We hope you’re reading along with the Cityline Book Club and enjoying Come, Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant! Our Cityline team has been enjoying this fun and quirky read over the holidays, and we can’t wait to discuss it in our upcoming book club meeting! To help our book club get some additional insight into Grant as a writer, we asked her 10 questions about her writing habits and favourite books.

1. What was your favourite book as a child?

When I was very small: The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Then, when I was a little older: The Black Stallion. Then the Oz books. Then Sweet Valley High romances (Jessica was the evil twin). Then I loved Stephen King (still do).

2. What’s your current favourite book?

I don’t really have a favourite. But there are certain books that I love and will read over and over. I spent three years reading Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. I read it three times. It’s a complete world. I still haven’t figured out how he does it.

3. Was there a moment when you first knew you wanted to be a writer?

There were degrees of knowing. I think I knew I wanted to be a writer before I really understood what that meant. I was just a kid telling myself stories. Then in high school a teacher told me I could write, and I was so excited. I believed him.

4. What is your favourite music to write to?

I read somewhere that Stephen King wrote his early novels while high on cocaine and listening to heavy metal. I find that amazing. I’m the opposite. I’m not high, and I’ve got earplugs in my ears!

5. What author do you wish you could write like?

There are authors I admire, even worship, but I don’t wish I wrote like them. That would be like wishing I weren’t myself. Authors I worship: David Foster Wallace. Virginia Woolf. Stephen King. Vladimir Nabokov.

6. Where is your favourite place to write?

In a place where earplugs are not necessary because it is so quiet. On the other hand, I like writing on airplanes and in airports.

7. What time of day do you do your best writing?

In the morning, first thing, when the part of my brain that dreams is still active.

8. What was your last great read?

Nancy Mitford’s The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate. I’ve just discovered her. She’s hilarious and so clever.

9. What is the last book you gave as a gift?

Chris Hadfield’s An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth.

10. What do you do when you’re not writing?

I wrestle, do the odd electrical job, read, teach, try to fix things in my house.

Are you enjoying Come, Thou Tortoise so far? Share your thoughts in the comments – we can’t wait to discuss it with you. Stay tuned for an audio excerpt from the novel, read by Jessica Grant, coming up right here in the Cityline Book Club next week!