Friday, May 21, 2010

rereading / rewriting / a great phrase

My thanks to those who wrote that they read In Praise of Older Women again and liked it better than the first time. I would like to persuade you to re-read again all the books you liked. Every few years you should try to reread your favourite books. If they aren't really good you will realize it when you read them the second time and you can abandon them after a few pages. Bad books get worse on rereading and good books get better. To read a good book once is like listening to a symphony once.... Rosemary asked me about my spoof Galileo about media objectivity. Alas, I have only the script. In those days plays were recorded on huge machines on huge reels of tape - I could have made a copy in the CBC studio, but saw no point as I would have no way of playing it back. Maybe I'll update it one day.... The best thing about being back in print in England is getting new friends through In Praise of Older Women. One of them is the brilliant writer a.a. gill: his pieces are full with great phrases that strike me with envy - I wish I wrote them! Here is his description of a pearl necklace: "a seculary rosary, the prayer beads of mammon."...