For my personal list, I didn't necessarily pick my favourite authors (although some of them are), but instead I picked people I would be interested to have discussions with for various reasons. I've tried to include some of the reasons why I think they'd be fun to sit down with.
2) Robert Louis Stevenson
- writer of several styles, including epic adventures, travel, and science fiction as well as poetry
- had a very interesting life from childhood sickness to travels to Hawaii and Samoa
3) Louisa May Alcott
- essentially she is like her character Jo March, who I adore
- she had to write her most famous works for money, but it wasn't the kind of writing she really loved
4) CLAMP
- yes, I know this is a group of women instead of one person and I am cheating
- they wrote Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles, and I have so many questions.
5) John Wyndham
- his ideas in science fiction and human nature are very intelligently thought out and written
- worked as a cipher operator in WWII
6) Marjane Satrapi
- she grew up in Tehran, Iran during the Islamic Revolution
- she also lived in Austria and France, and speaks six languages!
- writer of several styles, including epic adventures, travel, and science fiction as well as poetry
- had a very interesting life from childhood sickness to travels to Hawaii and Samoa
3) Louisa May Alcott
- essentially she is like her character Jo March, who I adore
- she had to write her most famous works for money, but it wasn't the kind of writing she really loved
4) CLAMP
- yes, I know this is a group of women instead of one person and I am cheating
- they wrote Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles, and I have so many questions.
5) John Wyndham
- his ideas in science fiction and human nature are very intelligently thought out and written
- worked as a cipher operator in WWII
6) Marjane Satrapi
- she grew up in Tehran, Iran during the Islamic Revolution
- she also lived in Austria and France, and speaks six languages!
I just read Jekyll and Hyde for my gothic literature course! I had no idea you are a Gothic fan :)
ReplyDeleteYou would laugh if you saw my bookshelves - it's one of my favourite genres! I try to branch out and read other things, but I'm really drawn to it.
DeleteWhat a great list. I would love to talk to Louisa May Alcott because I want to know why Jo didn’t choose Laurie, I was never happy about that part. Why do I not know CLAMP? Need to research.
ReplyDeleteIt bothered me for a long time, but I think as I've gotten older, I've started to come to a different understanding about her. I think for Jo, that she did truly love Laurie, but that they amplified each others' personalities. She couldn't see living the kind of life that she knew she would have to with someone in his position - and that she knew him better than he knew himself in understanding this is something he would subconsciously want.
DeleteWith Friedrich, I wrote once that he "soothed her inner tempests." He helped to strengthen her and refine her into a a more solid and mature version of herself, like tempering steel. And I think that that was the difference - she felt herself to be challenged and improved by him, while with Laurie, she knew that the two of them would always be the same, and their negative qualities would be things they wouldn't be able to work through together.
I don't know if that makes sense at all, but those are my thoughts!
I also think that there is a level of it just all happening at the wrong time. Perhaps if Jo had gone off to New York, stretched her wings, and come back without the proposal happening, or her connecting with Prof. Bhaer, she might have been changed enough to want to marry him. She might have fallen deeply in love with him in letters, I don't know.
DeleteJo wasn't okay with the changes going on in her life (ex. Meg's marriage, Amy going to Europe), and this additional pressure and promise of change was terrifying for her.
Just looking at their relationships, Jo and Laurie were playmates, and laughed, and had a lovely time and could be silly and buck tradition, yet Friedrich and Jo have related knowledge bases, and are interested in exposing each other to new things. It's more a marriage of the minds, I think.
Can you tell I've thought about this way too much? Haha
I've had the opportunity to have lunch with a few of my favorite authors and I remember one carried a little notebook with her and was always taking notes for character/story inspiration - so that was very cool.
ReplyDeleteAnd one was rather eccentric and rude and kind of ruined how I felt about a favorite book. So maybe you shouldn't meet them?? lol
Karen @ For What It's worth
I'm sorry you had a poor experience with the one author!
DeleteI've met a few from my work in the library, but not anyone I was actually a fan of at the time I met them (ex. I met Kenneth Oppel when I was too young to appreciate his work), but I have definitely found a mix of personalities!
I don't think I'd want to talk to an author about their own work too much...although it would be tempting. I think I would be mostly interested in hearing how their mind works to see how they tick. Yet, some questions would be hard to not have answered about some books! (How to contradict myself in three easy steps, it seems!)
This is an interesting question! I think I’d invite Margaret Atwood and Stephen King. I want to know what it’s like to be successful at something. :)
ReplyDeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
I wonder what it would be like to EXPECT that your work is automatically a success, haha!
DeleteHmmm, the last three I haven't heard of but I certainly think Louisa May would be fun. I live not far from Orchard House and bring guests there from time to time so invariably think about this! If you have ever read The Time Garden by Edward Eager you realize he also thought about it!
ReplyDeleteThe Lichen book sounds interesting - I will keep my eyes out for it.