My earliest reading memory
Central Library on Holloway Road in London. My mum used to take me when I was little and it was my favourite place. Apparently the first time I realised you have to return the books, my bottom lip began to wobble and my mum took them for another week to avoid making a scene.
My favourite book growing up
Milly-Molly-Mandy. The books are about a girl who wears a pink and white striped dress, lives in a thatched cottage and eats twice-baked cheese-filled jacket potatoes. A lifestyle I aspired to both then and now.
The book that changed me as a teenager
The first book that made me cry – Love Story by Erich Segal. I think it made me realise the simple fact of how stories can move us.
The writer who changed my mind
Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals. I read it when I was 24 and it completely changed the way I thought about consuming meat and fish.
The book that made me want to be a writer
High Fidelity. I didn’t know that books could be that funny while being that truthful about love. I met Nick Hornby and told him that it was a huge inspiration for my new novel about heartbreak. He didn’t seem to mind. I’m sure everyone who has ever written a book says that to him.
The book or author I came back to
I completely disengaged from Ted Hughes when I studied Sylvia Plath at uni, in the same way I’d unfollow a best friend’s ex-boyfriend on Instagram. I’ve since returned to his poetry with a more open mind.
The book I reread
Heartburn by Nora Ephron. I find new meaning in it with every year I get older. I give it to anyone with a broken heart.
The book I could never read again
I had a secret Mills & Boon habit in my teens that I’m not in a great rush to resume, but you never know. I contemplated it in the lockdowns.
The book I discovered later in life
The End of the Affair. I didn’t read any Graham Greene until I was 30 and I fell in love with his writing.
The book I am currently reading
Jordan Stephens’ memoir that’s out next year – Avoidance, Drugs, Heartbreak & Dogs. It’s like a song and a screenplay and a story all in one. It is brutally honest as well as poetic. I’m totally beguiled by it.
My comfort read
I have a rotation of books that all sit in the same place on my shelf in case of an emergency. They include the first two instalments of Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding, Nigella Lawson’s How to Eat, Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin, A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle, One Day by David Nicholls, Love, Nina by Nina Stibbe and anything by Nora Ephron. Each copy feels like an old friend.
• Good Material by Dolly Alderton is published by Fig Tree on 9 November (£18.99). To support the Guardian and Observer, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.
