I read every book Harry Styles has recommended and his taste is ✨immaculate✨ My Policeman I SEE YOU

Hello, friends. How the hell are you doing? When Harry Styles named his album Fine Line, I don't think he was referring to the song of the same title on the album. I think that he was referring to the very fine line there is between enjoying someone's music to a healthy extent and reading every single book they've ever recommended. And today we're going to be crossing that line. Because recently I have been using my time to research interviews, the internet, pretty much anywhere possible for books that Harry Styles has personally recommended. And here they are. So the plan for this week's video is to read all of these books and let you know what I think, which ones were my favourites and how I think these have influenced Harry Styles' music, his fashion, his aesthetic and his attitude to life. So I've got my work cut out for me. I guess you could say my time is fully booked. And with that one, I'm going to go. On tonight's program, ladies and gentlemen, we have something that's going to make you sick. Okay, so let's go. Welcome to the challenge. The first book that I read is Love is a Mixtape by Rob Sheffield. This is a book that Harry Styles has recommended multiple times. In fact, here is a picture of him reading it, just in case you weren't convinced. Unfortunately for me, I have to say I did not look like that whilst reading this book. I wish I did, but I didn't. What a sad little life, Jack. Anyways, this is a book all about love and heartache and music. Music is woven into the fabric of this book and this man's life. And you know what? That makes quite a lot of sense because Rob Sheffield, who wrote this book, is actually a contributing editor to Rolling Stone magazine, which I thought was really interesting. And the more I researched Rob Sheffield, firstly, he's the youngest looking 54-year-old I've ever seen. Like, where is that man's time machine? And can he help us skip to the bit where we're not in a pandemic? But also he, quite understandably, is a massive fan of Harry Styles. And that's interesting because I think having approval by major publications like Rolling Stone is kind of what cement you as a serious music artist. Like, Harry Styles has been on the cover of the magazine, he's done interviews for them, that kind of thing. And I think that Rob Sheffield has actually helped Harry Styles a lot because having his approval as such a huge figure in the music industry has helped Harry Styles be recognized as the serious musician that he is. Back to this book though, this is a memoir, which basically just means a historical account or biography written from personal knowledge. And in this instance, it is about, it's kind of like eulogizing Rob Sheffield's early wife, who unfortunately died very young. And as he experiences life, just like for so many of us, music is a huge influence. It's the soundtrack to our existences. So he talks about Nirvana, The Beatles, Aretha Franklin, Madonna, and so many other singers, artists, bands, and how their songs provide a backing track to so many moments in our lives that then become memories and songs become attached to memories. This is a really great book. I would honestly recommend this as a gift to anyone you know who loves music and reading because it's awesome. And now you join me over at my bookshelf where I'm about to start my second book, which is My Policeman by Bethan Roberts. Hello there, I am back and I've just finished this book. And oh my lord, this is freaking beautiful. Harry Styles has been spotted carrying this book around with him, as you can see here. Again, why don't I look that cool? And there are also quite a lot of rumors that he is going to be in the film adaptation of this book, which will be awesome. But I'll get onto that in a sec. It's about a woman called Marion who marries a policeman called Tom, who basically has a gay love affair with an older man. She ends up kind of having to share her husband with this man, but it ends up breaking all three of them in the process. It is incredibly told with scenes both in retrospect and in the moment. It really emphasizes the importance of different perspectives, but also things like identity, belonging, betrayal, and also acceptance or sometimes the lack thereof. Honestly, I'd recommend this book to anyone. I really enjoyed it. Although I will say I do maybe possibly, potentially, definitely have a massive soft spot for books about Brighton because I grew up around there. So whenever I read a book about Brighton, I feel like I instantly kind of just love it, especially when it's as well-written and captures human beings as well as this particular book does. Honestly, big fan. Not a police car going past as I'm filming a video about a book called My Policeman. This video is sponsored by the Metropolitan Police. Cheers, guys. You can stop now. Like I said before, there are rumors that Harry Styles and Lily James are meant to play the lead roles in the film adaptation. And if that is true, if that is true, oh my Lord. That is genius casting. I can completely imagine those two people playing these roles immaculately. But the fact that he was spotted carrying it around, I think does suggest that maybe there are some sort of truth to the rumors, but fingers crossed. And now on to the next book. Okay, I'm not going to lie. It may or may not be 3am. I've just finished rereading Susan Sontag's Notes on Camp. I have read this before. I read it during my degree at the time of the Met Gala when Notes on Camp was the theme. No, no, no, no. And the reason I'm bringing this one up is because Harry Styles was a host of the Met Gala that year alongside Lady Gaga and Anna Wintour and the theme was Notes on Camp. And it's just incredible. If any of you are interested in theory and pop culture, you will love reading this book. Well, it's kind of more like a big essay. It's not very long. And it's basically about the theory of camp in art. So camp with a capital C. It is incredibly dense theory, but I definitely think that a lot of Harry Styles' art is camp or campy. And this isn't to say anything about sexuality. We're not talking about sexuality here. Camp is not about sexuality. It's about eccentricity. It's about being daring. It's about being bold. It's about vulgarity. But it's not a joke. Everything is taken very, very seriously. So if you basically are being completely absurd, but being completely serious whilst doing it, that is camp with a capital C. That's like the most simple and concise way of explaining it. It is so much more complicated than that. And it's so fascinating. I'd really, really recommend reading it. Think about Harry Styles' fashion choice and his aesthetic. It's very, like, outrageous, bold, colourful. It makes me think of that suit he wore to the Brit Awards. You know, bright yellow with purple. It shouldn't work, but it does because he wears it with seriousness. And it's cool. And I can completely see why he was chosen as a co-host of the Met Gala when the theme was Notes on Camp because he embodies camp. But yeah, camp with a capital C is not about sexuality or anything like that. It's about art. And it's really cool. It's really interesting. And with that, my friends, I am going to bed. And we're back. Some time has passed, but I have just finished my next book, which is In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Broutigan. Now, this title may sound familiar to you. If not, I'm surprised you clicked on the video. I'm not going to lie. Of course, Watermelon Sugar was one of the singles from the Fine Line album. And it's also a certified bop. And in Harry's Tiny Desk concert, he did actually confirm that this book was the inspiration behind the song, Watermelon Sugar, or at least the title. He was gifted this book by his ex-girlfriend, Camille Rowe. It is very bizarre. It's surrealist. It's kind of about this utopia where everything is made of watermelon sugar. It's postmodern. It's post-apocalyptic. It's just really quite weird. And I think it kind of builds on the pastoral tradition. But this book is kind of about a utopia which turns out to not actually be as perfect as everyone once thought. It's kind of a society where they've got rid of materialism and consumerism. And honestly, it just turns out not to be as great as one might originally think. In the song, Watermelon Sugar, Harry obviously talks about a watermelon sugar high and how great it is. It's very euphoric. It's a really passionate, summery, positive, optimistic song. I think that that kind of could be linked to the idea of being so in love at the time and then the breakup sort of reminding you that actually things weren't perhaps as perfect as they once seemed. That's just a thought, but I think that the allusion to watermelon sugar that Harry makes could be a reference to how perfection can eventually crumble. Which is nice and depressing, so sorry about that. The next book is Siddhartha by Herman Hesse and I'm pretty sure that's all about spirituality. So hopefully, you know, things might start looking up from here. Okay, so I have finished reading Siddhartha, although I'm dressed kind of like Sunflower Volume 5. This is a book all about spirituality, the quest for spirituality, and ultimately finding that spirituality within oneself. So the eponymous protagonist, which basically just means the character who the book is named after, his name is Siddhartha and basically this is a narrative all about his quest for finding a higher state of being and the people and the customs and the cultures that he encounters along the way. Ultimately, what he kind of realizes is that organized religion and other people's interpretations of spirituality are all well and good and you can learn things from them, but you need to find a higher state of being within yourself and it needs to come from you and you need to find your own perfect way of being spiritual. So yeah, it was cool. I didn't love it, I didn't hate it. If you are into things like spirituality, by the way, take a shot every time I've said spirituality in the last minute because you're going to be hammered. If you are into reading that kind of thing, then I'm sure you'll really enjoy this book and Harry Styles himself has recommended this book alongside Rumi's poetry, which again is very much about spirituality and kindness and nature in his interview with Another Man where he spoke about the books that he couldn't live without and this was one of them. Incidentally, one of the other books that he talks about is Love is a Dog from Hell, which I also have been reading today. Today's a Sunday and it's just been very nice to sit back and read some poetry, eating my crisps and some caramelised onion hummus, which by the way is God tier. It's really been a fantastic vibe. I'm having a great time. This is a poetry collection called Love is a Dog from Hell by Charles Bukowski. He was known as being quite filthy. He referred to himself as a dirty old man and like, he's not wrong. Some of the poems at the beginning of this collection are so filthy, I felt like I needed to bleach my eyeballs just after reading them. But that's only a few examples. I think the way Bukowski uses language is really, really beautiful and it's simple but so effective. For honesty and verisimilitude, which is basically just presenting things in the most true possible form. That's kind of Bukowski's thing and Harry Styles has recommended Bukowski's poems so many times. And I can really see it. A lot of his songs, like From the Dining Table for instance, is pretty much a Bukowski poem set to music. I think a lot of Harry's songwriting style is definitely highly influenced by Bukowski. Not because they're filthy, I don't mean that side of it. I mean more in the sense that they're so realistic and accurately written to a real lived experience. But yeah, I really enjoyed this poetry collection. I'm so glad that this video led me to Charles Bukowski's poetry because I really enjoyed it. So that's another two books down. I'm going to carry on eating my hummus and I'm moving on to my next book which is The Course of Love by Alain de Peton. And I've heard good things about that book so I'm excited to get started with that one and as always, I'll let you know what I think. Okay, guys. I hate to say it. I hope I don't sound ridiculous. But I did not enjoy this book. Like at all. In fairness, I guess. This is the first time I've actually been disappointed so far by one of these books in this video. So that's a pretty high success rate. And I can see why people would have enjoyed this book. Especially people who are a bit older than me and maybe have been married and been through a long love story. It's basically about these two people who fall in love, get married, have kids and then their lives are just f***ing miserable. Like that is literally the plot of this book. These people just are not happy at all. It's quite a bleak representation of love, I'm not going to lie. I think the idea is that it's meant to be realistic and, you know, cut the crap. This is what real love is like. But I just found it a bit dull and a bit boring. Also, I kind of hated and by kind of I mean really hated the way it was written. Like, as we go through the narrative, quite frequently there are these interruptions by a kind of omniscient voice which gives these philosophical observations of love and the concept of love and it was just really annoying. I was like, shut up. Which I know is really terrible but I just, I didn't enjoy it. I like the cover though. The cover's very nice. And that's proof you cannot judge a book by its cover because the cover is actually good. Okay, so the next book that I've read for the purposes of... Actually, I don't know what the purpose of this video is. The next book I read was Three Women by Lisa Taddeo. This does pretty much what it says on the tin. It is a story of three different women. I think that the author actually set out to write a book about men but ended up always finding that the women in the narratives were always the most interesting characters. And as a result, we have a book that is all about women and femininity and sexuality. And it's gripping. It's really hard to put down. It's about trauma. It's about relationships. But they are all so intricately retold. And if you are a male feminist, as I hope every male watching this video is, and as myself and also Harry Styles who recommended this book also are, I think that this is really important for understanding, reading things like this, reading things from female perspectives and reading female experiences. It's really important to improving your feminism and improving how much you actually understand women's issues. So yeah, I enjoyed it. Thanks, Hazza, for the recommendation. And that is the penultimate book. Only one more to go. Okay, I just finished reading the final book of the challenge. I'm standing up. I haven't even put the camera down because I'm just so excited. That book in question was one of Harry Styles' favorite ever books, which he recommends all the time. And that is... And that is Norwegian Wood by Murakami. This book, of course, takes its title from the dreamy song by the Beatles, Norwegian Wood. And honestly, it's one of the most beautiful things I have ever read. My compliments to the chef. I think it captures young people and young people's minds so accurately. And it's just exquisite to read. Honestly, I'm converting. I'm a fanboy of this. This is my new Bible. Again, this is mostly very similitude, much like Charles Bukowski's poetry or Harry Styles' writing. It's very similarly written. Like, in the sense that it's so honest. It's an authentic human experience. And... Oh, I just love it. If I had to choose which of the books to recommend to you from this whole video, I would definitely choose this one and My Policeman. I think those would be my top two. But this is just fiction at its absolute best. It's set in Tokyo. It's by a Japanese author. And so this is translated. And I'm pretty sure Harry Styles himself has spent quite a bit of time in Tokyo. And I'm not surprised after reading this book. It makes you want to go there so much. Interestingly, in his cover shoot and interview for the Beauty Papers, Harry speaks about a lot of people who have influenced him. And one of those people is Murakami. But interestingly, another one of those is the main character of this book. Incidentally, another one of those is Charles Bukowski. And now that I think about it, there are actually a lot of resemblances between Harry Styles and the way that the central protagonist in this novel speaks. His name is Toru and he's often praised for the way that he speaks and how bluntly he puts things, but also how kind of poetic he is in a way. And honestly, this YouTube channel is now a stan account of both Harry Styles and this particular book. Wow. Oh my god. And that concludes this week's video. Thank you so, so much for watching. I enjoyed reading the books that Harry Styles has recommended a bit too much, I think. And I think the conclusion here is that we can quite confidently say that Harry Styles' taste in literature is immaculate. In fact, I accidentally enjoyed it so much that I ended up making a whole separate video about the poetry that Harry Styles has been inspired by. So that is up on my channel if you'd like to go and watch that video as well. You know, be my guest. I'm not going to stop you. Harry, if you're watching this, can I call you Harry? I will see you very soon in court when you file a restraining order against me. In the meantime, have a lovely day. My Instagram will be here if you want to go and follow me and I will see you next time. Buh-bye! In case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night.