Love the book, love the author/ No like the author . . .
Mother Reader posted this the other day:
“See, when I read a book that I love, I don’t feel so much of a fan-type awe of the author as I feel like we are new best friends. I like their book, therefore I’ll probably like them and  here’s the leap of faith  they will like me back. With my mindset, I have no trouble approaching the author, though it has led to disappointment when an author doesn’t answer my email, invite me to lunch, or retract the restraining order.”
Okay, Mother Reader, aside from the fact that you’re so dang funny, let’s all just admit to ourselves that we feel EXACTLY THE SAME WAY. Don’t we?
I mean who doesn’t think they could be BFFs with Anne Lamott or Helen Fielding (Bridget Jones’ Diary) or Jane Austen or Lemony Snicket? Not to mention J.K. “My Best Friend is Robin” Rowling? I’ve just never actually thought about it out loud, but Mother Reader hit it exactly on the head.
And then you have the flip side. The Do Not Be a D–k side.
Because I refuse to support authors who make me mad. Just yesterday I donated to the library a copy of The Road before I’d even read it because I saw Cormac McCarthy’s interview on Oprah, and I could barely keep from grinding my teeth down to nubs. Don’t get me started. Besides, Jennifer Weiner (love her blog, know I’d love her) did an excellent job of pointing out some of the bigger irritations. So I’m over him. Which I’m sure would really devastate old Cormac.
But back to the happy side. Which authors do you just know in your heart could be your best friends?
Technorati Tags: Authors, Books, Reading, Mother Reader Gets It, I Want To Be William Goldman’s Best Friend
I know it’s not, uh, PC (or whatever) to say this after the conversation earlier this year about bloggers and authors co-mingling, but I’d like to have coffee and be best friends for a day with this smart author-blogger-lady named Robin Brande and another smart author-blogger-lady named Sara Holmes and then another smart-blogger-lady named Liz Scanlon. Seriously, how fun that’d be — three smart, funny blogger-author ladies in one room, and, no, I’m not just sucking up.
As for the ones I don’t already correspond with, though, that changes every day. Right now, after reading and re-reading the wonderful dog picture books by Bob Graham (“Let’s Get a Pup!” Said Kate and the new one, “The Trouble With Dogs,” Said Dad), I wanna hang out with Bob Graham for a day — and meet his dogs, which I assume he has.
Wait, Sara doesn’t blog . . . wishful thinking, I guess!
Oh and I meant to say “another smart-author-blogger-lady named Liz Scanlon.” She’s an author, too, but I was typing too fast — and haven’t had enough of the said coffee yet!
Jennifer Cruise, Janet Evanovich, and Carly Philips for adult authors.
Meg Cabot, Sharon Creech, and Eoin Colfer for YA. Oh and J.K. of course!
Mo Willems, Barbara Parks, Margie Palatini, David Shannon, and more — I won’t bore you with the whole list…I’m a children’s librarian, so it could get quite long!
Authors that I can picture being friends with:
Maeve Binchy
Jennifer Weiner(love her blog,too but Cormac McCarthy didn’t peeve me as much as he did the both of you,Robin)
J.K. Rowling
Stephen King
Jane Austen
Edith Wharton
Dean Koontz
Authors who I’ve actually met,who were nice people to boot:
Min Jin Lee
Kim Sunee
Richard Russo
Gregory Maguire
Phillippa Gregory
Michael Chabon(who I’m sure must have thought I was a total geek when I gushingly told him that I loved TAAOK&C that I owned two copies!)
and of course,Robin Brande:)
Awww, thanks Jules and Lady T! And I wasn’t even fishin’.
Love these lists, people! I can see quite a few authors I’d put on mine, too.
And no, I am not organizing a Fantasy Author Banquet. One party per year is enough.
Although I am happy to invite authors to our October 6 party. Just say the word.
You so need to invite Janet Evanovich — or her daughter who does her website. Alex sounds like a hoot!
Augusten Burroughs, Ann Rule, Jeannette Walls, Jhumpa Lahiri, Michael Cunningham
And I love David Levithan, even though I haven’t read any of his books yet!
And Barry!
And Robin!
Oh, jules, the pressure, the pressure! I’m working SO hard to finish this manuscript so I can become a “blogger lady,” I swear. I stayed home from the gym and everything. But then you and eisha went on in your post yesterday about Character Growth and it gave me the biggest electric shock about what I still needed to do, and robin, do you sympathize with me at all? How do you blog and write books at the same time?
As to author friends: this is weird, but growing up, I gave NO thought to authors. Just characters. I was in love with the characters and wanted to be friends with them. In my mind, the authors were just my slaves, producing wonderful worlds just for me.
But when I grew up, THEN I wanted to meet the authors and learn how they worked their magic. And because of conferences and such, I’ve actually gotten to meet quite a few. And it’s nerve-racking. How can you express the joy a book has brought you in under fifteen seconds?
So for my answer, I’m not going for best friends. I just want to sit in the audience and hear these people speak:
Connie Willis
Natalie Babbitt
Mary Oliver
Leonard Marcus
Parker Palmer
William J. Brooke
Tom Stoppard
Madeleine L’Engle
And I’d like to hear the following authors who have passed away read to me from their works when I get to heaven:
Arnold Lobel (Frog and Toad)
Shakespeare
Edith Wharton
Lloyd Alexander
You.
(And I typed that before reading the above comments.
)
Thanks, Heather and Molly. Too sweet.
Sara, I like your idea of having dead authors read to you in heaven. I’m totally stealing that for my afterlife.
Beth, I still haven’t read Janet. I need to! Molly and Sara, great lists!
Two things first. One, thanks for the “dang funny.” I mean “retract the restraining order,” c’mon that’s comedy gold. Two, LOL at the tag “MotherReader Gets It.” I’m going to have bumperstickers made.
Now on topic. You, should go without saying, BFF. Rebecca Stead, the author I wrote about, I’m totally going to invite her to your blogger party. Sara, once you crank this book out, let’s do lunch.
I don’t usually get the New Best Friends feeling with picture book authors, because there generally isn’t enough “voice” for me to latch onto. Mo being the notable exception. And it was only after I heard one of his talks, that I knew that we should totally hang out. Now if I could just convince him…
But that whole New Best Friend thing is why is was so fun – and pretty amazing – to run into three of my YA top choices, namely John Green, M.T. Anderson, and Cecil Castelucci. Let’s add a middle-grade assortment of Lisa Yee, Wendy Mass, and Jon Scieszka. Okay, I’ll stop there or I’ll go on forever. Wait, Jenni Holm too!
Robin without a doubt
Liz Garton Scanlon
Stephenie Meyer
Meg Cabot
Markus Zusak
Justine Larbalestier
Justina Chen Headley
Lorie Ann Grover
PJ Hoover
Lisa Yee
and on and on and on…
MR: You are on for lunch! And I want a bumper sticker.
Mother Reader, “comedy gold” is right. That’s why you deserve a bumper sticker.
Thanks, Vivian, for including me on a list like that! I’ve met one of your people–Stephenie Meyer–very nice woman.
Anytime I read that the author watches the same TV I do, I think BFF. Seriously.
Because I firmly believe I can love the book, hate the writer; or love the writer, hate the book;
But anyone who also loves Buffy or Veronica Mars or My So Called Life or Jericho… well, you get the picture. We have stuff to talk about beyond, “love your book” “love your blog.” PLUS, if authors value how those TV stories get told, then I believe they like to also tell stories like that…no, not with vampires silly but with great characters and plot and story and oneliners.
Yeah, Liz, I feel the same way about Lost–come and sit over here by me and let’s chat it up.
Robin, Robin, Robin!
Also: Denise Fleming (I’ve heard her speak, and she’s a hoot)
Stephenie Meyer
John Green
Neil Gaiman
Clare Dunkle (but then, we’ve corresponded and I KNOW I like her)
Deceased:
Elizabeth Enright
Trina Schart Hyman (though I’d want her to point her cigarette downwind)
Ursula Nordstrom
Edward Eager
Alkelda, if you think you might like me, then come to the conference! I’ll be there to play! And ask your buddy Clare to come!