Some books stay with us long after we have finished reading them. They might leave behind a sentence, an idea or simply the memory of who we were when we read them.

This Tuesday, 6 October, Lala Books will kick off a month-long book club with an evening about the books that have changed us: the stories that continue to shape the way we think, feel and see the world. Jordan Stephens and guest author William Rayfet Hunter bring a conversation about the stories, writers and ideas that have stayed with them. Hosted with Dr. Martens, the event forms part of the With Bouncing Soles campaign, the event turns the focus towards the most personal form of influence: the things we read.

For Jordan, that connection to books is closely tied to words themselves. “What makes my sole bounce? Words,” he says. “They continue to open up new ways of seeing, feeling and understanding the world.” It is an idea that books that have shaped the people who read them, not simply as stories, but as starting points for new ways of thinking.

Best known as one half of the hip-hop duo Rizzle Kicks, Jordan has long worked across music, writing and culture. He joins Hunter, a guest author, at Lala Books in Camberwell for an evening built around the books that have mattered to them and the reasons they continue to matter.

The independent Camberwell bookshop is hosting the evening as part of Dr. Martens’ campaign, alongside an honesty library co-curated with Jordan. The book club will return to the shop in October to continue the conversation.

There is something fitting about asking people which books changed them. Our reading lists can say as much about us as the clothes we wear or the music we listen to. Some books are passed on and some simply stay somewhere in the back of our minds. This Tuesday, Jordan and William will be talking about the ones that stayed.

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