As featured in…
"The title says it all. Read Me Something You Love invites literary lovers to select a piece of writing which excites them. Steve Wasserman, then trundles around to your home with his mobile recording studio in an attempt to translate the pleasure of the reading aloud experience to a wider audience.
“One of the joys of doing this is being open to the experience of how other people’s enthusiasms will wing their way into your life and get you all gee’d up about stories or poems you might never have glanced at twice,” says Wasserman.
Anyone can take part, just email your suggestions to Steve. The only real requirement is that your selection has proved spine-tingling to you in some way. Readings are limited to 20-25 minutes, so a short story, a well-chosen extract or a poem are perfect.
Time to start practicing in the mirror methinks."
"I don’t know about you, but seeing someone read a book on the Tube often gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling knowing that this potentially wasted part of the day is enriched by a good book. The rarity of book lovers gracing the seats of the Underground these days makes me feel both sad and like I’m in a secret club that is only acknowledged by a sideways glance at the books of fellow commuters.
So on discovering the Human Reading Being blog, part of the Read Me Something You Love project, I was terrified that I’d spot a terrible picture of myself reading something embarrassing and then overjoyed that this humble daily habit is being celebrated.
Read Me Something You Love involves Steve Wasserman asking authors and non-authors alike, to read a piece of literature they love before leading a discussion on the piece. If you love submerging yourself in the imagination of others, come and celebrate this dying pastime."
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RMSYL 50: The Plain Sense of Things by Wallace Stevens (read by Josh Cohen)
December 1st, 2016“Try and imagine what this great pond, quite unglamorous and muddy, this dirty-watered pond looks like when you don’t impose yourself, your whole history, or the history of a culture on it; when you just let yourself see it.” Josh Cohen
Josh Cohen is a psychoanalyst in private practice, and Professor of Modern Literary Theory at Goldsmiths University of London. He is the author of Interrupting Auschwitz (2003), How to Read Freud (2005), and The Private Life: Why We Remain in the Dark (2013) . DISCUSSED: Definite indefinite plain-ness; slipping on fallen leaves (inside and out); the mind stripped down to its essence; the end of the imagination; the rescuing As If; counting Cohen’s innards; the fierce desire of speaking; staying true to what-is; the emotional pressure to find the words; father to a sister of a thought; the necessity of fantastic failed efforts; the illusion of fullness; deprivation as a first condition; carrying the minor house within; getting to grips with our unsurpassables; rat-vision; the reassuring loopiness of the self; hopefully in the dark. LINKS:
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RMSYL 49: Mount Appetite by Bill Gaston (read by DW Wilson)
November 25th, 2016
It seems kind of fitting that I first heard DW Wilson’s prize-winning[1] short story The Dead Roads about this time last September, midway through a ten-mile hike through the Chilterns. Even more fitting would have been to listen or read it whilst out camping in his beloved Canadian Rockies. One day. Sometimes when creating these podcasts, I have to leave dozens of glittering minutes of conversation on the cutting room floor in order to get an episode that isn’t going to tire out the average listener. This time round I thought I might offer it as an Extra for those who are interested to hear Dave speak a bit more about his connection to Bill Gaston and what he learnt from him. He also makes some incredibly interesting comments about the craft of writing a good short story, delivered with his usual witty candour and no-bullshit proclivities. DW Wilson’s fantastic collection of short Stories Once You Break A Knuckle is out now. Bill Gaston’s equally fantastic collection of short stories Mount Appetite is also out now.
- Wilson won last year’s prestigious BBC National Short Story Award.↵
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RMSYL 48: Gemma Seltzer reads Tom-Rock Through the Eels by Amy Hempel
October 20th, 2016
Gemma Seltzer is cool. I am probably not the first person to arrive at this estimation of her, and I shall no doubt be one of a very orderly queue lining up to say so now and in the future. Her book Speak To Strangers has everything in it that I find exciting and compelling about creative nonfiction. Which some people call docufiction. Anyway, one of those reality-hungry hybrids. You’d probably just call it great writing if you were to read it, which you should, which it is - formulated around a beautifully simple and elegant notion. This short story has nothing to do with E’s Eels (those Novocaine For The Soul Eels), but you still might need some 2-(diethylamino)ethyl 4-aminobenzoate after listening. It’s powerful stuff. That’s what we dispense over here at RMYSL The Chemist.
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RMSYL 47: Love III by George Herbert (read by Rachel Kelly)
October 5th, 2016
“Something I find really moving is the timelessness of our struggles. Herbert probably wouldn’t have been diagnosed with a depressive illness, but we now know that he had terrible battles and internal struggles. To me this poem describes that perfectly. There’s something very powerful about holding hands across the centuries.“ Rachel Kelly
Rachel Kelly is a journalist and writer with a long standing interest in mental health. She worked at The Times for ten years as a reporter, feature writer and columnist, and then went on to create an acclaimed educational poetry app and accompanying anthology with Allie Esiri. Her most recent book ‘Black Rainbow’ (2014) describes how poetry helped her overcome depression.
LINKS:
Rachel’s website: http://www.rachelkelly.co.uk/ Black Rainbow: http://amzn.to/1n1tQMgPodcast: Play in new window | Download (29.2MB)
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RMSYL 46: A Hunger Artist by Franz Kafka (read by Kevin Porter)
August 16th, 2016
The covenant of RMSYL has always been that of Mo going to the Mountain. Mo to the Mou, if you like. If you get in touch, and invite me round for a cuppa, as long as you don’t live in Timbuktu, I’ll be there (with a packet of biscuits[1]). But it’s also pretty darn special when the Mou comes to Mo. In this case, the Mou not only came to Mo, he came all the way from Wo. Wolverhampton that is. Well, pretty much so. The mountain didn’t of course come down from Wo just for Mo, he also came for Mu and Dü, and ended up listening to a recording of some Dub. But that’s a tale for the next podcast. Regardless of where the Mou came from, it was a pleasure hanging out in his mountainous heights, depths, and Black Country vowels. I’m hoping to tempt him down again with a verse-reciting gig in a neo-Gothic chapel for National Poetry Day, where he might wrap those multi-syllabizing, Wulfrunian vocal cords around 60 sonnety lines of Derek Mahon’s ‘Disused Shed in Co. Wexford’ (Mou has been memorising Ma and writing about this the last couple of weeks - a very good read that is too).
- From Waitrose, if you’re lucky.↵
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (41.5MB)