Top 10: Bookish people I want to meet
2:35 PM
I am posting one day in advance of schedule to take part on Broke and Bookish's meme Top 10 Tuesday. Today's theme is bookish people you want to meet. My list consist mostly of dead people, which isn't very realistic, but let's face it when am I ever going to meet John Green?
1) Dostoyevsky
In the dispute Tolstoy versus Dostoyvesky, I say without stuttering (even though I mistyped stuttering five times) Dostoyevksy rules. Dostoyevsky once said that it made him really happy when people wrote him saying they liked The Idiot and that he considered that person his soul mate. I guess he only said that because he didn't meet me (I prefer Brothers Karamazov, by the way).
2) Jane Austen
One of my favorite author of all times. I'd love to co-host a tea party with her.
3) Albert Camus
Let's get real here, Camus was the cat's pajamas.
4) Louis MacNeice
My favorite poet ever and a pretty interesting person too. Besides being a poet he also traveled a lot and wrote radio plays for the BBC. Plus, what a great voice he had.
5) C. S. Lewis
I might be wrong but I have the impression Lewis was a very funny person. I'd probably be very comfortable around him.
6) Oscar Wilde
I can only imagine us in a party, drinking champagne, laughing and making witty remarks about the other guests. In this particular fantasy, I'm capable of making witty remarks.
7) Shakespeare
It seems we know so little about Shakespeare's life. What did he look like? Did he really write all those plays? What kind of fruit did he like? So many pressing questions.
8) Paul Auster
I once read about a young man that hanged around in Brooklyn long enough to bump into Paul Auster. They had a cup of coffee while Auster gave him tips on writing. How I wish that had happened to me.
9) Rainer Maria Rilke
I'd love to be friends with him, not only because he's one of my favorite poets, but because when he did something annoying I would tell him the only sentence I know in German: "You must change your life!" That's probably why he hasn't called.
10) Tolstoy
Ok, I know I sort of dissed Tolstoy in number one, but I just remembered Tolstoy ran away from home when he was 80. How amazing is that? He was also a radical anarchist and I don't really like his books, so I guess he's more of a wild card.
Ok, I know I sort of dissed Tolstoy in number one, but I just remembered Tolstoy ran away from home when he was 80. How amazing is that? He was also a radical anarchist and I don't really like his books, so I guess he's more of a wild card.
Which bookish people would you like to meet?
12 comments
I would totally go to a dinner party with all these people. ;)
ReplyDeleteMy list would include Geoffrey Chaucer, W B Yeats, J R R Tolkien, Paul Celan, Louis MacNeice, Keith Douglas, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, John Le Carre, Alice Munro, George Orwell...the list goes on...and yeah, they're mostly dead. (And mostly men...oops!)
You're totally invited to this party, needless to say. Feel free to bring all these amazing guests. (Can't believe I forgot George Orwell.) Plus, with Jane Austen and Alice Munro that makes only four girls (know what I mean, nudge nudge? maybe I should call the Monty Phyton guys too. Or maybe I'm getting too carried away!)
DeleteCan I invite Donald Bain, James Patterson and Andrea Camilleri. All of them, mystery writers (the first wrote a lot of "Murder, she wrote". The second, some of the frightening stories with Alex Cross, the black investigator in Washington DC. The third, a Sicilian writer, father of my beloved Commissario Montalbano). Thumbs up for Oscar Wilde - I like him very much! And one of the bests: Ray Bradbury. I'd love to sit with him, sip some tea (Earl Grey. Hot.) And talk about "The sound of thunder" and "April's witch".
ReplyDelete(Missing ya!!)
Ooh, mystery writers, those are great people to meet! I've been thinking a lot about Rex Stout lately. I need to buy me some Nero Wolfe novels.
ReplyDeleteI'd also love to meet Ray Bradbury, "The sound of thunder" is so cool. It'd be nice if he read the stories out loud to us, wouldn't it?
Miss you too! xx
I love your list, Paula! Now I'm thinking up other writers I never even thought of when I made my list - James Joyce, W.B. Yeats, OSCAR WILDE!!! I still haven't managed to finish a Jane Austen book yet (shame on me!!), but I definitely think she would throw a mean tea party. :) Great picks!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Randi! The same thing happened to me, I was browsing through other blogger's lists and thinking: "How did I forget her/him?!" I'm not such an impartial reader when it comes to Jane Austen - she's one of my favorite authors! But I'd definitely recommend "Pride and Prejudice" to begin with! xx
DeleteThe drinking with Oscar Wilde reminds me of the film midnight in Paris, have you seen it? It's quite well done :)
ReplyDeleteIs he a character in that movie too? I haven't seen it yet, even though a friend told me it's really funny and unusual. She told me the scene with Salvador Dali and Bunuel. I am a little suspicious of Woody Allen after my disappointment with "Whatever Works", but maybe it's time to give him a second chance!
DeleteIn my top list there is Jane Austin and Oscar Wild,Albert Camus, still loving Agatha Christie Daphne du Maurier,and Marguerite Yourcenar and her fabulous Memoirs of Hadrian.
ReplyDeleteBacio,Eva
I'd also like to meet Agatha Christie but I'd prefer to meet her most famous character Monsieur Poirot - in a train, preferably!
DeleteI didn't know the last two authoress you mentioned, but I looked them up and they look very chic and interesting people to meet.
(Random observations: I'm hesitating towards going to a screening of The Birds because I think it might be too scary! And Marguerite Yourcenar reminded me so much of the actress Isabella Rossellini!)
If i could only meet one person, any person, dead or alive,i would definetly go with Jules Verne! Just imagine showing him all this new technology that he almost predicted!! And he most have been such a great person! i would love to spend some time with him :]
ReplyDeleteYou know, that's so interesting. All this time I was thinking I'd meet these authors on their own ages, not on ours. Maybe I'm a bit of a nostalgic. However, I often think what it'd be like if I met Aristotle nowadays and how I could explain to him all the crazy modern things that go on on terms he'd understand.
DeleteBut a meeting with Jules Verne would be superb, specially if it was on a balloon! xx
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