Another Chance to Talk About Books

[apple_pathways]

snagged from rachel2205.

The Rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen writers whose works you connect to, read over and over, quote from constantly or just plain worship. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes. Tag fifteen friends, including me, because I'm interested in seeing what writers my friends choose. If you'd like to participate, please do, as I love any opportunity to talk about books, authors, and poets!

The List:

1. Neil Gaiman
   
2. Robert Frost
   
3. Jane Austen
   
4. E.M. Forster
   
5. William Shakespeare
   
6. Margaret Atwood
   
7. Marion Zimmer Bradley
   
8. Arthur Conan Doyle
   
9. Agatha Christie
   
10. Pablo Neruda
    
11. Oscar Wilde
    
12. Edgar Allen Poe
    
13. T.S. Eliot
    
14. Louise Glück
    
15. William Golding
    

1. Neil Gaiman: I've talked about him before, so I'll keep this brief: the man is a genius, and I wish I could write like him.
   
2. Robert Frost: He's one of the first poets I ever loved. There's so much to appreciate in his verse, on every level. Who doesn't quote from Frost on occasion?
   
3. Jane Austen: I've talked about her before, too, and how I resisted reading her for the longest time, because of what I thought liking her would say about me as a woman. (I was a prickly teen afraid to be seen as "soft".) How surprised was I to find her characters contained so much more strength than I'd given her credit for?
   
4. E.M. Forster: A Room With a View is my favorite book of all time, and still my template for a perfect relationship. I love the way he brings his characters inner world to the forefront; I feel like he understands people, their weaknesses and motivations, better than almost anyone I've ever read. His short story "The Machine Stops" is one of the best science fiction stories ever written, and I always forget that he wrote it, as it's so like Ray Bradbury and other sci-fi authors of the time.
   
5. William Shakespeare: Still some of the funniest plays ever written. I won't pretend to be a Shakespeare scholar and go on an on, but he represents to me the timeless and enduring quality of great literature.
   
6. Margaret Atwood: This is another author I wish I could write like. Her prose is not flowery or over-the-top, and yet I'm constantly pausing to re-read lines because I'm struck by their truth, or their beauty. It's not one of her more famous works, but Alias Grace is one of my favorite novels of all time.
   
7. Marion Zimmer Bradley: Fantasy literature was a huge part of my childhood. The Mists of Avalon painted a world for me so real and so affecting, I still find myself daydreaming about it. I don't think I'll ever be able to consider the Arthurian legends without being influenced by her telling of them.
   
8. Arthur Conan Doyle: I'm not deficient in emotion or sentimentality, but at my core I am a rational, logical human being. I accept that the world as a whole is not always rational, and very infrequently logical, but I don't like it. I don't understand why other people don't care whether or not their ideas and beliefs have an internal logical consistency, or why they can't easily set aside emotion to evaluate circumstances rationally. It is this part of me that wants to live in the neat and tidy world of Sherlock Holmes.
   
9. Agatha Christie: I love detective stories. This woman is the master.
   
10. Pablo Neruda: My username comes from a translation of one of his poems. I love the quiet eroticism of his love poems, and his focus on the natural world. Beautiful images, simply described.
    
11. Oscar Wilde: Again, who hasn't quoted this man before? Wild, witty, and a brilliant social satirist.
    
12. Edgar Allan Poe: "The Tell-Tale Heart" is one of my favorite stories ever, and one I like to read aloud at Halloween. I like psychological horror, and to be unnerved. I enjoy his poems, and he (arguably) invented the detective story with "Murders in the Rue Morgue". What's not to love?
    
13. T.S. Eliot: I wrote a paper on "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" at UM. I don't get the whole business with the cats. (Can you tell I'm getting tired now?)
    
14. Louise Glück: I was introduced to her my freshman year at UM. She's probably my favorite female poet.
    
15. William Golding: Lord of the Flies is one of my favorite novels, and one I reference and quote from all the time. "Fancy thinking the beast was something you could hunt and kill!" is one of the best lines from anything written EVER.
    

In other news, I AM GOING TO SEE LCD SOUNDSYSTEM! *happy dances* Then Carolina Chocolate Drops in December. Woo hoo concerts!

Comments

[alt_universe_me.livejournal.com]

Lovely choices! I'm a big Neruda fan, too :) And Margaret Atwood is also highly influential to me.
BTW, I know Ray Bradbury wasn't really 'on' your list, but since you mentioned him, have you read The Martian Chronicles?

Also--I might be snagging this meme... :)

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

I haven't read The Martian Chronicles, but I'm pretty sure I've read at least some of the stories from it. I have read Fahrenheit 451, though.

Yes, yes, snag away! I would love to read about your choices.

[faery-fall.livejournal.com]

Gotta snag this.

Every time I hear about Forster, I feel the desperate need to reread A Room With a View. It was so wonderful the first time around.

I suffered through Lord of the Flies in 12th grade, but I have to agree: that quote is absolutely one of the most amazing lines ever.

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

I suffered through Lord of the Flies in 12th grade

I am going to pretend you didn't say that...

:)~

[voltaires-vice.livejournal.com]

I like your choices. A lot. Forster is my favourite author of all time. Howards End is a masterpiece.

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

Couldn't agree more! Why did Forster have to be gay? I want to believe that there are heterosexual men who think like him out in the world.

[voltaires-vice.livejournal.com]

I KNOW!!! He's my ideal man, too. :)

[rachel2205.livejournal.com]

Once again we are SO ALIKE. It's a shame you live so far away! <3

I love Neruda. I've been trying to read him in the original. This icon is a bit of a Neruda poem.

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

Not enough ♥ in the world for Neruda's poetry...I've tried to read him in Spanish, but I just get frustrated with myself and my inability to conjugate verbs properly.

Darling, one of these days, we will be on the same continent, and then LOOK OUT WORLD! (*sings*I don't think they're ready, for des-ti-ny...I don't think they're ready for this!)