What moves you most in a work of literature?

When someone finds a new way to describe love or grief.

Or when you realize that the storyteller has been doing something to you without you realizing. Sometimes just the artistry of the writing can move me! I love being manipulated!

Do you prefer books that reach you emotionally, or intellectually?

Agh, if I had to choose, I’d say emotionally. But ideally there’s both.

How do you organize your books?

I don’t! They are all over the place!

What book might people be surprised to find on your shelves?

I’m a big fan of Charles Bukowski. He was an old dog, but I love how visceral his writing is.

Have you ever changed your opinion of a book based on information about the author?

“Frankenstein” took my breath away, but when I discovered Mary Shelley was 19 when she wrote it my head blew off.

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

I do have a penchant for an antiheroine/hero. I prefer not to know exactly how I feel about a character. I definitely started walking like a badass while reading Lisbeth Salander. I was horrified yet set alight by the brutal amorality of Sebastian Dangerfield from J. P. Donleavy’s “The Ginger Man,” and I’ll never quite shake the impact of Cheryl Glickman from “The First Bad Man,” by Miranda July. Humbert Humbert in “Lolita” was the most unforgettable, uncomfortable relationship I’ve had with a character I can remember. There are so many!

What kind of reader were you as a child? Which childhood books and authors stick with you most?

I was obsessive about particular books. There’s no cool way of saying this but I was really into irreverent poetry for my first decade and a half. Most likely set off by my poor grandmother. I never went anywhere without my copy of “Thawing Frozen Frogs,” by Brian Patten. The Point Horror books were a feature, Roald Dahl was a champion, but Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” trilogy defined me as a young reader. I lived between those pages. I remember the physical ache of wanting to be deep in those worlds. I even wrote to Pullman asking if I could play Lyra. Still waiting.