What I’m reading right now…
Amy Poehler’s Yes Please – it’s making me laugh and cry. I limit myself to a little bit each day to savour it.

My favourite book growing up… 
I loved Winnetou a series about an Apache warrior, written by Karl May (a German who had never been to the US) and translated into Serbian (my first language). This is where I learnt my excellent hunting and fighting skills. Also how to move around without making a sound.

My all time favourite book is…
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. It was Nabokov’s first book in English after he emigrated from Russia and its brilliance brings tears to my own English-as-a-second-language eyes.

The book I would recommend everyone to read…
Winnetou. And if you can’t find an English translation, just call me up and I will happily recount all four volumes for you.

The book I wish I wrote…
The Three Musketeers. If I came out with it now, I imagine people would be quite surprised, as it’s a departure from my usual style (and in French!).

My guilty reading pleasure is…
I don’t feel guilty, because everything I read counts as ‘research’, even if it’s about puppies being cute. One day I might write about those puppies, so leave me alone.

The book on my bookshelf that I have never read… 
Don Quixote! But don’t worry, I’m about to.

The book that never should have been turned into a film…
Transformers. Oh, it wasn’t a book? Whatever. That film should never have been made.

My book is…
about romance scams and I spent a lot of time on internet dating sites assuming the identity of my dead great aunt.


the lyrics to songs I learnt as a teen, and this will hopefully be amusing when I am really old and can’t remember anything apart from all of Blood Sugar Sex Magik. 

My favourite place is…
my home.

The most dangerous thing I have ever done is…
put peroxide in my eyes instead of saline solution. Also, antagonise someone who had a gun. Also join a cult wearing a hidden camera. 

The first time I… wore a hidden camera I didn’t set it up properly and I started beeping. 

I regret…
going to the Russian bathhouse in New York, because I had a long, naked argument with an old woman (similar to what happens in the film Eastern Promises).

I remember…
giving my lunch to a dog for several days in grade three, thinking it was romantic (like in the books I read) and my mum finding out and being very angry. 

The one piece of advice I should have listened to but didn’t…
‘you should study something that will get you a well-paid job.’

I love…
the people I’ve met through my work. They include romance scam victims, scammers, ethnics, exorcists, possessed people, paralympians, offenders, nuns, cult members, love doll-enthusiasts, whalers, anti-whalers, those with rare genetic conditions, dwarves, trans people, and others who fit into the margins of society. I’ve learnt a lot from them, and they’ve helped me see the world for the diverse place it is. Which is easy to forget if you stick too close to your social circles and mainstream media.

I hate…
rats. (Which is unfortunate as I live in New York, which is their kingdom.)

I wish…
I could teleport.

I can’t say no to…
making a speech. In fact, I insist on doing it, even at weddings, even if I’m not asked to.

Yesterday, I…
worked from home, walked my dogs three times, went to the gym, drank two cocktails and ate dumplings.