Over the next few weeks we’re participating in a work experience program with students from high schools across Melbourne. Here, Matilda Morley tells us about her favourite books.

How would you describe your taste in books? Do you like romance or adventure, science fiction or history, etc?

In general, my taste in books is pretty varied. A few years ago my favourite genre was fantasy and I do still love it, but over the past year or so I’ve been getting back into reading more and reading from a wider range of genres - fantasy, adventure, romance etc. Now, no particular genre is my only favourite. Even though I do enjoy a bit of a love story now and then, I think a lot of books overkill it. Every once in a while I get sick of reading so many romances between teens and I have to read something completely different to break up the mushy monotony.

Tell us about one of your favourite books. When did you first read it? Have you read it more than once? Did you have a different favourite book before now?

I have a lot of favourite books, but one of my current favourites is Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. I bought it on holiday in Adelaide last school holidays (in April) and read it soon after. I also re-read it last week when my school was doing exams.

I loved it because even though it was all about teenagers falling in love, the characters were so different from your usual love interest people. In most romance novels, the girl is tall, skinny and quirky with pretty hair and low self-esteem and the guy is your conventionally attractive cool guy with philosophical insights and a massive vocabulary, but Eleanor & Park smashes these stereotypes into oblivion. Eleanor is not exactly an hourglass figure, more like a pear shape, with long, curly, unruly red hair and serious wardrobe (and family) issues. Park is Asian, and way shorter than the rest of the guys in his family. In addition to this, the book is set in the mid-80s, also unlike many novels I’ve read. Really, I just found the book refreshing after so many John Green-style books. (Not that there’s anything at all wrong with John Green. I love his books.)

Other previous favourites of mine are the Oracles of Fire series by Byian Davis, Defiance by C.J. Redwine and It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini. When I was younger I was literally obsessed with A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket (I still do love them) and the Ranger’s Apprentice series.

Do you and your friends share books with each other? What is one your friend has liked, but you haven’t?

Sometimes my friend and I share books, but a lot of my friends don’t really read much. Last year I borrowed the Harry Potter books from my friend Kelsey and I liked them, but not nearly to the extent that she does. She’s also really into the Hunger Games and Divergent series but I didn’t particularly like Divergent all that much.

I read the first book a few months ago and it was pretty good, it just seemed really generic and predictable. I probably would’ve liked it if it had been the first dystopian novel I’ve read but all the ones I’ve read have had the same basic structure: female protagonist who is ‘plain’ in a world where everyone is separated into different classes/areas, the government is corrupted, male protagonist and female protagonist fall in love, a war begins (usually between the government and the people), and then the first book in the series is ended on a ‘we will defeat them’ note. There’s nothing wrong with these books - I think they’re great - it’s just that after the first few you start to get bored.

Winter has now officially begun, which means it’s perfect weather for reading. What’s your recommendation for a great book to read during the cool months?

I think a great book to read would be 1984 by George Orwell. I read it for a school book report, and it is chilling yet fantastic. It seems long and boring, but it really pulls you in and it would be a great read for the winter months. Another book (less dark and surreal) is Eleanor & Park, which I mentioned earlier, or a John-Green-a-thon would be fun for teen fiction fans.

What is a book you’d love to see made into a film? Who would play the lead role?

I would love to see a movie made based on any of my favourite books, just as long as they stay true to the book. I know they made a movie from The Fault in Our Stars (and I’ve heard it’s great), but I think Paper Towns would also make a great movie. Eleanor & Park has a lot of potential, and should be handled carefully if made into a movie. The Oracles of Fire books would also make fantastic movies, but they’d probably end up as epic Lord of the Rings-length movies if they stayed true to the books.

And one request for movie adapters: stop making every single ‘plain’ female character into a supermodel!