The conversation 2

I think that’s really tough because it depends a lot on the person, I think.

But, I think the one thing I would say I think everybody should read is Harry Potter.

I think, from, like, all of my friends that are my age, we all kind of read it when we were young and it just becomes, like, everyone knows what you mean when you talk about your Hogwarts house, for example.

And you just kind of lose yourself in this fantasy.

The book that you read as a child, I still kind of re- read it every few years and a lot of people have said that it’s helped them deal with, like, grief and things like that.

So, I think it’s actually quite powerful.

I think also because, like you were saying, you, you, sort of grew up with it.

So you grew up with the characters and, and they kind of become part of some larger literal, literary, literary, sorry, family.

And everybody knows what everybody else is talking about.

But then having said that, I’ve, I’ve never read it. I’ve never seen the films.

Now I’m shocked.

And then when people are talking about it – in the office or when I’m out – I haven’t got a clue what they’re talking about.

And I feel a little bit out of it and maybe, maybe I should read it.

You should!

I think only for, from a sort of social perspective.

It’s so huge and it’s influenced so many people in every country – not just in the UK, or not just Western countries – but all over the world that I think it becomes, like you were saying, a common language of sorts.

And also becomes a, almost like a social history in a way.

So it becomes – it’s more than a book. It’s a kind of a common experience.

I once read... The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, that was a good book. Very short book.

And it was about a gentleman, he had a stroke and he only could communicate the book through blinking an eye... an eyelid.

And it was quite a moving thing to read, but also uplifting as well at the same time. I’d definitely recommend it.

Things like that are great because it’s learning about other people’s experiences...

... and kind of finding empathy or...

... just experiencing ‘Oh my goodness this has happened to someone’.

So, I read a great book recently by Dolly Alderton – just about her life and her growing up and things and just, it’s kind of like a real celebration of, like, female friendship.

And I just wanted to recommend it to all my friends.

It’s present day, so it’s about her growing up.

It’s called Everything I Know About Love.

I think that what you said there about empathy and understanding other people’s experiences, I think that is the key to any good book.

And I think that is what makes books so important.

Not only to expand people’s imagination, and their minds, and, and practical knowledge, but the idea of empathy, particularly in the world we live in today, it’s sort of allowing that time to understand other people’s experiences is vital, I think.