Welcome back to Hardcore Literature, your favourite book club.

Deep dives into the greatest books ever written.

Provocative poems, evocative epics, and life-changing literary analyses.

We don't just read the great books. We live them.

Together we'll suck the marrow out of Shakespeare, Homer, Tolstoy and many more.

We'll relish the most moving art ever committed to the page and stage from every age.

Join us and me, your host, Benjamin McAvoy, on the reading adventure of a lifetime with

hardcore literature.

Hello and welcome back to hardcore literature. I hope you're keeping well and I hope your reading is going well.

And today I wanted to do something a little bit different as it was my birthday a few days ago.

And I say different, but this is actually something I do every year, and I do like to put out these kinds of

conversations intermittently. Every year, I have this routine. It's a twofold routine where I reflect.

I reflect on my reading of great literature and also on life itself. And the second part of the

routine is I spend some time exploring and celebrating my heritage.

That's my little twofold birthday ritual that you can copy if you like the sound of it when it comes to

celebrating your own birthday.

So part one of the ritual is learn a little bit about your heritage and part two is to reflect think back

over the year just gone and consolidate your reading and living ask yourself what's on your mind

right now at this stage in your life and you'll find that you have all this psychic residue from

the books you've brought yourself to over the past year.

And this also sets the yardstick for measuring your growth next year because you'll be able to go back.

Look at what you've noted down.

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