If I never wrote another book, I think I’d probably choose The Host. The book I’d most like to be remembered for A story about a girl who, despite being bricked into a prison tower, somehow manages to be happy and see all the positives around herself, is a comfort to me. But during a pandemic, as we’re all struggling with staying in place, it felt like the right thing to be reading. First of all, it’s a tremendously good book, both entertaining and somehow lyrical in its prose, so it makes a great gift regardless of the condition of the world. This summer, it’s Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale. It’s probably not possible to read every book ever written, but my subconscious doesn’t know that. I don’t have any book I’m really ashamed I haven’t read, because I have a very optimistic mindset (which applies to books only) that I will eventually get around to everything. I almost never quit a book, but that one defeated me with stupidity. I couldn’t spend another minute inside a universe where anyone with half a brain would accept any part of that premise. Pretty early in the plot there was a coincidence so big, so impossible, so imbecilic, that I couldn’t move forward. I once bought a murder mystery by a popular author when I ran out of reading material in an airport. And Murderbot made me laugh out loud about every third page. I have never related to a killing machine more deeply. Murderbot is now one of my favourite characters, and kind of a piece of my soul.

I recently raced through Martha Wells’s Murderbot Diaries series, loving every minute. I don’t have any book I’m really ashamed I haven’t read, because I have a very optimistic mindset I love non-Eurocentric fables that are new to me. Such a beautiful story of impossible love and sacrifice. My last big book cry was during The Bird and the Blade by Megan Bannen. When the dam finally broke, what poured out was a pretty integrated mix of my entire reading experience. There isn’t a single book that I ever read that made me think, “I want to do that,” or even “I could do that.” When I was writing my first book, I had no conscious thought of “I want to shape my story like this or that great novel.” I think that over the course of my life I just filled up like a reservoir with all the stories I’ve ever read (and watched). I don’t think I have a true answer to this question.

The seeker sequel to the host