Ayr Writers’ Club briefly morphed into Ayr Readers’ Club on Wednesday 16th April 2025, as members were encouraged to bring their favourite books to discuss. Club members needed no further invitation, duly arriving with bags bulging with their treasured tomes.
We split into groups to discuss our literary leanings, and an eclectic selection of well-loved, slightly dog-eared books were brought to light. Many expressions of admiration sounded across the Mercure:
‘Just lovely…’
‘A great world to explore…’
‘Incomparable…’
‘Superb…’
‘Cinematic…’
‘Hit a chord with me and I’ve loved it ever since…’
‘Loved it – it’s always resonated with me…’
‘Reads as if it were written yesterday…’
‘I felt haunted by it…’
These were just a few of the testimonies given in support of our page-turners. Books by Garrett Carr, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Elizabeth Stroud, Cormac McCarthy, Susan Cooper, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Tolstoy, Jess Cook, and Agatha Christie were pitched as simply indispensable to our respective bookshelves. A lively conversation followed, and we moved on to disliked classics. Dickens’ Oliver Twist was savaged, as was George Eliot’s Middlemarch (since redeemed after subsequent re-readings).
We were also treated to the author Tony Black who came to tell us about his new literary magazine ‘Aeos,’ a publication ‘firmly in opposition to the status quo.’ Tony encouraged poetry, short story, flash fiction, and article submissions from club members, and even brought along a contributor to interview for us – Gil De Ray told us about his new novella ‘Voodootron,’ available to buy now.
Club members left with curiosity piqued and (probably) several more books added to their ‘to-be-read’ lists.
Matt Richardson