I’m thinking of my high school music teacher, Tim Bruneau, in particular. But the teachers who got me really got me. I had a real problem with authority figures, which has served me pretty well in life. I’ll admit I often clashed with teachers. It was a mix of high culture and low culture and everything in between. He loved Puccini and John Wayne movies and old vaudeville routines. He loved Steinbeck, Hemingway, Saroyan, Kipling, Frost. My grandfather gave me a love of language early on and an unusual range to choose from. Is there a person who made an impact on your reading life – a teacher, a parent, a librarian or someone else? Even if you don’t like my writing, you’ll like what she does with it. She’s been voicing my books for ten years.

I have to mention my brilliant audiobook narrator Lauren Fortgang. And I love Joan Hickson’s recordings of the Miss Marple short stories, but those versions are impossible to find in the US. He is so good I forget I’m not listening to a multi-cast recording. I love all of the Agatha Christie that Hugh Fraser narrates. I listen to cozy mysteries when I’m on tour. Do you listen to audiobooks? If so, are there any titles or narrators you’d recommend? On my last vacation, I brought “The Queen of the Night” by Alexander Chee, “Under the Banner of Heaven” by Jon Krakauer, and “The Magpie Murders” by Anthony Horowitz. But when it comes to pleasure reading, it’s all about mood and recommendations from friends. Right now I’m writing a historical fantasy, so research is dictating all of my reading. Related: Sign up for our free newsletter about books, authors, reading and more

If you don’t find this graphic novel delightful, I don’t think we can be friends. It has heart, humor, beautiful mythology. I’ve given it to kids, adults, even my mom, who I don’t think has ever picked up a comic book. It’s the story of the first Chinese superhero, told in a very Golden Age of Comics way. Is there a book or books you always recommend to other readers? Her latest novel is “Hell Bent,” the sequel to “Ninth House,” is in stores this week, and she responded to the our questions as she embarked on her latest book tour. The Netflix series “Shadow and Bone” is based on her magical Grishaverse. Author Leigh Bardugo is the author of, among many other things, the Shadow and Bone trilogy and the Six of Crows duology.

Hell bent sequel