In his debut novel, “Nobody’s Empire,” Belle and Sebastian singer Stuart Murdoch tells a coming-of-age story that mirrors his own. Set in the early 1990s, Stephen is a young man whose life is upended when he develops chronic fatigue syndrome, also known as, myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME). Liz Ohanesian talked to Murdoch about his own story and the themes that are embedded throughout his work. Here, he shares what he’s been reading.  Q. Is there a book that you always recommend to others? Recently, it’s been “The Way Out” by Alan Gordon, the pain book, but I think it’s because a lot of people either get in touch with me — email me or phone me— about ME because everybody knows that I have it, so I’ve been recommending that a lot. That is definitely the one. It’s so rare that you get a clinician who talks like a human being. It’s actually a really nice read. Sometimes, there can be too much science. Sometimes, it just doesn’t make a connection, but that just really works on lots of levels. SEE ALSO: Like books? Get our free Book Pages newsletter about bestsellers, authors and more Q. What are you reading right now? Another self-help book on the similar issues that I’ve talked to you about. It’s called “Heal Your Nervous System,” by Dr. Linnea Passaler. I was talking to somebody else the other day and we were both agreeing that we had our great literature days in our 20s and, since that point, it’s sort of dropped off. When I started to be creative, I read a lot less. That’s just a fact. I think that notion can feel like hubris to some people — “How dare you! Oh, so you think your creativity is so great that you can just stop reading books?”— but it just happens. You get very interested in creating. It used to be, before I could write a song, I would be reading all the time. I felt like it was the work of my day, just to try to get through lots of books. What is so nice, I’ve got two kids now, 8 and 11. Something that we love do is that I love to read to them. I’ve been revisiting children’s classics and I will be doing teen classics. We recently did with my older boy, who was 10 then, we did “Are You There God, It’s Me, Margaret?” The funny thing is that I never read that myself, even though I name-check Judy Blume in a Belles’ song. I wasn’t so sure because it’s a girl’s perspective and my boy, he is quite a boyish boy, but he loved it. You can tell when he likes it, he just goes kind of quiet. If he goes quiet, he’s taking it in. We did it every night while he was falling asleep and then if he fell asleep, I would go back to where he fell asleep. We did lots of books that way, Narnia books, the Hobbit, Roald Dahl. Q. What’s your all-time favorite book? The New Testament of the Bible is probably the book that means the most to me. I don’t mean to be the teacher’s pet or something, but it does. I read it most often. But then “Catcher in the Rye” when I was young was so huge for me. I think that the way he wrote Holden was such an influence on me at such an early stage that I think it’s almost a bit like “Nobody’s Empire,” the way that Stephen talks and broadly speaking, it’s basically just Holden Caulfied. It’s in that realm. But it’s so accepted these days that I think “Catcher in the Rye” was a form of autofiction back in the day, but when it came out, it sort of shocked people because it spoke to them so clearly. It grabbed people and was so influential that I think so many books these days are written in that sort of form. Salinger, you have to give him credit. Q. What’s next on your reading list? I got a stack of books. I’ve read most of them. I notice “The Divine Comedy” by Dante has been there, I bought that probably in about 1991, all three parts of it, and I never read it, but I think you would have to wake up in a certain mood to want to start reading. Here is a look at some of the books that will be published in Spring 2025. (Covers courtesy of the publishers) So many books! Check out 34 new releases coming in our spring 2025 preview you’ll add to your TBR pile. READ MORE “The Women,” the latest novel from Kristin Hannah, is among the top-selling fiction releases at Soutehrn California’s independent bookstores. (Courtesy of St. Martin’s Press) The week’s bestsellers The top-selling books at your local independent bookstores. READ MORE Related Articles California State Library’s federal aid cut retroactively without warning Why it’s time for Octavia E. Butler and the ‘Parables’ at The Huntington ‘Killer Potential’ author Hannah Deitch on the book that rewired her brain Why ‘Star Trek’ star LeVar Burton is coming to the Altadena library after the Eaton fire 3 excellent books ‘Lion’ author Sonya Walger recommends ...read more read less