A few authors I'm grateful for #reading #books

 

We’ve all been asked who our favorite authors are. 

But how often are we asked which authors we’re grateful for? I’d say not very often. Here is my short list of authors I’m grateful for.

 

• William Shakespeare because the play’s the thing;
• Marion Zimmer Bradley for writing my favorite novel—it’s legendary;

• Clive Cussler for Dirk Pitt;
• Louis L’Amour for my love of the western genre;
• Homer for the epic Greek poems;
• Laura Ingalls Wilder for a little girl on the prairie;
• Agatha Christie for Hercule Poirot, my favorite detective;
• Charles Dickens because Marley was dead: to begin with. There was no doubt whatever about it;

• Don Coldsmith for showing me the ways of the Elk Dog People;
• Edgar Allan Poe for a cask of amontillado;
• Jane Austen for the intelligence, integrity, and spirit of Elizabeth Bennett;
• Robert Heinlein for sending my imagination soaring into the future;
• Oscar Wilde for being earnest;
• Mario Puzo for an offer I can’t refuse;
• J.R.R. Tolkien for Samwise Gamgee;
• Thomas Keneally, lest I forget that one person can indeed make a difference;
• Alexandre Dumas for the vengeance of Edmund Dantes;
• Victor Hugo because I railed against injustice and wept at the sacrifice of redemption;

• Boris Pasternak for the pain and angst of hopeless love;
• Bram Stoker for Count Dracula;
• Thomas Harris for making me root for Hannibal Lecter;
• And for William Goldman because he gave us the fairy tale story of fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, and miracles.

Until next time,
Kaye Spencer