Ten minutes with... is a special series presented by Coode Street that sees readers and booklovers from around the world talk about what they're reading right now and what's getting them through these difficult times.

Today Gary is joined by novelist, poet, scholar, and teacher Theodora Goss, whose trilogy The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club, one of the more delightful fantasy series of the past few years, concluded last fall with The Sinister Mystery of the Mesmerizing Girl. We touch upon the story behind her narrative poem in The Book of Dragons, narrative poetry in general, the literature of monsters, relearning Hungarian, and the appeal of detective stories, Daphne Du Maurier, Shirley Jackson, Veronica Mars, and nature nonfiction.

Books mentioned include:

The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club by Theodora Goss

Snow White Learns Witchcraft by Theodora Goss

Medusa's Daughters: Magic and Monstrosity from Women Writers of the Fin-de-Siécle edited by Theodora Goss

Abigail by Magda Szabo

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

The Monster Theory Reader edited by Jeffrey Weinstock

On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears by Stephen T. Asma