We held our first literary speed dating event last night, and it rocked.
50 people of all ages, temperaments, genders and sexual orientation came in and met new people, drank some wine and talked about books.
The vibe was amazing. Really amazing. It felt like we were doing a really good thing - bringing people together over their love of literature. Isn't that what it's all about, folks?
Anyway, we're tallying the responses today and hopefully we'll have some bona fide romances!
For the interested, here is the list of what books everyone brought:
BOYS
Housekeeping by M Robinson
Everyday Zen by C Joko Beck
Archy's Life of Mehitabel by Don Marquis
Third Reich by R J Evans
Magician by R Feist
Story of O by P Reage (yeah, someone really brought it)
Michael Palin: Diaries
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by J S Foer
Norwegian Wood by H Murakami
Give the Anarchist a Cigarette by M Farren
On the Ceiling by E Chevillard
The Family of Man by E Steichen
The Rattle Bag by T Hughes
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
A Merry Dance Around the Work by Eric Newby
The Time Traveller's Wife by A Niffenegger
Daywalks around Melbourne
Metamorphosis by F Kafka
The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelley
On Beauty by Z Smith
Book of Longing by Leonard Cohen
GIRLS
Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding
About a Boy by Nick Hornby
The Kinky Friedman Crime Club by K Friedman
The Accidental by A Smith
Slaughterhouse 5 by K Vonnegut
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
The Plague by Albert Camus
Venetian Stories by J T Rylands
The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo
Bravemouth by P Stevenson
The Broken Shore by P Temple
Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse
Every Day a New Beginning by S Dowrick
My Brother Jack by G Johnston
THUD by T Pratchett
The Little Prince by A Saint-Exupery
Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith
The Hero and the Crown by R McKinley
The Passion by J Winterson
The Inheritance of Loss by K Desai
The Telling by U LeGuin
Momo by Michael Ende
6 comments:
Heh, A Suitable Boy is rather apt for the situation (the title, that is - I've no idea about the content).
And any girl with Pratchett wins points in my book.
Who's the chick with Bridget Jones Diary trying to pick up? Seriously. But Momo. Good choice. How does this woman not have a man? Hell, I'd date her.
As for the boys I would have gone for Housekeeping boy or Archy's Life of Mehitable (very quirky choice - first book I bought Martin actually.) And once, in my glum, thoughtful late teens/early twenties, Leonard Cohen would have been mine all mine.
Penni: funny you should say that, about the Momo girl. I have a feeling she'd be quite interested in dating you, as she was one of our five lesbians...
I am due to go to this Text Appeal shenanigans soon, and am somewhat trepidacious ... hence my Googling and finding your site, which is rather amusing, I must say! (The Xmas question and answer blog especially so :-). You know, the chick who writes for The Age - Marieke Hardy? went to Text Appeal and didn't really come back with glowing reviews. We shall see... still not sure what book to bring along. Is a Bill Bryson book (who i adore) too obvious?
i think bill bryson is a good choice, if you like him. it says: i love to read and laugh, and i don't take myself too seriously.
(which is better than "i am a pretentious wanker", believe me)
i think regardless of whether you find love or not, you'll have an awesome time at text appeal! it's just lots of fun, and you will come away with some great stories...
That's fantastic - we had an event last year in Boston where we tried to get Literary Speed Dating going (more a blogosphere/media success than an actual one) and it's great to see it working somewhere. Very cool.
- Tom, Pazzo Books
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