This was stolen from 1 more chapter… even though I have no clue how to answer it.
1. Do you have a favorite author? That is absolutely impossible. And usually, I can be a sport and pick an author I love off the top of my head just to play along, but this is really impossible. I’ll talk about two people: Colette, who I thought could potentially be my favorite author but I’m not liking so much now; and Shakespeare, who I avoided like the plague for so long and can’t help but love now.
2. Have you read everything he or she has written? Not by a long shot. They’re both so damn prolific – don’t you hate that? I mean, how am I supposed to be a die-hard fan when they went around writing every day of their freaking lives?! (It was a joke, Jesus – watch, now people are going to throw a fit.) The more Colette I read the less I liked it; everything was less-good than what I read before. Loved The Pure and the Impure, loved the Claudine books, not big on the Cheri books, which are some of the most popular. Shakespeare, on the other hand, I avoided until I took a class on his early works in college, and I couldn’t help but love everything we read.
3. Did you LIKE everything? I guess I already answered that about Colette. My favorite thing so far that Shakespeare has written was Titus Andronicus, Shakespeare meets Resevoir Dogs. I was also surprisingly fond of The Merchant of Venice.
4. How about a least favorite author? Stephen King, hands down. I’m not being a snob here, either, I swear I’ve tried time and time again to read his crap. But it’s CRAP.
5. An author you wanted to like, but didn’t? Not so much authors but books. I hated On the Road. Oh, here’s one: Walt Whitman. Doesn’t matter how much I read, I just don’t like him. It’s physically painful for me to read Leaves of Grass. Oh, another one! Elfriede Jelinek! What the hell is her problem? I mean, really… Jesus… that woman has problems or something. If you haven’t read her, you almost have to. I mean, you have to read her to believe it. I swear to God, she is what becomes of serial killers with literary leanings. Good Lord. Everyone go read her now and tell me what you think. Uggh.

NJ.
The Sunday Salon.
B
Well, I disagree about King, but I oh SO agree about Whitman! Keep thinking there’s something wrong with me every time I swear to give him another try and give up in agony after just a few pages.
Comment by Emily Barton — December 7, 2008 @ 12:47 am
I’m never into Jack Karouac, even though we have an entire bookstore dedicated to him and beat age here in the city. I read Whitman for American Lit class in college and he was okay.
Comment by Matthew — December 7, 2008 @ 8:58 pm