25 Most Influential Authors

Okay, so I saw Dr. Crazy's list of her 25 most influential authors, so I thought I'd give it a try. Recently, when I was listing my top 30 albums on Facebook, it turned into a top 50 or so. I've tried to limit myself here in order to really get to the basics. I've been letting the list sit for a while because I have a very difficult time with commitment to these kinds of lists, and I'm terrified that I've left off someone very important. With that fear in mind, you'll understand if I return to this list whenever I realize I've forgotten someone who was pivotal.

Again, these are influential authors. Some of them are favorites, but some of them are here because they changed the direction of my life, scholarship, or writing. Who's on your list?

1. Louise Fitzhugh
2. Judy Blume
   
3. Francis Hodgson Burnett
   
4. Shel Silverstein
   
5. L. M. Montgomery
   
6. Agatha Christie
   
7. Charlotte Perkins Gilman
   
8. Mary Morris*
   
9. Charlotte Bronte
   
10. Edmund Spenser
    
11. Thomas Pynchon
    
12. Ray Carver
    
13. Flannery O'Conner
    
14. John Donne
    
15. Joseph Conrad
    
16. Vladimir Nabokov
    
17. Bram Stoker
    
18. Annie Dillard
    
19. Jane Austen
    
20. Queen Elizabeth I
    
21. John Keats
    
22. Dorianne Laux
    
23. Emily Dickinson
    
24. Eliza Haywood
    
25. Plato
    
    

*the travel writer

How I Used My Furlough

This is how I spent my time while my dear husband took the kids camping:

Tidied the kitchen.
Put little baggies over the 22 seed pots that my kids planted.
Went to see Revolutionary Road.
Returned a totebag I had purchased from Barnes and Noble.
Used a gift card to buy the following:

1. The English Civil War: Papists, Gentlewomen, Soldiers, and Witchfinders in the Birth of Modern Britain, Diane Purkiss
2. The Book of Air and Shadows, Michael Gruber
3. Our First Revolution: The Remarkable British Upheaval that Inspired American's Founding Fathers, Michael Barone
4. My Life in France, Julia Child
5. The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey, Candice Millard (this one is for my husband)
6. Goodnight Nobody, Jennifer Weiner (Yes. I did. I bought it.)

Came home to eat turkey chili dinner while watching BJD
Decided to read the Weiner book while eating strawberry rhubarb pie.
Realized one paragraph into the book that I'd already read it. Bah.
Started on the Julia Child book. Very fun.
Slept well.
Woke up and read, and even let the dog on the bed so I'd have company.
Showered.
Tidied and made a chai latte.
Sat and read some more until the family came home around noon. Total luxury.

The kids and the dad had a wonderful time, but unfortunately this story does not have a completely happy ending. My poor husband now has an unbelievably awful case of poison oak on his arms, all over his face, and in other really terrible places on his body. It's so bad that he says this is the worst thing that has ever happened to him. And I believe him.

The good news is that, so far, the kids have no signs of it. But I'm not sure how ready he'll be to take them back to that spot. . .

Top Ten Books

As the New York Times book review people prepare to post their top ten books in next week's Book Review (at least, I'm assuming that the list will be out next Sunday), I've been thinking of my top ten. Actually, I haven't read that many non-academic books--who has the time?--but I have a few more this year than in years past. So, here's my list. I'm probably forgetting something, and I reserve the right to revise. Also, keep in mind, unlike in the NYT* list, some of my books were published before 2008:

Non-fiction

All the Way Home, David Giffels (2008)
The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh: A Woman in World History, Linda Colley (2007)
Little Heathens, Mildred Armstrong Kalish (2007)
The Monsters: Mary Shelley and the Curse of Frankenstein, Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler (2007)
A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, Isabella Bird (1873)

Fiction

The City of Thieves, David Benioff (2008)
The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon (2005)
Revolutionary Road, Richard Yates (1961)--did I read this in 2007 or 2008?

Okay, so that's only eight. I'm leaving the fiction slots open for another week or two since I've got a couple of books on deck that might be worthy of the slots, and I can't think of another I've read that is slot worthy (and I did read Edgar Sawtelle, but, for me, it's just not top tier). Then again, Robert Bolano's Night in Chile is certainly high quality and definitely worthy of my humble little list. But did I love it? Not sure. Perhaps I'll add it to the list. As you can see, I am a fence-sitter by nature.

And I have to say, I'm a bit more fond of my non-fiction list--as a whole--than my fiction list, but I really liked the Benioff, and I'm reading the Zafon right now and loving it. Revolutionary Road is wonderfully written, but I'm finding I like books that have good writing, drama, suspense, and wit--all of which can be found in the Benioff and in the Zafon. I guess I haven't read that much fiction this year . . .

I'm interested in your favorites, too. What are your ten favorite reads this year? And for those of you who also loved Benioff and Zafon, do you have any recommendations for me? Maybe I can get some reading done before the end of the year and complete my list.

*Are there others besides me who, when they type NYT, suddenly start singing Michael Jackson's PYT in their heads?