Each year, I record the books I read in the back of my diary. When a friend asks for reading recommendations for, say, a kayaking holiday in Vancouver, I just photograph the page and offer the numbers specific to that person’s taste and to a kayaking holiday in Vancouver: 2, 4, 17, 26 etc. No other words needed. This year I’ve recommended West by Carys Davies a lot. Also Robbie Arnott’s Flames, Jane Rawson’s From the Wreck, and Madame Zero by Sarah Hall. I get heaps of book recommendations from people on Twitter. A person I’ve never met says: ‘You would love this’. How do they know me so well?