What makes minds tick in a house of 6 where
the majority vote lies with The Youth.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

The Book Club

It has been much talked about and finally it's been done. I've started a book club with 4 friends. You know how it works: you read a book, make a date, gather at a wine bar and discuss in a very grown-up fashion the contents of the nominated text. All very straight-forward. Or so I thought. However, there is peril at every turn here. Choose a book that's too lightweight and you risk being branded an idiot. Aim too high-brow and you're a wanker. Go the middle ground and you're just too predictable.
Then there's the angst of 'jumping the shark'. Have all your incredibly smart and literate friends already read the very clever tome you're putting up as the next target? This is an anxiety reserved specifically for Book Club.
But it doesn't stop there. I also get a little worked up over how fast everyone reads. One of the Book Clubbers snorted that she hadn't even started the novel we were to be discussing in 3 short weeks' time. What! While I've been religiously reading my 10 pages a night so as to arrive at the conclusion just in time for the meeting, this anti-swat has devoured another 3 or 4 books and will "just read it in one sitting" on the weekend.
Some might say this flies in the face of what Book Club is all about - the pleasure of reading and re-reading each sentence at a leisurely pace, taking in every nuance and grasping every plot line.
Regardless, it's my turn to choose the next book, and I'm getting in early because who knows how fast these conches read and what's currently stacked beside their beds.
So, I'm off, I need to get reading. This is my reputation at stake here! And as we all know, the appearance of success is a great competitive advantage.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Deja Vu...all over again

There's a certain comfort in repetition, predictability, reliability - especially so for children. And so it comes to pass that a number of perfectly good genres of music and artists has been forever sullied by The Youth and their desire to play certain tunes over and over and over again. And we're not talking about juvenile trash here, we're talking about reputable material. As an example, Michael Jackson can never be listened to ever again in our household - he is persona non grata. In particular, anything from his Thriller phase is considered The Devil's Work by pure dint of it being played on such high rotation that it shall never be rotated again in my presence.

However, I never learn. Every time I introduce The Youth to a new artist it's with a certain amount of alacrity, but the bonhomie is quickly sucked out of me when they insist that every conceivable moment near an ipod is spent listening to said artist and generally to one particular tune.

And so it was with my new favourite, TZU, a very clever band from Melbourne. The Youth have comandeered them and ruined them forever. Their favourite track, Number One, was a winner, but is now a loser. I apologise to TZU and give them this advice: happiness is destroyed by the repitition of slowly destructive LITTLE things.