{"id":81,"date":"2007-07-11T23:10:16","date_gmt":"2007-07-11T22:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/?p=81"},"modified":"2012-05-05T10:56:40","modified_gmt":"2012-05-05T09:56:40","slug":"an-evening-between-the-covers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/?p=81","title":{"rendered":"An evening between the covers…"},"content":{"rendered":"

I need to write about last night’s book group…<\/em><\/p>\n

Have you ever been in a room with a group of people who had\u00a0a common purpose?<\/p>\n

An addiction, if you will?<\/p>\n

Even if you haven’t, sit there for a moment and imagine it.<\/p>\n

Picture, for a few minutes, that\u00a0you’re sitting on a comfortable chair in a large, light, airy room.<\/p>\n

There’s a lot\u00a0of natural light; makes the room seem even more comfortable, friendly.<\/p>\n

The collection of pleasantly not-discordant modern art\u00a0hanging on the four walls adds to the ambience.<\/p>\n

There are a dozen participants in this meeting.<\/p>\n

Each sits there, looking\u00a0relaxed yet slightly nervous at the same time.<\/p>\n

A small amount of chat gently buzzes around the room; conversation is polite – people reacquainting themselves\u00a0since they saw each other\u00a0last.<\/p>\n

The meeting is called to order.<\/p>\n

The organiser asks the group who wants to start.<\/p>\n

It’s an older woman.<\/p>\n

But instead of standing up and saying ‘I’m Mary and I’m an alcoholic’<\/em> she starts to talk about the book she’s just finished reading.<\/p>\n

And Mary is\u00a0so completely enthused about the book\u00a0that as she speaks she believes.<\/em><\/p>\n

S<\/em>he’s so caught up in it that as you listen\u00a0you begin to believe she could walk out of here and sell it to the first adolescent youth she found.<\/p>\n

To close her summary she reads a short passage and bloody hell she makes it sound even more interesting.<\/p>\n

How is that possible?<\/p>\n

And you sit there.<\/p>\n

Breathless.<\/p>\n

Excited.<\/p>\n

There’s a pause.<\/p>\n

And then a round-group discussion starts.<\/p>\n

People add their own views, ask questions and a conversation builds with ‘Mary’ temporarily holding court as the holder of specific knowledge.<\/p>\n

When things falter the group’s chairperson relaunches the ‘Who’s would like to go next?’<\/em> question.<\/p>\n

The next speaker – also a woman, also of a more senior generation – starts to tell of her book…<\/p>\n

A biography of Ted Hughes which, obviously, goes in to a degree\u00a0of detail about Sylvia Plath.<\/p>\n

This speaker is also completely enthused.<\/p>\n

You don’t know if it’s a cumulative effect that has built on the platform reached by the previous speaker.<\/p>\n

You don’t care if that’s what it is.<\/p>\n

You’re too caught up in her enthusiasm, her passion, her intellect<\/em>\u00a0to care.<\/p>\n

You feel infatuated by the work she’s talking about.<\/p>\n

Even before she’s finished\u00a0you\u00a0make a mental note that you’ve just got to get hold of a copy of that book!<\/p>\n

And so the evening\u00a0goes; onwards and upwards.<\/p>\n

Later, things peak.<\/p>\n

Another group member speaks about\u00a0a book that you read a few months ago.<\/p>\n

A work you didn’t like but did at least finish out of respect\u00a0for the author.<\/p>\n

But she reads a passage – a long piece of prose\u00a0you remember.<\/p>\n

And in her reading she transforms the book, reframes it for you.<\/p>\n

It becomes a work which you want to sit down\u00a0and read again.<\/p>\n

Try to read again, but this time you’re going to try harder.<\/p>\n

By the end of the evening everyone has captured at least some small part of your mind.<\/p>\n

As the evening gets later even the small number of people who didn’t like their books find favourable things to speak of.<\/p>\n

When it’s time to go home you feel mentally exhausted.<\/p>\n

Elated.<\/p>\n

And privileged.<\/p>\n

It is a\u00a0privilege to spend a couple of hours with a collection of disparate folk who share a common bond.<\/p>\n

Books.<\/p>\n

People who are so enthused by their common love that their fervour is infectious.<\/p>\n

People who enjoy their books even when the book they’re reading gives them no enjoyment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I need to write about last night’s book group… Have you ever been in a room with a group of people who had\u00a0a common purpose?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stuff","two-columns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=81"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=81"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=81"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=81"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}