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Reading Room:  All-Time Favorite AUTHOR  |
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CabinCreek-Kentucky
True Blue Farmgirl
8529 Posts
Frannie
Green County
Kentucky
USA
8529 Posts |
 Posted - Jun 20 2006 : 5:39:59 PM
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if you HAD to choose just ONE all-time favorite AUTHOR .. who would it be and why?
my choice would be Janice Holt Giles .. i adore her writing style, her stories .. about early pioneer life .. mostlyl in Kentucky.
who is your FAVORITE .. and why?
True Friends, Frannie
My KENTUCKY RAMBLINGS 'blog':
http://cabincreekfarm-kentucky.blogspot.com/ |
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brightmeadow
True Blue Farmgirl
2045 Posts
Brenda
Lucas
Ohio
USA
2045 Posts |
Posted - Jun 20 2006 : 5:53:44 PM
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Great topic! Just be careful! Some online banks and computer systems are now asking for a number of security questions to reset passwords - and often "who is your favorite author" is often one of the questions...
I am particularly sensitive to this since my identity was stolen back in November. If you use the security question for some of your accounts, you probably don't want to post the same author's name on a public web site that can be associated with your email address.
By the way one of my favorite authors is Helga Sandburg.. I read a few of her books when I was a teenager and had to go buy used copies recently because the books brought back so many memories for me. Her books were about a young teenage girl who is horse-crazy and lives in the Midwest countryside somewhere near Lake Michigan (northern Indiana? Southwestern Michigan?) - I think that is where the author grew up, so her descriptions and people portraits of old Polish truck farmers have a lot of versimilitude, at least for me. Especially since I married the descendent of an old Ukranian truck farmer from Southwestern Michigan 4 years ago!
You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands - You shall be happy and it shall be well with you. -Psalm 128.2
Visit my web site store at http://www.watkinsonline.com/fish or my homepage at http://home.earthlink.net/~brightmeadow |
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
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abbasgurl
True Blue Farmgirl
1262 Posts
Rhonda
USA
1262 Posts |
Posted - Jun 20 2006 : 10:58:10 PM
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Frannie...just ONE? Shame on you!
...and I will sing at the top of my lungs, and I will dance, even if I'm the only one! |
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sillyfoulks
True Blue Farmgirl
164 Posts
Elizabeth
Illinois
USA
164 Posts |
Posted - Jun 21 2006 : 05:15:23 AM
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I have a weakness for James Michener. I just love the way he mixes history with the stories about the people. I just get lost in the lives of the people he writes about. It is just the perfect combination of history, genealogy, and storytelling.
His story about California, is a favorit of mine. My family has lived in California since 1845, and while reading his story I was always on the look out for names that I recognized. It helped me to really connect my family with what was going on around them.
Louisa May Allcott, is another favorite of mine. I ready many of her books, over and over and over, as a young girl.
Elizabeth
Not how long, but how well you have lived is the main thing.
http://livingcountrystyle.blogspot.com/ |
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CabinCreek-Kentucky
True Blue Farmgirl
8529 Posts
Frannie
Green County
Kentucky
USA
8529 Posts |
Posted - Jun 21 2006 : 05:37:53 AM
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jenny .. i admire you .. i have tried and tried to read steinbeck .. and he gives me a big YAWN! mayhaps i should try again .. give me your FAVORITE book by him .. and i'll get it from the library and try again!
yep! miz rhonda .. ya' GOTTA' choose jus' one for this little game! o.k. who would it be?
elizabeth .. i too love michener .. but he, too is awfully wordy and descriptive .. of course, i loved jane auel's books (i think i mispelled her name) ... Clan of the Cave Bear, etc. and lordy knows THOSE were descriptive! maybe it's the mood we are in at certain times in our lives that we love 'this or that'.
i truly love pictures books about gardens, cooking, primitive style decorating and crafts the most!
True Friends, Frannie
My KENTUCKY RAMBLINGS 'blog':
http://cabincreekfarm-kentucky.blogspot.com/ |
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Lacy
True Blue Farmgirl
114 Posts
Lacy
Dallas
Texas
114 Posts |
Posted - Jun 21 2006 : 07:34:07 AM
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Frannie- steinbeck is hard for me to read too... just couldn't make it through Grapes of Wrath, but LOVED East of Eden. One of my favorite books.
My favorite author... Rhonda is right! one is hard! I'll say Barbara Kingsolver, with John Irving and Roald Dahl waiting in the wings.
http://farmaspirations.blogspot.com |
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primjillie
True Blue Farmgirl
138 Posts
Jill
Antelope
CA
USA
138 Posts |
Posted - Jun 21 2006 : 08:48:08 AM
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| Probably Rosamunde Pilcher. I love the way she writes and describes everything in her unique, british way. I have read all her books more times than I can count! |
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westernhorse51
True Blue Farmgirl
1681 Posts
michele
farmingdale
n.j.
USA
1681 Posts |
Posted - Jun 21 2006 : 08:59:34 AM
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if I can pick ONLY ONE (very hard) it would have to be Edith Wharton, love her writings, all of them. All my favorite authors are deceased, it's crazy but I love the way authors of long ago wrote. They took words and wove them into magnificent plots & scenarios but still kept so much to the imagination, I can't find that anymore. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places or maybe I just want to keep authors like Wharton, Austen, Hemmingway, Woolf, Wilde, Bronte & Ingalls-Wilder up on my pedestal but I get "carried off" in their stories and it's so magical. Little Women is still one of my favorites and I got to experienc it all over again w/ my daughter. To me, this authors are timeless along w/ their work and I doubt that I'll find it w/ authors of today ALTHOUGH, Im open & I will still keep looking.
she selects wool and flax and works with eager hands Prov.31:13 |
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - Jun 21 2006 : 09:56:32 AM
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You all are naming so many of my favorites..I love that.
Frannie....Cannery Row is a goood one. I LOVE Grapes of Wrath..but I think CAnnery Row is less long and is more light and fun. I love them all though. Steinbeck just makes his characters so real and I can just see them..so descriptive!!
Jenny in Utah
Inside me there is a skinny woman crying to get out...but I can usually shut her up with cookies
http://www.auntjennysworld.blogspot.com/ visit my little online shop at www.auntjenny.etsy.com |
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catscharm74
True Blue Farmgirl
4687 Posts
Heather
Texas
USA
4687 Posts |
Posted - Jun 21 2006 : 10:07:12 AM
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| Gladys Taber- I want to live like her and her stories makes me feel like I am. She will always be my inspiration for life... |
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Carolinagirl
True Blue Farmgirl
486 Posts
Kim
Rutherfordton
NC
USA
486 Posts |
Posted - Jun 21 2006 : 12:26:25 PM
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| Oh, one of my favorite topics. Pat Conroy is my fav, with Lee Smith being an almost tie with him. My fav Conroy book is The Lords of Discipline, and my fav Lee Smith is Oral History. I also really like Diana Gabaldon, who writes the time traveling Outlander series. |
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Mumof3
True Blue Farmgirl
3890 Posts
Karin
Ellenwood
GA
USA
3890 Posts |
Posted - Jun 21 2006 : 12:59:49 PM
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If I had to pick a favorite it would be Sarah Orne Jewett. Her characters are enchanting and quirky at the same time, and her writing so richly detailed that it makes me ache to be in the place she is writing about!! My favorite- The Country of the Pointed Firs. Just a beautiful, charming book.
Karin |
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abbasgurl
True Blue Farmgirl
1262 Posts
Rhonda
USA
1262 Posts |
Posted - Jun 21 2006 : 9:51:30 PM
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OK, Frannie...just one huh? Then I'd pick Emily Bronte. Wuthering Heights is on my top ten books of all time. Her sisters weren't slackers either.
I really love Dickens and Nathaniel Hawthorn too. Seeing a trend? ;)
Rhonda
...and I will sing at the top of my lungs, and I will dance, even if I'm the only one! |
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shepherdess
True Blue Farmgirl
359 Posts
Robin
Eatonville
Washington
USA
359 Posts |
Posted - Jun 21 2006 : 11:21:05 PM
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Mine would be Janice Hot Giles also. I have several of her Books.
Farm Girl from Western Washington
" From sheep to handspun.
http://mountainmorningfarm.blogspot.com |
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CabinCreek-Kentucky
True Blue Farmgirl
8529 Posts
Frannie
Green County
Kentucky
USA
8529 Posts |
Posted - Jun 22 2006 : 05:26:06 AM
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oh robin .. a kindred soul! i just finished her 'waterman' book .. and it was spell-binding .. i couldn't put it down! not like her usual 'land/farmer' books .. but everybit as beautifully written .. she makes you feel like 'you are there'!
jenny .. oh good grief! cannery row is the steinbeck book that made me know that i never ever wanted to read him ... light? fun? lordy! i must not have given it a chance .. i know it is around here SOMEWHERE .. i'm gonna' try and find it (or get it from the library) and give it another chance! maybe it was jus' WHERE I WAS in my life at the time where i had no patience to sit and read anything that was LONG. thanks gurlfren . .i'll give him another try! xo
True Friends, Frannie
My KENTUCKY RAMBLINGS 'blog':
http://cabincreekfarm-kentucky.blogspot.com/ |
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katiedid
True Blue Farmgirl
601 Posts
Kate
West Jordan
Utah
USA
601 Posts |
Posted - Jun 22 2006 : 09:05:37 AM
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Jenny~ I love Steinbeck too. But I have found that if I read too many in a row, I kinda get depressed.
I guess my all time favorite would be To Kill a Mocking Bird, and for some reason I can't think of the other!!
Jody Picoult is good too, and it is fun to wait for a new book to be published.
Kate |
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - Jun 22 2006 : 10:16:56 AM
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I never usually read two Steinbeck novels in a row either. Like you said..depressing. The only one I never could finish..didn't like it I guess or just wasn't as good to me as the others was "the Winter of our Dicontent". I will finish it someday though. I am stubborn.
Jenny in Utah
Inside me there is a skinny woman crying to get out...but I can usually shut her up with cookies
http://www.auntjennysworld.blogspot.com/ visit my little online shop at www.auntjenny.etsy.com |
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blueroses
True Blue Farmgirl
1323 Posts
Debbie
in the Pandhandle of
Idaho
USA
1323 Posts |
Posted - Jun 22 2006 : 10:33:10 AM
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One author is just so hard, but I'll say Alice Hoffman. Her books are usually about women and their relationships and there's always a bit of mystical, magical things in the stories. Her writing can make you laugh,smile or cry.
"You cannot find peace...by avoiding life."
Virginia Woolfe |
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Whimsy_girl
True Blue Farmgirl
576 Posts
USA
576 Posts |
Posted - Jun 22 2006 : 10:38:25 AM
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I'll be a black sheep here, but I love something that gives me the willies so I stick with Stephan King.
you can be oh so smart, or you can be oh so positive. I wasted a lot of time being smart I prefer being positive. |
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abbasgurl
True Blue Farmgirl
1262 Posts
Rhonda
USA
1262 Posts |
Posted - Jun 22 2006 : 12:41:55 PM
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Oh Bobbi! I read a lot of Steven King when I was in high school! The book about the super-flu/they made it into a movie/can't remember the title...LOL was amazing! Scared myself silly-so I had to stop reading him! His wife wrote some good spine chilling stuff too. Have you checked her out?
Rhonda
...and I will sing at the top of my lungs, and I will dance, even if I'm the only one! |
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KJD
True Blue Farmgirl
402 Posts
402 Posts |
Posted - Jun 22 2006 : 12:45:30 PM
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| I definitely don't have just one favorite, but one favorite is Peter Mayle, with all his books about life in Provence. I really find him funny. Well, while I'm here - I also love Ann Rivers Siddons, Diane Mott Davidson, Isak Dinesen, Susan Hermann Loomis, and many more! |
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Whimsy_girl
True Blue Farmgirl
576 Posts
USA
576 Posts |
Posted - Jun 22 2006 : 1:44:16 PM
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I have always meant to check out his wife's stuff but doesn't she use a pen name? The book about the superflu is "the Stand" but he revisits it quite a lot in his Dark Tower Series.. actually he revisits a lot of his previous books in that series. It's also just as well written as his other wtuff but not as scary, so if you ever want to check him out again I'd start with that one, or perhaps Eyes of the Dragon. He wrote it for his kids so it's pretty mellow but still a great story.
you can be oh so smart, or you can be oh so positive. I wasted a lot of time being smart I prefer being positive. |
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LJRphoto
True Blue Farmgirl
760 Posts
Laura
Hickory Corners
MI
USA
760 Posts |
Posted - Jun 22 2006 : 4:42:13 PM
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If I can only pick one, it has to be Willa Cather. I think I've read nearly all of them although some I remember better than others. My Antonia and O Pioneers are of course classics.
It's hard to choose just one contemporary although I could probably come up with a top ten list... Richard Russo, Anne Tyler, Kent Haruf... Hmmm, I guess I'll have to put some more effort in to come up with a full top ten list.
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority." -E. B. White
http://www.betweenthecities.com/blog/ljr/
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - Jun 22 2006 : 4:47:44 PM
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My Antoinia was VERY good. I bet I read it since you recomended it. I need to read O Pioneers..don't think I have.
Jenny in Utah
Inside me there is a skinny woman crying to get out...but I can usually shut her up with cookies
http://www.auntjennysworld.blogspot.com/ visit my little online shop at www.auntjenny.etsy.com |
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sunshine
True Blue Farmgirl
4877 Posts
Wendy
Utah
USA
4877 Posts |
Posted - Jun 22 2006 : 8:12:34 PM
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anne rice I jus talways liked Vampires and Ghoast and mummies as a kid. Funny as an adult I am diagnosed with a bleeding disorder and the symptoms are those of a vampire sort of. Pale pale skin ans sunk in eyes white eye lids on hte inside of the eye from being to enimic. My husbands makes jokes that I could just relate to well to the carracters as another symptom is easily twisting ankles and things like that so I am almost always wraped up. I just think it is funny my self al the simalarities the good part is that the real bad characterists I don't have those.
have a lovely day |
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Reading Room: All-Time Favorite AUTHOR |
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All-Time Favorite AUTHOR
