Rock stars have their groupies and celebrities have the paparazzi. What do authors have? Librarians? Teachers? Bibliophiles? We close the last page and savor in the fleeting glow of the tale, most times ignoring the man behind the curtain.
Very, very few authors make it to the big time. Most are lucky to have fifty people at their book signings. This week's Weekly Geek prompt is to post photos of our favorite authors, to give them a little face time.
"Keep passing the open windows" (photo via Applied Arts Magazine)
"I always felt and still feel that fairy tales have an emotional truth that is so deep that there are few things that really rival them." (via NPR photo by Deborah Feingold)
"Science has not yet taught us if madness is or is not the sublimity of the intelligence." (photo via Marleah on Flickr)
"This is a work of fiction. All the characters in it, human and otherwise, are imaginary, excepting only certain of the fairy folk, whom it might be unwise to offend by casting doubts on their existence. Or lack thereof." (photo via the author's blog and I believe Kyle Cassidy took the photo)
"So it goes." (uncredited photo)
There could be love," Jonas whispered. (photo via the author's blog)
"Life seems but a quick succession of busy nothings." (wherever fine toys are sold)
To coincide with my favorite authors post, I thought I might try my hand at my very first contest.
Leave me a comment with your own favorite author along with a quote cited from them or a line from their book. Oh! What do you win? Your choice of any book under $20 on Amazon.com (which will be given in the form of a $20 email gift certificate to Amazon).
Want an extra chance? Post about the contest on your own blog and put the link in with your comment.
Drawing will be held August 10th at midnight.
August 2, 2008
The Man Behind The Curtain & My First Contest!
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59 comments:
I think I know these
John Irving
Alice Hoffman
Edgar Allan Poe
Neil Gaiman
Kurt Vonnegut
Lois Lowry
Jane Austen
My favourite author: Australian crime fiction writer Michael Robotham.
The opening line from his mini-book BOMBPROOF. "Some days are diamonds".
I have a posting on my won blog at
http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/2008/08/weekly-geeks-13-author-photos.html
Hi! Such beautiful pictures you chose!
My favourite author is Jane Austen. A quote from Pride and Prejudice:
"'It is a truth universally acnowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."
I blogged about your contest here:
http://alessandrasplace.blogspot.com/2008/08/weekly-geeks-13-author-pictures.html
I was going to use the same Austen quote as Alessandra -- and so I will substitute the opening line of Whitethorn, by Bryce Courtenay:
True love came to me one crisp late autumn morning when the sky had lost the faded blue of a long hot summer and taken on the deeper colour of winter yet to come.
"Naw, Jem, I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks." Harper Lee from one of the greatest novels of all time....
(I'd love to be entered into your contest.)
My favorite author is Robert Pirsig who is widely known for his book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
"The place to improve the world is first in one's own heart and head and hands."
"Close the door. Write with no one looking over your shoulder. Don't try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It's the one and only thing you have to offer."
-Barbara Kingsolver
Such great photos of the authors you found! The ones I found weren't quite so interesting...
And of course I want a stab at your contest.
My favorite favorite author is Ian McEwan. And a quote (simple as it is) from On Chesil Beach that has always stuck with me:
But it is never easy.
Fun blog post and contest! ;-)
I have so many favorite authors, but the first quote that popped into my head is one from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. I read it with my kids a few years ago, and one particular line was, and is still to this day, hysterically laughed at: "Burp, you silly ass! Burp!!" With that line, Roald Dahl became one of my children's favorite authors.
BTW, I posted a link to your contes on my Giveaways and Contests page. :-D
Reading David Hume "woke me from my dogmatic slumber."
- Immanuel Kant
I'm not sure I can say Immanuel Kant is my favorite author because his writings are so difficult to read, but some parts of his writings have strongly influenced my philosophical thinking. Plus the above quote always pops in my head whenever I realize I have been dogmatic. It's such a great line.
Oh Happy Day! How exciting to see some of my favorite commenters here this morning :-)
This is a toughy . . .
Loved the Hume quote, btw.
I'm going with Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi:
"To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation."
I have many favorite authors. One of my favorite books is "East of Eden", and a favorite quote is "And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected."
I also love J.K. Rowling's work. One of my favorite quotes: "It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."
Hi,
You mentioned this contest at Librarything so I came on over.
Favorite author is C.S. Lewis
Quote from him in A Grief Observed is
"No one ever told me grief felt so much like fear."
Terra
I have a lot of favorite authors. If you want to see my whole list, check out my recommendations on my website. However a few that I simply love are:
Jeaniene Frost
Keri Arthur
LK Hamilton
Ilona Andrews
Karen Chance
Nalini Singh
Kelley Armstrong
As for a quote from one of them....
Karen Chance - Touch the Dark - I knew I was in trouble as soon as I saw the obituary. The fact that it had my name on it was sort of a clue.
MaryJanice Davidson - Undead and Unwed - The day I died started out bad and got worse in a hurry.
Rachel Vincent - Stray - The moment the door opened I knew an ass-kicking was inevitable. Whether I’d be giving it or receiving it was still a bit of a mystery.
Jeaniene Frost - Halfway to the Grave - I stiffened at the flashing red and blue lights behind me, because there was no way I could explain what was in the back of my truck.
I also posted about your contest on my site (http://www.literaryescapism.com/2008/08/04/334/), so hopefully you'll get some traffic.
hi, I like how you set the authors pics up with quotes...very creative!
I see Poe, Alice Hoffman, Neil Gaiman and Jane Austen.
Jane Austen is one of my favorite authors: 'Maybe it is our imperfections which make us so perfect for one another.'
-Emma
http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/
I've got two favorites, both from the same book, not a classic, but I loved it.
"Like most bookworms I read so as not to be alone, which often annoys those who are trying to make conversation with me"
"Books aren't just my defenses, the sandbags I use to fortify my position; they are also the building blocks of my soul, and I am the sum of all I read."
Losing Julia by Jonathan Hull
Great Giveaways!
Great post and contest! I second a C.S. Lewis quote. Mine is from The Problem With Pain
"If we will not learn to eat the only food that the universe grows...then we must starve eternally."
bookroomreviews@hotmail.com
Roald Dahl
"A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men."
aztekh[at]gmail.com
For the sake of the great hoopla I pick a quote from Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer: "You nicknamed my daughter after the Loch Ness Monster?"
I thought that line was hilarious.
aimme21[at]yahoo[dot]com
John Irving
Alice Hoffman
Edgar Allan Poe
Neil Gaiman
Kurt Vonnegut
Lois Lowry
Jane Austen
Like Kerrie, I simply put the mouse on the pictures to get the right answers. Is that cheating?!
I love Mary Oliver. I like her poetry collection Thirst, very much. I quote from a poem there:
“From the complications of loving you
I think there is no end or return.
No answer, no coming out of it.
Which is the only way to love, isn’t it?
This isn’t a playground; this is
earth, our heaven, for a while.”
— from Mary Oliver’s A Pretty Song in Thirst
Check out my author photos!
I love the pictures you chose of John Irving and Kurt Vonnegut, beautiful.
Difficult to pick just one fav. author- but I'm gonna go with Paullina Simons because I adore The Bronze Horseman Trilogy:
"I write about the human condition, which is multi-layered. Some of those layers are angst, strife, and suffering. Suffering is conflict, conflict is strife, strife is drama, drama makes good stories." ~Simons
zeek319 at hotmail.com
D'oh I'm such a dork.
I Quoted the Author! Let me give you a favorite line from The Bronze Horseman:
"You're the ship sail on- and go down with."
". . . she dressed with originality, she knew a lot and at first hand about decadence . . ." A THEFT: A NOVEL by Saul Bellow.
I love him. But not first hand.
Woo Hoo! You guys are making me smile. I was thinking I might get only one commenter on this post ;-)
One of my favorite authors is Pat Conroy..and my favorite book of his is "Prince of Tides"...and I love the opening lines of the prologue:
"My wound is geography. It is also my anchorage, my port of call."
I posted your contest on my blog too:
http://allisonsatticblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/other-bloggers-contests.html
So...please enter me in your contest!! :-)
Allison
http://allisonsatticblog.blogspot.com
One of my favorite authors right now is Ilona Andrews. And one of my favorite lines from her book Magic Bites is: "What kind of a woman greets the Beast Lord with 'here, kitty, kitty'?". :0)
librarygrinch at gmail dot com
My favorite book is Gone With the Wind so I would have to say my fovorite author is Margaret Mitchell. I loved it when Rhett walked out and said “Frankly My Dear I Dont Give A Damn”.
"Be kind to dragons for thou art crunchy when roasted and taste good with ketchup."
-Sherrilyn Kenyon
Hugs,Danette
I love L. M. Montgomery who wrote Anne Of Green Gables.
"I thought nothing could be as bad as red hair. Green is ten times worse."
samsakara@twcny.rr.com
+What a fun contest for a wonderful book drawing. I adore the writings of Agatha Christie! One quote I admire her for is "A Mother's love for her child is like nothing else in this world!" Thanks, Cindi
jchoppes[at]hotmail[dot]com
I'm not sure if I have just one favorite author, but one of my favorites is Jodi Picoult. This quote is the first line of Nineteen Minutes:
"In nineteen minutes, you can mow the front lawn, color your hair, watch a third of a hockey game."
I blogged about your contest HERE.
Thanks for the giveaway.
Shana
literarily AT live DOT com
Oops. I left the wrong link. Click HERE for my blog post about your contest.
Thanks,
Shana
literarily AT live DOT com
"I confess, I do not believe in time."
- Vladimir Nabokov
Chuck Palahniuk, David Sedaris...two of my absolute faves. And here's a favorite quote, not from either of them haha
Grown-ups like numbers. When you tell them about a new friend, they never ask questions about what really matters. They never ask: "What does his voice sound like?" "What games does he like best?" "Does he collect butterflies?". They ask: "How old is he?" "How many brothers does he have?" "How much does he weigh?" "How much money does his father make?" Only then do they think they know him.
-Antoine de Saint-Exupery "The LIttle Prince"
My favorite author is probably Jane Austen or Charles Dickens.
A favorite Austen quote (I first heard it the Mansfield Park movie, but it is from Love and Friendship):
"Run mad as often as you choose, but do not faint."
My favorite is from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith: "The world was hers for the reading." I love it so much that I put it on the header for my site!
I blogged about your contest here.
My favourite authors are Kelley Armstrong and Natsuo Kirino.
The line I'm using is from Person Demon by Kelley Armstrong. Over at her forum, there was a writing challenge where we had to make a story using that line as the starter.
"There was a time in my life when the prospect of watching a man die would have filled me with horror."
Thanks!
~ Popin
No need to enter me; I'm just stopping in to let you know I've posted about your contest at Win a Book.
Hi! great blog and great contest! I've posted it on my giveaways blog, right here:
http://bloggiveaways.blogspot.com/2008/08/80708-august-giveaways.html
One of my favorite authors is Ray Bradbury and two quotes of his that I love are:
If we listened to our intellect, we'd never have a love affair. We'd never have a friendship. We'd never go into business, because we'd be cynical. Well, that's nonsense. You've got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down.
and
There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.
wow such a nice idea for a contest.
My favorite author is Salman Rushdie and my fav book Midnights Children.
One of my favorite lines from Midnights Children -
“Newspapers shall praise him, two mothers shall raise him.! Bicyclists love him, but crowds will shove him! Washing will hide him- voices will guide him! Friends mutilate him- blood will betray him! Spitoons will brain him- doctors will drain him- jungle will claim him – wizards reclaim him! Soldiers will try him- tyrants will fry him. He will have sons without having sons. He will be old before he is old.. And he will die….before he is dead.”
Archana
archuprabhu[at]hotmail[dot]com
One of my very favorite authors is Dava Sobel. Since I don't keep most books once I read them I can't give you an exact quote, but I will give you the link to my review of her latest book ... that's where I raved about her writing style and explained why she's one of my faves.
Aw, I had downloaded a picture of my author, but I guess I can't leave it here. Anyway, I chose Roald Dahl, who was my favorite author growing up. Here's a good quote from him:
"A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men."
From Breaking Dawn:
"You're awfully small to be so hugely irritating."
My favorite author has to be Jane Austen. One quote I like from Mansfield Park, "She was of course only too good for him; but as nobody minds having what is too good for them, he was very steadily earnest in the pursuit of the blessing..."
Wow, those are some awesome author picture/quotes! Not to mention an awesome giveaway, lol! =D Hmmmm... I don't really have a single fave author, but Sara Zarr is definitely one of them! The quote is from her second book Sweethearts:
“Sometimes I still stare into space and think about Cameron. I think about how there are certain people who come into your life, and leave a mark. I don’t mean the usual faint impression...And I don’t just mean that they change you...I’m talking about the ones who, for whatever reason, are as much a part of you as your own soul. Their place in your heart is tender; a bruise of longing, a pulse of unfinished business...Just hearing their name pushes and pulls at you in a hundred ways, and when you try to define them even to yourself, words are useless. If you had a lifetime to talk, there would still be things left unsaid.”
Lol, I'm so sorry- I didn't mean for it to be that long, I just couldn't bring myself to delete any more out of it than I already had! =) Thanks so much for the contest, it was really fun! Hope you have a great day!
~Lucy D =)
(Oh, and by the way I really love all your -ology tags!) =D
What a fun contest! My favorite author is Margaret Mitchell. Her closing line is my favorite:
"I'll think about it all tomorrow, at Tara. I can stand it then. Tomorrow, I'll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day."
i have so many favorites...i just finished augusten burrough's latest, a wolf at the table. sad, very sad...i can't think of a quote though. I really kate dicamillo's stuff too (for kids), my fav. being the miraculous journey of edward tulane.
I blogged about your contest .
I have so many favorite authors, that I can't choose. I can, however, give you one of my favorite quotes: "The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." — Jane Austen (Northanger Abbey)
I love Oscar Wilde. There's this quote from him that I love "Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much." LOL
Thanks!
bunnybx at gmail . com
Blogged for an extra entry! Thanks!
bunnybx at gmail . com
I love the author photo/quote post. I'll have to do one!
Jane Austen is my favorite author, but it's hard to pick just one quote, and there are many on here already. So here's another fave author, Barbara Kingsolver:
"Memory is a complicated thing, a relative to truth, but not its twin."
The idea of matching up book quotes with photographs is wonderful, and the result is beyond.
I'm in for the contest anyway. my quote is:
"What do you want from life?"
Neil Gaiman's Stardust
I have a lot of favorite authors, but one of them is L.M. Montgomery. I use this quote from Anne of Green Gables often on bad days.
"... tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet"
Here's a quote from my favorite author William Faulkner's book As I Lay Dying. "I have heard men cuss their luck, and right, for they were sinful men."
Theresa N
weceno(at)yahoo(dot)com
I do not have a favorite author; I like too many to choose. But my favorite short line is "It is the broken heart that makes us human in the end." (Iona Moon by Melanie Rae Thon)
I hope this answer is sufficient to be entered into the contest. :)
Ann Rice “To write something, you have to risk making a fool of yourself.”
My favorite book of all time is Back Home, by Michelle Magorian, which contains the hilarious line, "The girls danced as if they had been frozen from the neck downwards."
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