Bernard Vella has worked at Readings for close to 15 years, and managed our Malvern shop for six of those years. We chat with him about the singular pleasures of physical books, and what he likes to read – everything from the classics to books about dinosaurs.

What is your favourite part of your job?

That’s easy – looking after our customers. I’d like to think that each of the Readings shops serves a community. It’s an immensely satisfying thing to do, and of course the relationship is reciprocal. I’m constantly discovering new things by talking with my customers, especially book, film and music suggestions.

Describe your taste in books.

I’ve always loved the classics and will reread certain favourites (like Conrad and D.H. Lawrence) each year. My interests are pretty eclectic. I’ve recently discovered some great science fiction novels in the Masterworks series, and lately I’ve been keeping an eye on new publications from Europa editions. The original publishers of Elena Ferrante, Europa publishes about 20 new titles each year, mostly works in translation from Europe.

What kind of trends do you see in books right now? Do you have any predictions for the future?

This is a hard question to answer because I feel like there have been so many things written about the future of the book and bookselling. What I keep hearing from many of my customers is that the physical book is a refuge for them from the ubiquitous screen. Books and the world that they create for us have always had that allure – in This is Not the End of the Book, Umberto Eco argued that the physical book was in fact already a perfect medium for delivering the text. People tell me that they love the texture and feel of a book. There’s something direct and focused about reading a physical book that can’t be duplicated reading on a screen, at least for me.

What books are sitting on your bedside table right now?

I’m currently reading Carlo Rovelli’s The Order of Time, and can highly recommend it to anyone interested in a scientific insight into the nature of time.

Alongside Rovelli , I’m also reading Tim Winton’s new novel The Shepherd’s Hut, and a fascinating history of our oceanic world, The Oceans by Eelco J Rohling. I love reading about dinosaurs and the history of evolution so coming up, I have a copy of a radical new study of the Cretaceous period titled Too Big to Walk that challenges our current understanding of that period of evolution. I’m also looking forward to reading Michael Ondaatje’s new novel, Warlight.

Tell us about a book that changed the way you think.

Camus’s The Outsider remains a standout in many ways. It was the first philosophical novel that I read. As a novel of ideas it was perhaps the perfect introduction to University life. Camus described the novel as: ‘never anything but a philosophy expressed in images’. Although many would disagree with this definition it remains a classic to this day.