The bold and the beautiful

On my first circuit, to dispel the ennui, I thought about who I would invite to my fantasy dinner party. All the contenders were here: James Joyce, Josephine Baker, Susan Sontag, Liam Gallagher. I considered inviting Amis, just so I could blame him when the evening took the expected course. With nothing in common bar the accident of their celebrity, my guests would retreat into silence. I pictured them slumped round my dinner table, eyeing each other suspiciously while I fiddled with filo parcels, feeling guilty for not asking Aung San Suu Kyi.