what we find in other people - by Ava - bookbear express

I’ve been telling friends lately that the three most lucrative things you can be obsessed with are people, technology and money. You can be interested in all three, but you can really only be truly obsessed with one. For me, it’s always been people. When I was a kid I could barely talk to anyone else, so I spent all my time reading. But looking back I think my love of books stemmed not from a love of language (though I do love language), but from an interest in other people’s interiority. I wanted to know what other people experienced, and what they felt, and how they thought. And fiction was—still is, in my opinion—the best way to investigate that.

I’ve been telling friends lately that the three most lucrative things you can be obsessed with are people, technology and money. You can be interested in all three, but you can really only be truly obsessed with one. For me, it’s always been people. When I was a kid I could barely talk to anyone else, so I spent all my time reading. But looking back I think my love of books stemmed not from a love of language (though I do love language), but from an interest in other people’s interiority. I wanted to know what other people experienced, and what they felt, and how they thought. And fiction was—