What have you read? Who do you have as friends? What apps do you have on your phone? Do you think anyone else has exactly the same selection of books read, friends and apps?
If the library and the bookstore give me a list of what I have borrowed and purchased, will it be the same list as they would give you? My experience is that we would have different lists. Books maybe would be the same or quite similar, especially if we limit the length of the list to the last month or maybe the last year.
As teachers know well, if we focus on five books that do appear on both lists, we can then go a little deeper and ask,"What did each of us get from those five books?" The first approach might be to ask each of us to answer some questions about the contents of each book. Of course, I read "The Once and Future King" 40 years ago and you read it last week. That wouldn't be a very good way to compare our take-aways. Is there a book that we both read (for the first time) in the last six months? Maybe the individual pictures of that book in each of our minds would be more comparable if we stick to recent books.
Don't pick "All the Pretty Horses", ok? I just finished it but I purposely read quickly and superficially. Even if you read that book that way, too, we probably have different ways of getting through a book quickly.
We could try the open response approach and just ask each of us to "tell us about the book, your reaction to it and your estimate of what effect it has had on you." If we do it in the same room, I may let you go first and then simply agree with the opinions and memories you express.
What if we switch to movies? We need to find a movie we both feel that we have seen. We can each name some favorite movies. Same questions pop up. Any items common to both of us? The movie you name is one that I suspect I saw but I am not sure. I may not be able to keep my memories of that movie separate from others. Is that the one where the girl steals his horse and sells it?
Maybe it is just best to simply tell each other what we like. We will enjoy the explorations of similarities and also differences where they occur. I am amazed that you aren't completely taken with "The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!"
