Turning a page

"Theater aan Zee" is not just about theatre - there's a caleidoscope of things going on, against the deliciously clichéd backdrop of the Belgian city of Oostende. And it was one of those rare artsy events that gives art and culture a good name. I have phases where I couldn't care less about plays, poems or performances. Where I look at it as a waste of time, money and energy and something only a shamefully wealthy part of the world can indulge in. As an upper class self-referential self-congratulatory useless escapist...you get the picture. But not so this weekend! This weekend I saw young people with undiscovered (luckily not for themselves) talent, I saw photos that made me want to be a photographer, actors who made me want to take to the stage and heard about books that make me want to rent an isolated cottage and dig in.



1. The book to come - the panel raved about this one, could be worth a read.

2. The book I read on the train ride over. Love this writer - his work is a bit postmodern: a lack of linearity, multiple perspectives, unanswered questions, loops and repetitions and surreal characters who always turn out to be one and the same person and consistently have red hair, broken bodies and very creative ways to consume strawberries. Sensual, sensuous, books to drown in.

3. The book I bought this weekend and have started reading this morning on the bus. I've read "Leading the Cheers" by the same author, but this one looks to be even better. I was going to go to the library on Saturday instead of the book store (I needed to get my hands on some books, I was getting so desperate to find new material at home I had actually started in "Roots", the Kunta Kinte book. 'Nuff said), but predictably I didn't get there til 5.30, after closing time (I love how it's open on weekdays and closed all day Sunday. God forbid the library staff would have to work on days where other people actually have time to come in and browse). So off to the second hand store it was - looking for familiar names, fair prizes and promising covers.

Art isn't silly. Like so many other things, it's about having the courage to dismiss what you don't like, regardless of current "taste", and following your personal preferences. Follow your gut and you're bound to be satisfied.