The author and illustrator of the popular children's book series How To Train Your Dragon, Cresida Cowell shares her literary preferences in an exclusive interview with Life. Cressida was inspired to write stories about dragons from her childhood holidays spend off the west coast of Scotland. She is also the author of the Emily Brown series of books. The film of How to Train Your Dragon which came out in 2010 was nominated for the 2011 BAFTAS and the Oscars Academy Awards. Cressida is a recipient of the Nestle Children's book award in 2006. A gifted writer, her How to Train Your Dragon series has caught the imagination of children (and adults) the world over.

First book you remember reading?
Green Eggs and Ham by Doctor Seuss.

What are you currently reading?
Love, Nina by Nina Stibbe.

How do you decide on what book to read?
I browse in bookshops, ask advice from the bookshop staff, I read the books columns in newspapers, take advice from friends.

One book you regret having read?
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It was too violent for me.

Who is your favourite author?
Harper Lee, who wrote ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’.

If you could ask him/her one question what would it be?
How could you resist writing another novel?

Three newly published books you would recommend?
Love, Nina by Nina Stibbe (a lovely portrait of a very particular part of north London in the 1980s)
Wonder by R J Palaccio (I loved reading this with my ten year old son)
Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter (I think this one was published last year but I have been recommending it ever since, a wonderful novel).

What is your absolute favourite non fiction book of all time? And why?
‘1599’ by William Shapiro. It is rare to find a new perspective on such well-travelled territory as the life of Shakespeare, but by concentrating on the single year of 1599, with exquisite attention to detail, William Shapiro brings that long-dead world vividly to life.

What is more important to you in a book, the writing the plot or the conclusion?
This is an impossible question – all of these things are so important you cannot separate one from another. I want the writing to be poetic and moving, I want the plot to surprise and enchant me, and I want the conclusion to be satisfying and yet somehow unexpected.

If you do re-read books what book have you re-read more than others?
Middlemarch by George Eliot. I re-read this at least once every decade, and it is like returning to a conversation with a witty, wise, and comfortable friend.

Is there a particular genre you opt to read? Is there an author who in your opinion defines this genre?
No, I read all genres –  thrillers, romance, history, biography, poetry, I am pretty eclectic in my reading.

As a literary enthusiast what have you gained from the books you have read?
Books are like opening doors into other worlds, and reading fiction is the finest way of encouraging empathy in a child. When you watch a movie or television, all the action happens ‘up there’, on the screen. But in a book, it is happening inside your head. In a lovely quote from ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’: ‘You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb in his skin and walk around in it’. Books are a unique medium that allow you to do this, to walk around in somebody else’s skin.

In your opinion the best movie adaptation of  a book is?
Well, I love the movie adaptation of my own book, ‘How to Train Your Dragon’…I guess I’d have to say that ‘Gone with the Wind’ is pretty unbeatable as a movie adaptation.

A character in a book you would like to bring back to life and why?
I love wise, gentle characters, so Atticus from ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, or the Warden, from Anthony Trollope’s the Warden. I’d bring them back to life because I’d like to ask their advice.

A memorable book from your childhod?
My favourite book when I was a child was called ‘The Ogre Downstairs’, by Diana Wynne Jones. This was the book that made me love ALL books, and want to become a writer one day myself. It was funny and magical, and it contained  a wicked stepfather, and a magic chemistry set, with chemicals that could make you fly, or bring your toys to life.

How would you encourage the younger generation to read?
I encourage my children to read by reading books aloud to them myself, even way beyond the age when they can read themselves. Books that are read to you in your parent’s voice live with you all your life.

By Tina Edward Gunawardhana