally Rooney writes. She fully captures the spirit and culture of young Irish adults.

Was there a book that really changed your mind about something?

If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin.

Tell us a bit about it:

While it primarily deals with racial injustice in America, I feel like reading this taught me a lot about empathy.