Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > 2008 > February > 15 > Entry
Reading Week No. 6
It’s not that difficult, really, with a little organization and a lot of cooperation from friends. Ours was inspired by a made-up holiday in Iris Murdoch’s “The Book and the Brotherhood.” (Spoonbills from this year pictured.)
Truth is, the first one, 14 years ago, proved to be a disaster, with guests fighting to set the tone of what was then a Reading Weekend. Was there to be loud music and dancing or quiet chatting and paging through books? Who was to cook what and when? What if the dogs didn’t get along? And where would everyone sleep — or not?
As you read this, we should be wrapping up our week of literary bliss. If you follow these few directions, you could be doing the same this time next year.
1. Pick a date. Early. Like months in advance. Or a year. Advertise the date to your friends, and remind them about it every chance possible. Start with a weekend, using Friday and late Sunday as travel time. Avoid the bigger beach holidays (Labor Day, Thanksgiving), and stick to the minor weekends with few conflicts (Presidents Day is perfect).
2. Book the house. Snowbirds aside, Texas beaches are pretty empty midwinter. Book a large cottage (ours sleeps 32) through one of the reliable rental agencies specializing in Surfside, Galveston or Port Aransas, all within 4 hours drive of Austin.
3. Assign tasks. Using your handy e-mail list, split up the cooks into teams. Give non-cooks supporting roles. That way, there’s no scramble in the kitchen. Assign bedrooms. Keep the nocturnal peace, at least initially. How do we gain this right? We pay for the entire week’s rent. Everybody else cooks and cleans (but, of course, we do too, but not on the weekend teams).
(And friends, such as Colorado’s Rob Kendrick and California’s Paul Talley, who lasted the entire week this year, pictured.)
5. Additional info for online only: Although rental houses often provide cooking and serving equipment, it’s best, once you decide to duplicate the experience, to store your own Reading Week extras off site: sharp knives, games, toys, kites, special utensils, paper products, dish towels, cleaning gear, anything that you ran out of the first time around and can predict will be needed again.
Have fun. Any questions?
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