The Pleasure of Being Read to at Chop Suey

The last time I went to a literary reading at Chop Suey Books, there were four of us in the audience. Not so for today's readings by Michele Young-Stone and and Sheri Reynolds; every seat in that small gallery was taken and there were people standing in the doorway. After listening to these two women read from their new books, it was clear why the room was so full.

Young-Stone's book, "The Handbook for Lightening Strike Survivors," tells the story of two lightening strike survivors and how their their lives unfold until the incidents no longer define them. The author was herself a lightening strike survivor, having been struck at age 11. Interestingly, she told us that the support group for such victims is the same as the support group for electro-shock treatment survivors. Despite one event being intentional and the other accidental, apparently survivors manifest the same sorts of side effects and long-term issues. The first chapter we heard was a compelling start to what sounds like it will be a great read; the book comes out April 13, 2010.

Sheri Reynolds followed, with the first chapter of "The Sweet In-Between," her fifth published novel, although the tenth she's written. Reynolds is originally from South Carolina and her accent was so thick you could cut it with a knife, which was absolutely perfect for a story of a girl on the brink of womanhood and embroiled in endless family and neighborhood drama on the eastern shore of Virginia (Reynolds' current home). With her moonlight and magnolias accent, lines like, "...an ordinary day, as ordinary as butter in grits" enhanced the prose beautifully (and you should have heard her stretch grits into two syllables).

So, yes, I spent my afternoon listening to writers read. What's your point?