Friday OT - On Good Author-ity
- Thread starter Angie
- Start date
If anyone is interested in Phil Knight and how he built Nike, you need to read "Shoe Dog". It was a really quick read.
Yep I am going Tolkien, then N.K. Jemisin (at least one good thing originated in Iowa City)
Devil in the white city.... good book... but the back and forth with the planning of the fair and the actual murders takes too long. Should have been two different books.
My favorite authors of the past are now just fond memories, and as I age, I find contemporary fiction mostly unbearable. I also find that when I re-read the classics, I either like them more or like them less, because, let's face it: I'm not the same person now that I was when I read them back then.
So, it's non-fiction for me these days.
Currently, I am much in awe of James Parker, a staff writer at The Atlantic. Every one of his essays is a work of art.
Here's the ending of his "Ode" (to gum) in the June issue.
"Someone told me at school that if you swallowed a piece of gum it would wrap itself around your heart. Amazing image. So chew on, humans. Those knobs of used gum -- they're tiny monuments to contemplation, really. They memorialize passages of the mind. The thoughts are flown, but the gum remains. Get some on your shoe, wrap it around your heart and think of me."
So, it's non-fiction for me these days.
Currently, I am much in awe of James Parker, a staff writer at The Atlantic. Every one of his essays is a work of art.
Here's the ending of his "Ode" (to gum) in the June issue.
"Someone told me at school that if you swallowed a piece of gum it would wrap itself around your heart. Amazing image. So chew on, humans. Those knobs of used gum -- they're tiny monuments to contemplation, really. They memorialize passages of the mind. The thoughts are flown, but the gum remains. Get some on your shoe, wrap it around your heart and think of me."
Vonnegut spent a few years teaching at the Writer's Workshop but didn't originate there. I'll support this post!
I'll stick with contemporary since otherwise the list would get pretty long...
Donna Tartt - I don't think anyone develops fictional characters better than she does.
Richard Russo - He just writes with so much grit, depth, and dry humor.
Doris Kearns Goodwin - Captures the human stories of historical figures so well, without getting preachy.