Celeste Ng: 'I couldn't finish Knausgård's My Struggle. Time is finite'
The book I am currently readingOn Immunity by Eula Biss. I’m rereading it as a reminder of how immunity and wellness are a community responsibility, and how inextricably linked our health is to those around us, whether we like it or not.
The book that changed my lifeTransformationsby Anne Sexton. My sister gave it to me when I was 13. It showed me you can always interpret old stories in new and modern (and personal) ways.
The book I wish I’d writtenThe God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. If you read it, you’ll understand.
The book that most influenced my writingAlso The God of Small Things. I reread it every year; there’s so much to learn from it.
The book I think is most overratedMy Struggleby Karl Ove Knausgård. What really frustrates me about it is that, for centuries, extremely average straight white men get volumes to tell every detail of their lives, while stories by anyone else (especially women and people of colour) have to fight to be published at all.
The book I couldn’t finishI’ll just refer you to the last question. I did try. And then I realised that time is finite and I moved on; no hard feelings.
The book that changed my mindMost recently On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder. I’d been feeling the world was a hopeless place; after I read it I felt maybe we still have time to learn from history and change our course.
The last book that made me cryGood Talkby Mira Jacob, a graphic memoir about growing up non-white in America, raising a multiracial child in the age of Donald Trump and so much more. It hit so close to home.
The book I’m most ashamed not to have readTo the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf.There are lots of books I haven’t read and I’m not particularly ashamed, but I know I’m missing out with this one. Must rectify this instantly.
My earliest reading memoryI was in nursery school, it was nap time and the teacher took away my book (The Three Musketeers– I still remember its odd pink cover). I just lay there furious and awake. It never happened again and I learned years later that my mother had spoken sharply to the teacher about me being allowed to read!
My reading guilty pleasureAgatha
Christie! Though I don’t feel a lot of guilt about it. She’s such a master of plot and misdirection and quick character sketches.
The book I most often give as a giftWait, do people give the same book over and over? I always try to give one that the recipient didn’t know they needed. For me that’s the fun of bookgiving: guessing at someone’s taste.
• The TV adaptation of Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere is available on Amazon Prime UK from 22 May.