Age of Bewilderment

Thoroughly enjoying this - clever, funny, conversational - I'm totally engrossed :-)

AGE OF BEWILDERMENT
This is a funny, funny book. I love the way your narrator puzzles over small things and jokes about BOGOF. I meant to read only a chapter or two of this but kept reading and reading.This would be a great book to buy at an airport because I need something to keep me from thinking of how I'm trapped in a metal box 30,000 miles up when I fly and this would do that (altho other passengers would wonder why I was laughing outloud. Highly starred and added to my shelf. Wanttobeawriter: Who Killed the President?.

hi David- book- Age of Bewilderment--

Read this great book some 289 days go, would you believe ?
rather puzzled as to why it is not ranked higher at this stage,
As i said then. it edgy, razor sharp and a chuckle a minute,
I again endorse it with my six stars -

tom bye- musician-
from hugs to kisses --

hi David- book- Age of Bewilderment--

Read this great book some 289 days go, would you believe ?
rather puzzled as to why it is not ranked higher at this stage,
As i said then. it edgy, razor sharp and a chuckle a minute,
I again endorse it with my six stars -

tom bye- musician-
from hugs to kisses --

I am enjoying reading this (three chapters so far). It is droll, clearly written, engaging and interesting. I hope this makes it to the top of Authonomy.

Annie Knox

This is a wonderful book, it made me laugh out loud many times. Backed and starred. I wish you the very best of luck with this. I would definitely buy it. Yours Bea

Read this with increasing horror as it dawned on me that though I am a bit younger than the author I found a lot of relevance here! Laugh out loud moments and as for his views on modern culture, very near the bone and the mark! Starred, regards, Mark

OK I've only read 1 chapter and I skipped a few to see if you stuck to the same format so I have an idea of what is coming, because I will be back. I thought immediately Grumpy old men but fortunately so much better and far less contrived. I think that style of comedy works better the way you do it. We get to understand you and therefore get extra layers of comedy gold. I saw a forum post on you from Stephen Rackett if you are interested in how I found you. Lovely stuff.
Norton

A memoire how intriguing. My book is also written as a memoire. I've read the first 2 chapters and rated. I plan on coming back to read more. Good luck with your book.
Regards, Red

So far, this is charming, stylish and funny. Also easy to read.

Thanks,

Bec. (Find Mark).

This is hilarious stuff. What a great voice! And Chapter 33's Christmas Eve church fantasy - that alone warrants the price of admission. Well done, sir!

p.s while we're here, here's ur 100th comment! :-) :-)

Have 6 starred this and added to our WL which means you WILL make our shelf in the next (+3) round of backings (its 11pm for us). Check our comments trail if u want to confirm this and do feel free to chase at ANY TIME to know exactly how long till ur going up...

My dear David - what a hoot! I laughed out loud: '...one short i of a dog biscuit', forsooth! Am putting this on my bookshelf immediately. I simply cannot understand why this hasn't been pubished already; were I a wealthy woman, I would be compelled to open my own publishing house. As a poverty stricken woman, I shall merely vent my spleen. All the best with this book, from Irene

This is great fun. the insights are pervaded by the scent of anal sulphur. Very nicely observed with good use of language and fine comic timing. I have only two significant comments (which are related).

(1) I don't get a strong sense, not of a plot in the ordinary sense, but of a running storyline that means the narrative develops to some sort of conclusion. It may come later but I don't detect it up to chapter 7. It concerns me in terms of sustaining reader interest to the end.

(2) The medium feels wrong for the material. It would probably be very effective as quarter of an hour radio monologues; in fact I think the transfer of this kind of thing is in the reverse direction, from radio to book. A reworking with two voices might be even more effective in radio terms. If I'm right, it means you will have a problem getting published (comedy struggles in any case), which would be disappointing for such an accomplished piece of work.

I wish you luck.

Jim Williams
Death and the Tango in Madeira

Age of Bewilderment
It is so easy to fall in step with this discourse, reaching, as I am, toward 69. My initial thought was this diary form would soon bore me, but, of course, I was wrong, because the author's engaging style moves quickly with wit and provocative situations that are here and gone as he moves throughout his weeks and the reader moves through the pages of his current life. The delicate humor - the teacher convinced he was a plumber, the grimaces on young guitar players, the soft pronouncements about the changes in education and social life in general. This is truly an age of bewilderment, a mature and sometimes puzzling walk through changing time and our place in it. I will star and get you on the shelf as soon as I am able.
Lenore
Surviving the Seaweed

Oh heavens, I love it! Perhaps we have a great deal in common. Maybe age. We both like music, but I suspect you actually learned to read bass clef. Your writing is completely entertaining. It is rather difficult to find truly entertaining writing, so yours is part of a hidden minority. Keep up the good work... Good grief, I must back you, I really must. Honestly, Best Regards, Jedward (Knut)

Thanks for such a delightful look into your daily life. If only mine was as delightful and interesting. I love your creative energy and flow. I would someday love to hear you play your saxophone. I play the piano by ear. At a young age I was kicked out of piano lessons. I was told, I would never become a professional due to my ear. The teacher made the mistake of playing all of the music first. So, I would play it as I heard it played. Now I play for the self enjoyment it brings. I'm backing your story with great admiration. Sincerely. Marie - 'Sun Shine and Rain' If you have the time, read a bit of my anthology and tell me what you think.

Brilliant. I totally sympathise with the MC, who has a healthy sense of humour yet lives in a humourless world. So many wonderful images here - I love the idea that Bono is an ' i ' short of a dog biscuit. Your observations on modern society are spot on. Outstanding. On my watchlist until there is a space on my shelf.

Carol
The Lorestone

AGE OF BEWILDERMENT

Dear David,
I too am bewildered, and with this guy all the way.
(why just last night I was composing death threats to Authonomy spammers including myself,)
I fully starred this book.
A few times I need him not to be so 'laid back/conversational - thinking in passive words e.g. "since I've heard that a flailing bungee strap" make it a flailing bungee strap could take my eye out.
Truly a memoir of our time.
Could this be a blog?
A Zoomer

This is very funny and very real, I love it! On my watchlist and will be on my shelf when there is a space. Good luck, Carole.

Sherrington makes Victor Meldrew look like a wide-eyed optimist as he refuses to compromise his masochist outrage at a world gone bonkers. Or is it him? Very funny in a peep-through-the fingers sort of way.

Hi David.
Brilliant stuff this. Nice easy conversational style with lots of laughs and beautiful images. I am a fan of the diary style. Hooked early on on James Agate. 6 starred and shelved with pleasure. Hope you do bettter than mine. Copmedy doesn't seem to fare too well on this site. Cheers Eric

This is very funny and I would like to have a copy when it's published. Six Stars.(I'd give you an extra point 5 for the Old Boys Reunion if I could).

P.S. An additional comment. My favorite image from my first reading was the embryo with eye liner. I am happy to see that you end on this high note.

PWH

P.S. An additional comment. My favorite image from my first reading was the embryo with eye liner. I am happy to see that you end on this high note.

PWH

I backed your book some months ago, but tonight I have gone back and read more - and am re-backing and giving you stars. A thoroughly enjoyable read.

If you have any time at all, I would appreciate it if you could re-visit my book and rate it. Thanks,

Patricia West Hays
The Witness Tree

If Carlsberg made diaries... 'reformed chickens' and 'embryos with eye liner' - brilliant! Will recommend this to me like-minded amigos. Putting this on book shelf now. Good luck, your writing deserves it. Ceeds
'JOE'S NAN'

Hilarious - have you put this out as a blog yet? Terrific stuff, very funny observations. I, too was puzzled by E-On's "let's not burn any more electricity - it doesn't matter to us as we're charging you through the fucking nose anyway" campaign. Spot-on observations, though I would argue that the guitar face has helped me become a better player over the years, if not quite a valued friend. The other thing this reminds me of is the house on the left as I go over the hill from the train station each night; a guy who lives there is always playing his saxophone, every night, and he has a giant model ship in his window. It makes me feel calm after another day at the slaughterhouse. I'm delighted to recommend this, and shall be six-starring it and plugging it on the forums. I'll call it "Sax and the city" - apologies in advance.

P

David

Found your book on Timothy F J's shelf and am so delighted I did, as it is absolutely the sort of humorous writing I enjoy! As the partner of an aging blues/jazz/rock musician (who supported Status Quo on their December tour last year, as it happens : - ) ) I can relate to so much of what you write, right down to the Dennis The Menace socks. Those pained expressions you mention musicians pulling I call "orgasm faces", for example. Solo-ing jazz guitarists are also rather prone to them. Do you use cheese graters, btw? I can't get my partner to interact with sharpish kitchen implements for love nor money.

Backed with great pleasure and a five star rating!
Vanessa
Banana In The Briefcase

HI DAVID 'AGE OF BEWILDERMENT'

AS A MUSICIAN i had to read some of this book again. and i am glad i did, i have read chunks of it and it is so witty, edgy and razor sharp it had me chuckling non-stop as i turned the pages. A great read for one to pick up and drop at random and read again to get a laugh.
backed and starred with pleasure'
TOM BYE ' FROM HUGS TO KISSES'
although totally different genre please oblige and look at mine thanks and good luck

David, very funny and crystal-clear observations of present-day lif. In that respect the book is brilliant, a free mind not boxed in helping us to look beyond our rigid frameworks as well. As one would expect from a true-blue (rock & roll) artist. The only problem I find in your book is the exclusive concentration on and of the main character. There is some fear of monotony, also as it is solely written in the form of a diary. Maybe if there were little scenes outside the diary that link the descriptions, it would take some of the intensity of the MC away and give the reader a little breathing pause. But a really good read! Starred and as soon as I have space I'll put you up on my shelf. Hannah

Mary

Thaniks for your comments. Some you win...

Mulberry lips indeed!

Good luck

David

Certainly this is well-written, with great use of language. I sometimes have issue with first person, present tense. I just think that it's difficult to maintain, and that the writer can get into lots of sticky situations using it. So that was a bit difficult for me. Your narrator is the strength of this--the whole thing rides on whether the reader finds him entertaining/intriguing/interesting enough to continue to read his musings. I have to say after three chapters, I wasn't sure. I would probably read on because there are so many instances of dry humor but I felt the lack of a strong feel for his character and some sort of background issue or problem. There's no arguing that it's well-written though and I seem to be in the minority here so don't take it to heart :-). Maybe it just didn't click with me.

---Mary
The Qualities of Wood

Hi David,
What a lovely way to cheer up a wet Thursday morning! Wonderfully funny. Backed with five stars.

Best wishes
Jenny
Loveskick
If you have the time I would appreciate your comments on Lovesick

If ever a book deserved publishing, then this is it. J.P.Donleavy would be proud to have written it. I am completely hooked.

Hi David. I enjoy anything that has to do with the entertainment industry. Particularity fun works such as yours. Loving it. Nice way you carve out your structure, and string together your sentences in consistent beats. Simply backed.

blessings,
jim
jack & charmian london

Really makes me laugh and thats not an easy task. Beachy

I rank this with the likes of David Sedaris… Perhaps even a bit more consistently funny than Sedaris. Like Sedaris, David Sherrington has the gift of recognizing irony in people, places, and things we typically overlook. I found AGE OF BEWILDERMENT relentlessly amusing, chapter after chapter… I smiled, grinned, and laughed (out loud) through chapter one… but I've encountered books of this genre where the author packs all the best stuff up front, so I read the next chapter, and found it no less amusing… and then the third one too. I dipped into later chapters, seven and eight. Ah! Nothing is sacred, the way I like it... the way it should be. Irreverence gives us so much more to laugh about.

(I’m sorry, but something is really bothering me. I’m trying to write a comment about a funny book here, and I can’t stop thinking about the comment below… I mean no disrespect, but, “toddler with eye-liner?”) I grant you, a toddler is pretty young, but an embryo takes the cake for youthfulness... a fine image. Embryo with eye-liner... How can one not snort at that?

But seriously, I completely enjoyed what I’ve read of Age of Bewilderment. It will have a place on my shelf for a while.

Rodney
(The Father)

The word, “saidasked” is stuck in my head.

Witty, witty, witty. I loved this. I rationed myself as I will definitely buy this book when it is published, as it surely must be. Observations are spot-on and so cleverly made.
In the hope of not appearing too uncritical (but really, it's a struggle) - I thought the 'embryo with eye-liner' would have been better as something less difficult to envision - 'toddler with eye-liner' or something.
I'm backing this despite not having uploaded my own book yet, so no question of motive.... It's simply great.

my rating for this is 6 stars

I love your writing style and the subject matter. Each day a new thought. Well done.

One thing threw me--the present tense at the supermarket. He's not writing his diary at the time, so it would be better in past tense in my opinion. However this doesn't detract from your amble. They say everyone loves to know about somebody else's business these days. With this story the reader can peek into someone else's life.

I'm putting this on my watch list. (new guidelines, you know.)

Francene. Still Rock Water.

Back online after a horrendous forty-eight hours of not being able to back, and at times not even able to get online.

As promised, here's my backing for your delightfully humorous writing.

Hugely entertaining David. These are real situations that constantly question the absurdity of life, and you've done it in a very humorous way that is never forced upon the reader. You've pointed out some excellent paradoxes with modern life (energy companies saying it's we individuals that are buggering up the planet, and Bono's rather hypocritical take on things, to name a couple.

I would back this one straight away, but I'm one of several people who've been rendered impotent by not being able to 'back' authors since the changeover. Once it's sorted, this'll be on my shelf.

I wish there were more 'real' stories like this, and that this site wasn't so crammed with Dan Brown and JK Rowling wannabees.

Hope you remember to switch your amp off, and thus save the planet!

All the best,
Pete.

A very enjoyable read, and a hilarious send-up of modern British Life. One of the best things I have read on Authonomy.

Lynne Ellison

The Green Bronze Mirror

I loved the acerbic humour of the curmagenonly musings and the sharp eye for the sublime as well as the ridiculous. Great, but does anything happen later in the book? I wasn't sure what the book is about. You do a superb job in constructing a book out of vignette upon vignette but it may be a hard sell with the publishing world. You have my wishes for best luck with that.

Backed with pleasure

A.P. Constantin

The Crystal Butterfly Club

This is good stuff. But you can't be as jaded as I???

I read a thousand words.

I rather like the short bits. It's refreshing, after wading through other novel openings. I started writing novels quite young, and I think most aspiring novelists look at it as some kind of bona fide achievement to stretch scenes on to great length. Perhaps foolishly. I think it was Kubrick who said "can you remember a movie that had too many short, great scenes?"

I'm reading these "Authonomy" books to re-create the mindset of agents wading through slush: you use "Kamakaze," with an "A" instead of an "i," I almost switched off there. Unless that's a Brit spelling? Sounds stupid, but again, I've been reading Authonomy slush for maybe total, 8 hours, publishing people have been doing it for decades. For all I know, that "a" is all that's keeping this from publication.

Age of Bewilderment

Yes, children, even rock’n’rollers wash their underpants. Funny, funny, Brit stuff, Mr. David Herrington, and I laughed my head off regarding Eric Clapton on Tuesday, and I just opened the book. “…little more than an embryo with eye liner and attitude.” David, stop, I’m screaming with laughs and need to read a little Gibbon to relax. Don’t give it a rest, Dave, keep playing, and write on about The Stones. If they were such bad boys, why are they still here jumping around like kangaroos at age 101? Poor Brian. “Gas band man.” Mick got that one right, Dave. You are a gas, gas, gas.

Best wishes and backed.

GK Stritch
CBGB Was My High School