Close Reader: An interview with Michelle

On Middlemarch, empathy in books, and her infamous moka pot

In this series, I ask some of my favorite Substack essayists, Bookstagrammers, and writers to share their reading and writing processes and habits, and tell us about the literary ideas they’re spending time with these days.

Today’s interview is with Michelle, who runs the beautiful and artful @meeeshreads account on Instagram. Michelle slipped into my DMs just a few days after I joined bookstagram — and we became fast friends, sharing everything from our love of modernist lit and literary fiction to our dreams of academia and the readerly life.

Michelle is one of the warmest and most articulate readers I’ve had the chance to meet on bookstagram, and I’m absolutely thrilled to share her answers to our interview today.

Let’s start with an introduction! What’s your name and where are you currently living? 

Hi, I'm Michelle! I live an hour north of New York City. I was in the city for nearly 10 years and moved this past summer.