The book I am currently reading

Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney. I haven’t finished it yet, but I really like the way she writes – short, shocking, personal sentences. This is the first book I have read by her, and I think I will be picking up the other one.

The book that changed my life

The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton. All of her writing comforted me as a child, and her words helped a lot with my imagination and storytelling.

The book that is most overrated

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. I see a lot of people referencing this and comparing it to our current situation. I’m more interested in the comparisons we can make with The Handmaid’s Tale.

The book I wish I’d written

All of the Harry Potter books, for obvious reasons.

The book I’m most ashamed not to have read

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. Everyone kept talking about how brilliant it was, but it just looked so long. Pure laziness. (But it is nearly 1,000 pages.)

Growing up, I used to be very into books about wartime evacuees – I didn't want to be at home

The book that most influenced me

I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman by Nora Ephron. It triggered me to write my own book, and ask myself questions about who I was, what kind of woman I am and how the world had shaped me.

The last book that made me cry

I don’t cry reading books, I never have done. I think this says more about me than the books.

The last book that made me laugh

Mentors by Russell Brand. He is genuinely hilarious, and you can hear his voice in your head as you read his books.

The book I couldn’t finish

What Happened by Hillary Clinton. I just couldn’t get into it, even though I really wanted to know what did happen. I read so many articles and think pieces instead.

The book I most often give as a gift

My Thoughts Exactly by Lily Allen. Duh.

My earliest reading memory

I used to be very into books about kids in the second world war – evacuees in idyllic scenes in the countryside. Books like Carrie’s War by Nina Bawden and When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr. I think I was projecting, as I didn’t want to be at home, so being shipped off felt like something I would like.

My reading guilty pleasure

I don’t have one. No shame.

• My Thoughts Exactly by Lily Allen is published by Blink (RRP £8.99). To order a copy go to guardianbookshop.com. Free UK p&p on all online orders over £15.