YOU get to pick my new favorite living author!
That's right....
Since I can't for the life of me come up with a single living author that I hold in the same esteem as Kurt Vonnegut, I'm going to let YOU, the public, decide who my favorite living author is. Depending on how this goes, this could really take the burden off of me... I could have the public choose my favorite band, my favorite food, my favorite color, my religion, etc. Poll is on the sidebar.
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Six of the contestants for Justin's Favorite Living Author (or the JFLA, for short) were suggested by my fiancee a few days ago.
Among these is the one that was most obvious to me when I initally started thinking about this question... Ray Bradbury. Farenheit 451 might be my favorite single novel by a living author, but it's the only thing I've read of his. And let's face it. The man is 87 years old, so if Bradbury wins, I might have to conduct this poll again very soon.
The only other of her suggestions that I've read anything by is Maya Angelou... I like her, but I think of her more as a poet than a novelist.
Others that my fiancee suggested...
Martin Amis (who she says I'd like, but I know nothing about)
Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Love in the Time of Cholera; One Hundred Years of Solitude)
Kazuo Ishiguro (Remains of the Day; The Artist of the Floating World; When We Were Orphans)
Khaled Hosseini (The Kite Runner)
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Another suggestion comes from my friend Brad via email..... Tom Robbins. I've never read anything by Tom, but Brad's been suggesting I do for a long time, so I'll include him.
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The other three are authors of books that I've meant to read for a long time but never have....
Milan Kundera (Unbearable Lightness of Being)
Dave Eggers (Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.... bonus points because he went to University of Illinois?)
Toni Morrison (Beloved, etc.... she seemed like such an obvious candidate, I have to incluide her).
Happy voting!
posted by Justin S. @ 4/15/2007 04:00:00 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Read Dave Eggers! Now!
Plus, he's young -- a little older than us -- so he can be your new favorite living author for a very long time.
Too young I say. We need to wait and see what more he can offer. Furthermore, not all of the other authors on the list are old. In addition, his known book is actually considered nonfiction. If you're considering nonfiction, Justin, I can offer some more examples.
DSL: In addition to a collection of short stories, Eggers has written 4 books. The first was a memoir, the second was a novel, the third was nonfiction about people exonerated after being sentenced to death, and the most recent was a book about one of the Lost Boys of Sudan. He is also the mastermind behind McSweeney's.
He is fantastic. I will loan you and Justin his first two books if you would like.
I'm sure he's a good writer but there's a lot of very good writers in that list. Not to mention all the great dead writers I have to read.
I will read Dave Eggers, I'm sure, eventually. I think it's ok to consider certain types of nonfiction writers for this list. I considered putting Doris Kearns Goodwin, but historians aren't really what I'm looking for.
I guess it's time to start reading Justin! That's the best way to find your favorite author. Of course this is after the Lincoln biography. :-)
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