Rather than set the world on fire with radical contigency, I expect that ebooks will follow much the same trajectory as paperbacks. They will start out being frowned upon as shabby, and then they will deliver literature conveniently to millions of people who might not otherwise have read it.
All Male Authors?
In looking back over the comments on the “My Favorite Authors” post, I noticed that meganiane said: “Almost all male writers…” I hang my head in shame.
Yikes! It’s true, but it’s not true. What I mean is I failed to include several female authors who I adore. I’ll mention these authors names and their works in a minute. Let me first declare, and I know this may ruffle a few feathers out there, I am not a Jane Austen fan. In fact I don’t really care for her work. Okay ladies put your mace back into your purses, I recognize that she is a classic and great author. I recognize her weight, style and caliber of writing. I just do not care for her stories.
However, one of my all-time favorite writers, and I’m kicking myself in the ass for not including her on the list, is Francine Prose. I have two favorites, so far, from her. One is fiction—Blue Angel—the other is non-fiction—Reading Like a Writer. I have three or four other novels by her that I intend to read in the near future.
Also, Anne Sexton, the poet, is a favorite of mine. I did not include her because I did not include any poets. However, if I add poets to the list then Robert Frost and T.S. Eliot must be included.
Lastly, and I’m kicking myself in the ass for not including this writer; who, by the way I have quoted, reviewed and raved on and on about on this very blog, those of you who have read my blog for the last two years can confirm this … Virginia Woolf. She is one of my all-time favorite novelists and my favorite novel from her is To the Lighthouse.
I also love J.K. Rowling, but did not include young adult fiction. Hmmm, maybe I should start from scratch and include every genre I can think of with all my favorite authors and works from those genres. Great idea for a future list.
So, let me apologize for not including the great female authors in my list. If you have any others you would like to recommend feel free to comment on this post and let me know, okay? Cheers!
My Favorite Authors and Books
The most popular questions that readers of Word Painting ask me is, “What are your favorite books,” and “Who are your favorite authors.” Usually they go hand in hand, my favorite authors tend to write my favorite books. I read both fiction and non-fiction throughout each year so I’ll break my list down into both categories.
[Keep in mind, this list is subject to change over the years]
Favorite Fiction:
Richard Russo - Empire Falls (one of the best works of fiction I have ever read. He won the Pulitzer Prize for this work)
J.M. Coetzee - Disgrace (I love his sleek narrative, and how he so keenly uses various literary devices in this novel).
John Irving - A Prayer for Owen Meany (Irving has a wonderful understanding of the human condition. Also, every book I’ve read of his has strong character development)
Victor Hugo - Les Miserables (an absolute masterpiece. What more needs to be said?)
John Steinbeck - Of Mice and Men (If Steinbeck ever makes a reading list it’s usually not for this work. While I loved Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men spoke to me on a deeper level.)
Stephen King - Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption (I know this is not a novel, it’s a novella, but it’s still one of the best pieces of fiction I’ve ever read. And, the movie adaptation is awesome too!)
Cormac McCarthy - All the Pretty Horses (Even though Blood Meridian is his “famous” work, and he won a Pulitzer for The Road and I have read those works too, I enjoyed All the Pretty Horses the most.)
Newly Discovered Fiction that is Excellent:
Jonathan Safran Foer - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Paolo Giordana - The Solitude of Prime Number
Fiction I want to Read but have not yet:
David Foster Wallace - Infinite Jest & The Pale King
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Crime and Punishment (Yep, I have not read this particular work by him)
Favorite Non-fiction:
Jon Krakauer - Into the Wild (Life changing)
Anne Lamott - Bird by Bird (A must read for aspiring writers)
Immanuel Kant - Critique of Practical Reason (I had a professor in my graduate studies at Marquette University who made Kant come to life. He shed a whole new light about Kant’s philosophy via this book).
Howard Zinn - A People’s History of the United States: 1492-Present (A history according to the people and their writings)
Robert W. Jenson - Systematic Theology Volumes 1 & 2 (Yes, I enjoy reading theology, and this is the best Systematic ever written)
Neil Peart - Traveling Music: Playing Back the Soundtrack to my Life and Times (I love the rock band Rush, but I really admire and respect Neil Peart, their drummer. This book is an excellent “travel” book which discusses music more than travel).
David Foster Wallace - This is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, About Living a Compassionate Life (Funny, poignant, and life changing).
Tis the privilege of friendship to talk nonsense, and to have her nonsense respected.
Habits of a Reader
It is impossible if you want to get everything read you have on your reading list. It is for me anyway.
‘COME WITH ME’ – THE UNBELIEVABLE DRAWINGS OF NA ZHAO
The drawings of the Beijing-based artist Na Zhao are just incredible. The detail in which she works in is difficult to comprehend, and it’s hard to imagine the scale that these images take in real life. Apart from the pure craftsmanship of what she does, Na Zhao’s work also looks incredible. Her images are surreal and beautiful.
3 tips for writers dealing with rejection
Three tips for coping with rejection:
- Laugh at your rejections.
- Learn from your rejections.
- Always have a new project underway, something that will give you hope no matter how many rejections come your way for the previous project.
You may take some consolation in knowing the rejection history of these writers and works:
Dune by Frank Herbert – 13 rejections
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – 14 rejections
Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis – 17 rejections
Jonathan Livingston Seagull – 18 rejections
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle – 29 rejections
Carrie by Stephen King – over 30 rejections
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell – 38 rejections
A Time to Kill by John Grisham – 45 rejections
Louis L’Amour, author of over 100 western novels – over 300 rejections before publishing his first book
John Creasy, author of 564 mystery novels – 743 rejections before publishing his first book
Ray Bradbury, author of over 100 science fiction novels and stories – around 800 rejections before selling his first story
The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter – rejected so universally the author decided to self-publish the book
From rejection slip for George Orwell’s Animal Farm:
“It is impossible to sell animal stories in the U.S.A.”
From rejection slip for Norman MacLean’s A River Runs Through It:
“These stories have trees in them.”
From rejection slip for article sent to the San Francisco Examiner to Rudyard Kipling:
“I’m sorry, Mr. Kipling, but you just don’t know how to use the English language.”
From rejection slip for The Diary of Anne Frank:
“The girl doesn’t, it seems to me, have a special perception or feeling which would lift that book above the curiosity level.”
Rejection slip for Dr. Seuss’s And To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street:
“Too different from other juveniles on the market to warrant its selling.”
Rejection from a Chinese economic journal:
“We have read your manuscript with boundless delight. If we were to publish your paper, it would be impossible for us to publish any work of lower standard. And as it is unthinkable that in the next thousand years we shall see its equal, we are, to our regret, compelled to return your divine composition, and to beg you a thousand times to overlook our short sight and timidity.”
I want to live in a world that prizes excellent and enduring long form writing. I buy books.
(via Beautiful/Decay | Artist Book Series Daily Art & Design Blog)
OK. Historically the stuff that’s sort of rung my cherries: Socrates’ funeral oration, the poetry of John Donne, the poetry of Richard Crashaw, every once in a while Shakespeare, although not all that often, Keats’ shorter stuff, Schopenhauer, Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy and Discourse on Method, Kant’s Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysic, although the translations are all terrible, William James’ Varieties of Religious Experience, Wittgenstein’s Tractatus, Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Hemingway—particularly the ital stuff in In Our Time, where you just go oomph!, Flannery O’Connor, Cormac McCarthy, Don DeLillo, A.S. Byatt, Cynthia Ozick—the stories, especially one called “Levitations,” about 25 percent of the time Pynchon. Donald Barthelme, especially a story called “The Balloon,” which is the first story I ever read that made me want to be a writer, Tobias Wolff, Raymond Carver’s best stuff — the really famous stuff. Steinbeck when he’s not beating his drum, 35 percent of Stephen Crane, Moby-Dick, The Great Gatsby. And, my God, there’s poetry. Probably Phillip Larkin more than anyone else, Louise Glück, Auden.
David Foster Wallace in an interview with Salon writer Laura Miller.
[The thing I love about this list is that it contains fiction and non-fiction works. To be a well rounded reader (and writer) one must read both. It’s as necessary as breathing air.]
~ Sylvia Plath ~
Confession (via Algonquin).
Circumstances are the rulers of the weak; they are but the instruments of the wise.
“When I open them, most of the books have the smell of an earlier time leaking out between the pages - a special odor of the knowledge and emotions that for ages have been calmly resting between the covers. Breathing it in, I glance through a few pages before returning each book to its shelf.” ― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore
Emilia Dziubak
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All the quotes on this site are marked with the author's name, except those marked with TBV; those quotes are my own.
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