Hi. Now you have to pretend for this question. If you had the ability to bring back to life one dead author and spend the day with them who would you pick?

Mary

Michael Ende! He's my favourite author of all time, so that was no hard choice :D

Such a ground ball. E.B. White or E.M. Forster.

(I only like dead author with initals that start with E.)

John Steinbeck and Carson McCullers

Kurt Vonnegut and Jean Rhys!!

Nathaniel wrote: "Such a ground ball. E.B. White or E.M. Forster.

(I only like dead author with initals that start with E.) "

Oh Nathaniel. You are so funny this morning. I may have to send you to time out. E.B. is a great pick.

Mary

Melinda wrote: "John Steinbeck and Carson McCullers"

Hi Melinda. John Steinbeck is a wonderful pick. I'd love to meet him too. This is fun.

Mary

Nadia wrote: "Kurt Vonnegut and Jean Rhys!!"

Hi Nadia. Great picks. I don't think I've read anything by Jean Rhys. What has she written?

mary

Mary wrote: "Melinda wrote: "John Steinbeck and Carson McCullers"

Hi Melinda. John Steinbeck is a wonderful pick. I'd love to meet him too. This is fun.

Mary"

He's one of my favorite authors. If you're ever in California there's a great Steinbeck museum in Salinas. You can also tour his family home (where he was born) as well.

PS: This is fun!

I think P.G Wodehouse would be a great guy to meet but if I could only meet one it would have to be Laura Ingalls Wilder she would be so brilliant to talk to about her childhood!

Yorky,

P.G. Wodehouse would be great! He makes me laugh out loud; not chuckle or smile, but LOL!

I also like your Laura Ingalls Wilder idea. I read and reread all her books.

Karen

Mary, thanks! Jean Rhys has written some wonderful books. She wrote, Wide Sargasso Sea; Good Morning, Midnight; After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie. Her work is a bit melancholy, but its very well written. I've been trying to collect all of her books lately.

By the by, Yorky, P.G. Wodehouse is a fantastic pick! I love his work - it is simply hilarious and clever!!

Hello!

Shoot, I would like to meet so many authors who have long since left this earth!! Austen, Tolstoy, Dumas... but, for the purpose of this exercise, I would like to spend the day with Flannery O'Connor or Beatrix Potter.

V.C. Andrews, those are some wierd books but very good!

I'm going to go a bit off the beaten path and say Marcus Tullius Cicero. His writings were always my favorite to translate in my Latin classes (I was a Classical Studies major). Would be amazing to meet the man himself!

Karen wrote: "Yorky,

P.G. Wodehouse would be great! He makes me laugh out loud; not chuckle or smile, but LOL!

I also like your Laura Ingalls Wilder idea. I read and reread all her books.

Hi Karen - Have you read any of the books by Lauras daughter Rose yet? I keep meaning to but I havent gotten round to picking any up yet

Karen"

Nadia wrote: "Mary, thanks! Jean Rhys has written some wonderful books. She wrote, Wide Sargasso Sea; Good Morning, Midnight; After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie. Her work is a bit melancholy, but its very well written...."

Hello! Maybe we could do a PG Wodehouse reading on the side - there seems to be a few fans on here?

Nancy Mitford
Beatrix Potter - for the paintings

Maggie wrote: "Nancy Mitford. Beatrix Potter - for the paintings"

Nancy Mitford would be something else!!! I chose BP too, she would be cool to take a walk with, I think.

Yorky, that is great idea! There does seem to be a number of fans for Wodehouse, so I think some reading on the side would be terrific! I just bought a couple of Wodehouse books and wouldn't mind diving into those. Let me know!

Yorky,

Good idea. I haven't read any Wodehouse in a few years and would love to have an excuse to buy a new one or reread an old one.

KarenLee

Im easy to which we read - I dont even mind if its a Jeeves and Wooster or not - does anyone have one they want to suggest to start us off with maybe as a November read?

I would meet Jane Austen in the Pump Room in Bath for some tea and a little dish on her life!

Yorky wrote: "Im easy to which we read - I dont even mind if its a Jeeves and Wooster or not - does anyone have one they want to suggest to start us off with maybe as a November read?"

I would definitely love to read a Jeeves and Wooster one. What about The Code of the Woosters?

I forgot to add Margaret Mitchell

Jack Kerouac just because i think he would have some really interesting stories to tell.

Nadia wrote: "Yorky wrote: "Im easy to which we read - I dont even mind if its a Jeeves and Wooster or not - does anyone have one they want to suggest to start us off with maybe as a November read?"

I would def..."

Any Wodehouse is good for me, but Jeeves and Wooster are definitely at the top. Code of the Woosters would be fine with me, but really any Wodehouse would be fine with me!

Kurt Vonnegut.

Yorky - it is funny you said Laura Ingalls Wilder.

When I saw this question the first person that came to my mind is Laura Ingalls Wilder. She is my idol and I will admit I am almost obsessed with her. I have many books written about her and her family. I have been to DeSmet and twice to Mansfield. I just think she was one amazing person and I wish I could have been alive when she was as I would have loved to talk to her.

Another author I would like to meet would have been Helen Keller she is another amazing women who accomplished much in her life.

For me it would be either Jane Austen, Margaret Mitchell, L. M. Montgomery and/or Harper Lee all for such obviously different reasons but I would love to know what inspired them as women to write from their unique perspectives. And sorry, but I can't pick one over the others.

Harper Lee is still alive! Visit her web site here.

Agatha Christie,To ask about the missing days and thank her for giving an isolated child a love of mysteries!

Angela wrote: "Yorky - it is funny you said Laura Ingalls Wilder.

When I saw this question the first person that came to my mind is Laura Ingalls Wilder. She is my idol and I will admit I am almost obsessed w..."

Hey Angela - have you got Laura's Album? its a lovely book with photos of Laura memorabilia...I know im sad but im a really big fan as well!

KarenLee wrote: "Nadia wrote: "Yorky wrote: "Im easy to which we read - I dont even mind if its a Jeeves and Wooster or not - does anyone have one they want to suggest to start us off with maybe as a November read?..."

Shall we say Code of the Woosters then - I'll put a post in reading on the side for a November start if thats okay with everyone?

Doug Adams & Jane Austen.

Miss GP wrote: "Doug Adams & Jane Austen."

Nice!! Invite Jasper Fforde to go with you to meet them and see what happens! LOL!!

Nadia wrote: "Kurt Vonnegut and Jean Rhys!!"

Oh, yes, definitely Vonnegut! Also Kingsley Amis and Truman Capote. And T.S. Elliot. And Evelyn Waugh and Jean Cocteau. Francois Rabelais. Geoffrey Chaucer, Christopher Smart.


So many dead writers, so little time!!

Yorky - yes I do have Laura's Album. I wish you could visit her home in Mansfield. I think you would love it. I would love to go to a pagent in either DeSmet or Mansfield. DeSmet is where Little Town on the Prairie takes place.

Your right I would love it! There is another book I think called something like remembering Laura or memories of Laura and its people that knew her telling stories of her but I was a little put off as it seemed a bit like people cashing in. Do you know the one I mean, is it any good?

I think I know I know what one you are talking about. There is also a series about her that makes her out to sound a mean person. I had bought the first two and read them and hated them and never bought another one since they were so bad.

I think I will check with you first on my next Laura purchases to make sure I dont make the same mistake!!

That is the only series I have had a problem with.

Jennifer wrote: "Harper Lee is still alive! Visit her web site here."

Right - sorry - I knew that but she wrote so long that it is easy to assume she is deceased - wish she had continued to write.

Dante or Shakespeare---or perhaps Homer! If we knew the author of Gilgamesh, I'd pick that person. Tough decision, but fun reading everyone's answers.

Louisa May Alcott, James Clavell, James Michener, Edith Wharton, Fyodor Dostoevsky (but I'd need a translator), J.R.R. Tolkien

(Again, far too many to choose one. Probably Clavell or Michener if I had to really pick.)

Edith Wharton and Mark Twain.

Liza wrote: "Dante or Shakespeare---or perhaps Homer! If we knew the author of Gilgamesh, I'd pick that person. Tough decision, but fun reading everyone's answers. "

I'd like to meet Shakespeare just to find out who wrote the plays and end the theories once and for all!

Hi. I would like to meet Alexandre Dumas. "The Count of Monte Cristo," is one of my favorite books.

Mary

Anne wrote: "Edith Wharton and Mark Twain. "

Hi Anne. I love your choose of Mark Twain. I live in his home state. I bet he was a hoot.

mary

Top of my list: James Michener