Welcome to Shelf Life, ELLE.com’s books column, in which authors share their most memorable reads. Whether you’re on the hunt for a book to console you, move you profoundly, or make you laugh, consider a recommendation from the writers in our series, who, like you (since you’re here), love books. Perhaps one of their favorite titles will become one of yours, too.
Kate McKinnon started working on her first book, The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette For Young Ladies of Mad Science (Little Brown for Young Readers) more than 10 years ago, even before she began performing sketch comedy on Saturday Night Live. Described in five words as “funny, sweet, adventure, mystery, science,” it’s the first in a middle-grade series about three sisters who get kicked out of one etiquette school only to land at another, this time under the tutelage of a mad scientist.
The Long Island, NY-born and -raised McKinnon is a two-time Emmy winner for SNL, which she started watching at age 12. Over her 11-season run, she played Hillary Clinton, Sen. Elizabeth Warren; Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and alien captive Colleen Rafferty. She has also starred in Ghostbusters, Office Christmas Party, Masterminds, Rough Night, The Spy Who Dumped Me, Bombshell, Yesterday, and her college suite-mate Greta Gerwig’s hit Barbie (as Weird Barbie). The comedian once made out with Charles Barkley on live TV; grew up loving movies (Pollyanna, Meet Me in St. Louis) set in upscale turn-of-the-century towns where dresses were white and social codes were draconian; played “Hallelujah” on the piano on SNL and hosted the show with musical guest Billie Eilish; once tried to rock a purple velveteen blazer a la Willy Wonka in school; umped Little League baseball games as a first job; has met contestants on RuPaul’s Drag Race; attended Columbia, where she started an musical improv comedy group; performed with Upright Citizens Brigade; and presented Ellen DeGeneres with the Carol Burnett lifetime achievement award at the Globes.
Likes: Bad experiences (bad weather, bad movies, bad train rides, bad restaurants, bad hotels) and being weird; the ocean (where she once thought she discovered white seaweed–it was a condom).
Not so much: Dressing fancy, change, good-byes, and her birthday; parties.
Good at: Cooking.
Bad at: Getting a Scottish person character on SNL; gambling; choreographed movement.
Fan of: “Filthy” by Justin Timberlake and musical theater (dream role: Miss Hannigan in Annie); progress; flats. The lowdown on her book recs below.
The book that:
…helped me through loss:
There are a few Mary Oliver poems about death—well, a few lines of a few poems—that have made the whole thing a little less awful, or at least a little more natural: “White Owl Flies Into and Out of a Field” and “In Blackwater Woods.”
…made me weep uncontrollably:
Kate DiCamillo’s The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. It’s about a self-absorbed stuffed bunny who loses everything and gains his soul. I…honestly, reading that was a punishment. I felt too much. She’s too good, that DiCamillo.
…shaped my worldview:
The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow. Not a fun read, or a fun notion, but it took some of the pressure off thinking I could control everything.
…I swear I’ll finish one day:
I am halfway through The Silk Roads, an incredible history by Peter Frankopan that stares at me from the shelf. It’s dense and long and incredible and is about my favorite time and place, but I might not be smart enough to finish it.
…has the best opening line:
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark. “The boys, as they talked to the girls from Marcia Blaine School, stood on the far side of their bicycles holding the handlebars, which established a protective fence of bicycle between the sexes, and the impression that at any moment the boys were likely to be away.” Come on.
…has a sex scene that will make you blush:
I read The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley in fourth grade, and I remember being truly scandalized. I’m not sure how the scenes would read to me now, but wow. That was…wow.
…features a character I love to hate:
The Witches by Roald Dahl. Is there a better villain than that Grand High Witch? Is there a bigger hypocrite, a more inauthentic philanthropist? Is there anything more frightening than that kind of inauthenticity?
…helped me become a better writer:
There are so many books whose line-by-line writing has inspired and informed how I think and speak, but in terms of constructing a story, I turn to my two favorite screenwriting books: Save the Cat by Blake Synder and Inside Story by Dara Marks.
…I’ve re-read the most:
Wise Child by Monica Furlong. It’s about a girl in medieval Scotland who gets adopted by a witch (a good one! She mostly does herbs!) Half the book is her learning how to sweep the house and dry catmint. It’s such a balm when you’re feeling overwhelmed by the unsustainability of modern life.
…I’d give to a new graduate:
Anna Quindlen’s A Short Guide to a Happy Life. My mom gave it to me. I love my mom. She reads more than anyone I’ve ever known.
Riza Cruz is an editor and writer based in New York.