The Book of Write-On: Day Two

 This FUNNY HA HA book has become my bible.  So many great and funny stories brought to my attention.  I’d come across some of the writers already: Saki (he’s still my favourite), B.J. Novak (purchased by mistake – I was meant to buy a book called The One Thing but ended up with One More Thing, Novak’s book), Muriel Spark (The Portobello Road is a masterpiece), Leonora Carrington (I read her short story The Debutante in the book Angela Carter’s Book of Wayward Girls earlier this year).  I was really amused by Flann O’Brien’s story ‘Two in One’.  I hadn’t read any of his stories before but it definitely piqued my interest.  Jacki, my writing mentor (yes, I’ve got a writing mentor!) sent a picture with a stack of short fiction recommendations, one of which was The Short Fiction of Flann O’Brien.  I called into Witney Library yesterday with zero luck.  Flann O’Brien, no.  Pam Houston, no.  Amy Hempel, no.  Carol Shields, no.  Jacki’s tastes are clearly too niche!  The librarian suggested Abe Books.  I’ll have to go online.     

I was in Chipping Norton today.  It’s my favourite town in the area.  There are plenty of nice places to read and write.  A new cinema has recently opened on the high street.  The Living Room Cinema.  It was done up to a very high standard.  I haven’t been to the cinema there yet but I’ve sat in the bar area on three or four occasions.  The arms are laid back and low to the ground - somehow conducive to creativity and concentration.  Maybe it’s because I don’t offer sit in chairs like this.  Their comfort feels like a special occasion and I treat that special occasion with the respect it deserves.  By reading shitloads and trying to write as well as the writers in my new Bible. 

The cinema crowd come and go in waves.  I’ve never observed that wave.  I’ve always been a part of it.  People going in to see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, people coming out having seen Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.  It was National Cinema Day today so the ticket prices were reduced.  Cat saw two films: a 50^th anniversary re-release of Peter Pan in the morning and Passages in the evening.  I haven’t been to the cinema since seeing Barbie at the end of July.  Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City a week before that. 

At the point I was switching between reading and writing (and ordering a cup of tea), Simon, the cinema’s manager, came over and introduced himself.  I told him I’ve been half-tempted to see Oppenheimer, but three hours in a Christopher Nolan film is a lot.  I saw Dunkirk with the folks (I can’t believe it was released six years ago!), but that was only 107 minutes.  I’m waiting for a gem of an indie film to appear on their listings that will finally tempt my across the threshold to the screening room. 

I’m getting towards the end of FUNNY HA HA now.  I skipped the three stories by Oscar Wilde.  I found them a bit too much like hard work.  I did a sweep of the Chipping Norton charity shops afterwards and I found a novel by Flann O’Brien called The Third Policeman, one of his most critically-acclaimed stories. 

Everything’s going well so far.  I need to increase the amount I write but I’ll get into the swing of things.  I want to leave you with a poem from another book I picked up from a charity shop today.  It’s a very charming and beautifully illustrated little collection.