This month, the Manhattanville Reading Series’ season finale features 2016 Whiting Award winner Mitchell S. Jackson (The Residue Years), as well as rising stars Nancy Hightower, Carrie Cooperrider, and Emily Cementina.

Deirdre Coyle is a writer, fashion librarian, and non-practicing mermaid living in Brooklyn. She edits Mixtape Methodology. Her work has been published in Goddessmode, Cheap Pop, Hello Giggles, Luna Luna Magazine, Fwriction: Review, Human Parts, and elsewhere. She tweets @DeirdreKoala. 

My favorite childhood book

I have a lot of childhood favs, but Dove Isabeau by Jane Yolen stands out. It’s about a girl who gets turned into a dragon, then back into a girl, then kills the villainess. There’s a cat in it, and a witch, and a prince (but who cares). My elementary school librarian read it to us and I checked it out over and over. I was obsessed with the heroine’s transformations.

The book I enjoyed most in school

I liked The Scarlet Letter in high school, but only because I liked Hester Prynne. Her beauty is described as “exquisitely painful,” which you have to admit is pretty goth. “She had dark and abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam…and deep black eyes.” Goth.

The classic I’m embarrassed to say I’ve never read

My first answer was “too many to count,” but the more honest answer is “zero.” I’m not that embarrassed because I find the idea of a literary canon embarrassing. People* sometimes act embarrassed on my behalf when they learn what I haven’t read. I usually say, “I know, it’s embarrassing!” Then I go back to reading witch poetry and sci-fi novels.

*men

A book I consider grossly overrated 

The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I like apocalypses and their aftermath as much as anyone, but I was bored.

The last book to make me laugh

IRL by Tommy Pico. I had to resist tweeting lines every couple pages. One of my favorites was “What kind of artless / simpleton says what they / truly feel?”

The last book to make me cry

The Girls by Emma Cline, but I’m not saying which part.

A book I wish I’d written

Black Cloud by Juliet Escoria. These stories have an emotional immediacy that I really admire/envy.

What I’m reading right now

Bad Behavior by Mary Gaitskill. I can’t believe I’m only just now reading her work.

The next book I’m going to read

Over for Rockwell by Uzodinma Okehi, recommended by both the internet and my mom.

My reading playlist – 5 books about: PUNK ROCK