The book I am currently reading

The Emily Wilson translation of The Odyssey.

The book that changed my life

Jane Austen’s Emma.

The book I wish I’d written

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson; except that, if I had written it, I would see the joins and scratches and compromises. So, none.

The book that had the greatest influence on my writing

Northern Lights by Philip Pullman.

The book I think is most underrated

Juggling by Barbara Trapido is, I think, already well known but it should be even more so. It has the best piece of Shakespeare criticism in it I’ve ever read.

The last book that made me cry/laugh

The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard. I laughed and gasped with envy and wept enough to wash a small cat.

The book I couldn’t finish

I have not read the war parts of War and Peace.

The book I’m most ashamed not to have read

If I still haven’t read Moby-Dick when I die, then I shall have the grace to be ashamed: but not until then. There’s time still.

The book I most often give as a gift

The collected verse of John Donne.

The book I’d most like to be remembered for

The book I’m writing now, I hope, if it works. Or perhaps the one after that.

Katherine Rundell’s novel The Explorer is on the shortlist for the Costa children’s book award.