The Importance of Empathy

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Experiencing empathy is one of the best reasons for reading a novel.

The brain's empathy systems are a part of the concept of "theory of mind."

Mind reading is another way of thinking about theory of mind.

Well, I have already broken my promise to post my second blog post a few days after my introductory post, and after that, once a month. Let’s see if I can at least stick, sort of, to the once-a-month plan.

Right next to me now is the print copy of Meg Mason’s stunning second novel, Sorrow and Bliss, first published in Australia in 2020, which was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2022 and won other big awards. The image on the cover is lovely, but the real thing is tactile: a perfect cover, still with a new-book perfume years after I purchased it. I am a reader who does not turn down page corners or leave my precious books in the sun—except for the four minutes I took to take this photo of the book lying in our garden! On the title page, Meg has signed my copy; I purchased it after her session at the Auckland Writers Festival in 2024; I have shelves of books, some signed, some not, purchased at that same incredible festival. Sorrow and Bliss rightly became a major bestseller (as I think her latest novel, Sophie, Standing There (published in August this year), also will. (Meg grew up in New Zealand and has lived........

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