Monday, January 25, 2010

Monday, Monday

I hate Mondays, but I have to admit that this list from Life about famous literary drunks and addicts made me feel a whole lot better about myself and my caffeine addiction. I feel I have to admit my undying love for both Poe and King here. Love, love, love them I do. And Dorothy Parker, too.

And speaking of literary great reads, while I love Poe and King, my two favorite contemporary writers that I read are Margaret Atwood and Cormac McCarthy. The Handmaid’s Tale and The Blind Assassin are incredible works and The Road, I suspect, has no equal for me.

So, the pop quiz questions for the day are: What makes you feel good on a Monday? and What do you like to read?

5 comments:

  1. What makes me feel good on a Monday? Heck of a question...

    What do I like to read? Or who?

    Top Number One FAVE Author, Contemporary--- Guy Gavriel Kay. The man is living breathing poetry disguised as prose. A Canadian author, known for his high fantasy, best known probably for TIGANA, SONG FOR ARBONNE or LIONS OF AL RASSAN, my personal choice for his best work would be the FIONAVAR TAPESTRY (consisting of three novels, plus a fourth sequel, as it were).

    My FAVE Author, Classics--- oooooooo.... trick question.

    Oscar Wilde because he's vicious and insane and I die laughing at his wicked, wicked ways every time I read his works inclusively.

    And then there's Emily Bronte--- If only she'd had the chance to write MORE!! But alas and alack, I must point towards my ancient high school copy of WUTHERING HEIGHTS and say, "There! There is the best classic novel I have ever read."

    Mmm-hmm. Yup.

    And as for the Monday conundrum... or would that be an oxymoron?

    What makes me happy on a Monday... sad to say that I'm not coming up with anything more philosophical than a simple, 'When it ends.'
    Or, better yet--- when it ends and I know that I have Friday off, too.

    ttfn, susan

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  2. What makes me happy on a Monday? You are so not going to believe this -- when my precious, dearest little daughter goes to school and I get to spend two and a half hours by myself in blessed silence at the computer.

    What do I like to read -- sorry to say, historical romance from my fave authors, Quick, London, Jeffries, Beverly, Michaels. The list is long. My favorite author of all time, Henry David Thoreau. I LOVE him. He's taught me so much. If my daughter had been born a boy there was a very good chance his name would have been Henry David.

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  3. Hmmm...It takes a lot to make me feel good on a Monday.

    A venti latte from Starbucks is one way.

    As for my favorite read, I'm with you on both Atwood and McCarthy's latest books but I haven't read much else that they've written.

    I guess the author I've read the most is Stephen King.

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  4. Mondays should be abolished by law. Period. LOL

    Thanks for reminding me about "The Handmaid's Tale": I read it a while ago and now I'm going to revisit it, to see if the passing of time has made any changes in my appreciation. It's interesting how you quoted it together with "The Road" (I finished this one a few days ago and it's still quite fresh in my mind): both works deal with 'the end of the world', although in very different ways, but while Atwood's does contain some glimmer of hope, McCarthy's does not, not in an overt way.
    So I'm wondering if the concept of 'hope beyond hope' has anything to do with the author's gender…

    As far as my tastes go, I've always had a strong penchant for fantastic literature, with Tolkien and Martin at the top of the list for the fantasy sub-genre; I like a good scare, too, so King and Lovecraft are more than ok.
    For more classical 'hard' sci-fi, then I'd say Herbert, Ellison and some Bujold thrown into the mix.

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  5. You guys make me feel less than well-read. :)

    Susan-when it ends works for me.

    PW-I believe you. It's great to find that zone of calm and silence.

    EP-I love Starbucks.

    Nym-heck yeah! Down with Mondays! And it really is all about the hope, isn't it? :)

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