Next Tuesday, September 12th, at our writers group, instead of taking some of our own work, we are all taking a piece of someone else’s writing which we enjoy and would like to share.

Naturally my mind has gone a complete blank…

Any suggestions? What would you take if you would be there?

Dee

Hi Dee,

What about someone from WW? With permission, of course!

x
tc

You could always take some of your partner's

Casey

It all depends upon the reason for taking the work. Sometimes a bite sized excerpt works better than reading a full story. I went to a reading by an american author recently where he only read tiny chunks of his work to get a particular point across, ie describing a character through action rather than description. It left more time for him to talk about the piece than read and turned out to be one of the best readings I've been to.

Did Andy Kaufman really read out an entire Hemmingway novel to an audience? I know its in the movie, but did he really do it?

Take a joke book.

For pure stupidity, and gauranteed laughs, I love the Private Eye collections of Coleman Balls. ("He's literally wiping the floor with him")

Colin M

That would be a great session.

I'd probably take excerpts form Heart of Darkness and/or The Mosquito Coast. And if plays were part of the deal, Othello.

You might want to take emergency rations though, because if everyone is going on about their favourites it could be a long night...

Harry

I always worry that events like this breed literary snobbery where everyone is so convinced that their choice reflects upon themselves as a person that they go out of their way to find something really impressive and intellectual, rather than just a good chunk of contemporary writing.

Have you settled on anything, Dee?

Colin

Thanks everyone for the suggestions,

Yes, Colin, I've more or less decided, if I can find the book in time – and I suspect it’s packed into one of the two squillion boxes waiting to move into the new house.

I was trying to think about something that left an impression on me a long time ago – and, yes, something not too pretentious – and I remembered a slim little book called One Man And His Bog (can’t remember the author). It’s about a man with more money than sense who decides, with a jolly how-hard-can-this-be attitude, to walk the Pennine Way, without any training or preparation other than to kit himself out in lots of expensive gear. If I remember it correctly, regardless of whether or not it was good writing, it was laugh-out-loud funny. It should make a change from all the intellectual stuff…

However, all further suggestions will be gratefully considered.

Dee

Dunno how similar it is, but I love "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson.

Oh, yes! Excellent book, Colin. Trouble is, like most other things, it’s packed away…

Dee

Would it be interesting to take something that you like, but don't quite understand why it does it for you? Maybe something in a genre you don't usually read, or a character you find alien, so how does the author make it so compelling? Or even something you feel you'd expect to like - it's your kind of thing, a friend recommended it, whatever - and don't understand why you don't?

Emma

We used to do something like this at a writers' group I used to go to. I would occasionally take books I didn't like, especially if I could find good and bad by one author, ie I love "My Idea of Fun" by Will Self but hated hated hated "Great Apes"

Colin

Colin M - I agree about the 'literary snobbery' thing here and would hate to have to do this, Dee. My kids had a 'show and tell' session at primary school but my daughter used to say it was more like'show and shut up' because her teacher would snatch the opportunity to make a moral point of whatever they'd brought in. What is exactly the purpose of this session? To show how well read you are? Personally, i couldn't possibly choose!

It definitely risks turning into a show-off session, but I think it's a good idea anyway - probably it'll help your critique group get a better idea of each others' influences as writers. Just take something you love!

Is it the difference between what I like, and what I'd like to like?

Fuck it, take in a copy of Viz

Dee,

Sounds a very interesting exercise. You will, in a sense. be giving a speech (short) and highlighting the points you make through your readings from other writers.

Therefore why not start with a few headings like Humour, Romance, Love, Fear, Horror, Innocence and so on... anything that appeals to you. You can then very briefly explain why you find the pieces match your tastes in writing.

You can arrange this to be as short or as long as may be 'expected' by your writers' group.

Anyway, all success... I'm sure you'll keep them spellbound.

Len