Andrew and I are reading listening to Howards End right now. It’s my favourite novel. It’s my 7th or 8th time going through it, but I always learn new things. It’s Andrew’s first time, and he’s enjoying it too, though he says it’s a bit slower going than the Hunger Games. Who would have thought?
Anyway, there’s a passage in Chapter 15 that got me thinking:
The dinner-party was really an informal discussion club; there was a paper after it, read amid coffee-cups and laughter in the drawing-room, but dealing more or less thoughtfully with some topic of general interest. After the paper came a debate, and in this debate Mr. Bast also figured, appearing now as a bright spot in civilisation, now as a dark spot, according to the temperament of the speaker. The subject of the paper had been, “How ought I to dispose of my money?” the reader professing to be a millionaire on the point of death, inclined to bequeath her fortune for the foundation of local art galleries, but open to conviction from other sources. The various parts had been assigned beforehand, and some of the speeches were amusing.
Now I’m told there’s a show on television called Come Dine with Me. I’ve never actually seen it, but as I understand, the concept is that a group of people have dinner at one another’s houses, and then rate one another’s cooking. And they put that on television. Or something. I believe some people set up these types of things in real life too.
That seems all well and good, but why not add an essay into the mix? Probably not the cook, but maybe the person who cooked previously. Two thousand words on a topic of general interest, followed by discussion. It would be like blogging only less solitary. And more intellectually challenging…which often seems missing from my life.
Anyway, I think I’d enjoy it, but I’d have to convince other people that they’d enjoy it. And also that it’s not like wearing hats. I wish I could wear more hats…when did gentlemen stop wearing hats outdoors? It was an awful move. But now I can’t just start wearing hats, because it would seem affected. Sigh. Is my essay dinner club affected? I hope not. Maybe I should start wearing hats anyway. It would be good to protect my bald head from the evil sun, anyway. And my essay dinner club would be a good way to stop my brain from atrophying. Feedback welcome.
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