Some of my earliest memories are tied to books. I don’t remember specific titles from kindergarten, but I remember the feeling. Sitting still while my mind went somewhere else. Even then, reading felt less like a hobby and more like a doorway. I didn’t know how to explain it, only that words could carry weight far beyond the page. As I grew older, I didn’t gravitate toward easy or comforting books. I was drawn to writers like Fyodor Dostoevsky. His work doesn’t offer neat lessons or optimism wrapped in clean sentences. It deals with doubt, guilt, faith, cruelty, compassion, and the contradictions inside people. Reading him forced me to slow down and sit with discomfort. It taught me that understanding people is harder than judging them, and far more important. Reading wasn’t the only thing that shaped how I pay attention to the world. I’ve loved football since I was seven years old, and I’ve supported Manchester United for as long as I can remember. The beginning was almost stupidly si...