大象传媒

Author of High Fidelity, Nick Hornby, and Italian physicist Carlo Rovelli, writer of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, tell Harriett Gilbert about the books they love the most - and why. During the conversation a strange and interesting polarisation emerges between the two: between the romantic and the anti-romantic. The books we love turn out to reveal so much about the way we see ourselves and the world.
Nick chooses To Throw Away Unopened by Viv Albertine, which he says is the best book he's read in years. It's the story of her parents' disastrous marriage and bitter divorce and the effect on her and her sister, who were dragged into the warfare. Viv Albertine is the former guitarist of the punk group The Slits and this is her second memoir, after her phenomenal debut Clothes, Clothes, Clothes, Music, Music, Music, Boys, Boys, Boys. It prompts a startling early revelation from Carlo that casts an interesting light over the rest of the discussion..
Carlo the quantum physicist chooses a book he loves with all of his heart: White Nights, a short story by Fyodor Dostoyevsky that's unlike anything else he's written. Its view of the world is one he shares, one that's in almost complete opposition to the previous book.
Old School by Tobias Wolff is the book suggested by presenter Harriett Gilbert. And by this time it's clear who's going to like it and who isn't..
Producer Beth O'Dea
follow us on instagram at @agoodreadbbc and tell us if you've read any of the books and if you are a romantic or an anti-romantic