Really, I have.
And I can’t seem to come up with an answer to your question, Mr. Logsdon.
And I’ve decided that I could make up some BS about how I just love so-and-so, he’s just the best because of this reason. But I can’t do that. It would be average, sewn together with disingenuous comments. So I’ve tried to construct a suitable answer, though it is probably very different than what you are expecting.
I don’t have a favorite non-fiction author. I am sort of terrified you are reading this and are sighing and saying to yourself, “wow, that Hansen (what’s her name…Katherine? Jokes!) has a lot of nerve. Did she not read the assignment? Is she just being lazy? She could’ve at least picked a fiction writer!”
But I really don’t feel like I could. I don’t have favorite authors; I have favorite books. It’s the truth, not laziness on my part. If I really enjoy one book, I might check out another by the same author; but I hardly ever keep up with their newest published works. Maybe I’m not cultured enough, but I suspect something else. I don’t love styles (though I realize many people say they do. I actually think after awhile the same author gets…well, annoying. Everything seems the same.). I love ideas that make me question the way I’ve been thinking. I read because I want to expand my mental horizons. I love books that make me think and change my point of view, and I am thankful for the authors that have brought these ideas to my mind. But I don’t have strong, personal connections, or (if I may quote you, Mr. Logsdon) a sense of “true love”. I suppose it will change with time, but for now I have to say that I cannot lie. I just haven’t connected with anyone.
And I’m okay with that. Maybe one day i'll have a connection with an author. But if I don't, that's okay too.
For now, I guess I’ll talk about two writers I like.
Jeannette Walls wrote The Glass Castle, a memoir about her eclectic, messy, impoverished family. It made me question how I was being raised and how that would in the end effect my growth as a person; how it was such an important part of my growth.
The second is Sharon Creech. Walk Two Moons is my favorite book of all time. Most of my classmates are familiar with this book, and would say it is a book for pre-adolescent girls in sixth grade. I read it for the first time two weeks ago when I was dog sitting. I laughed and I cried and I grew more attached to the characters than in any of the “adult books” I’m expected to read now. As I’m sitting here I have literally started to cry remembering how Creech was able to portray the story of Salamanca. Sharon Creech is definitely the only author I would say I have any sort of “relationship” with. But it wasn’t Creech I connected with; it was the story. A story she wrote, yes. But the story is what I loved; not her style or diction or whatever. Not her syntax or imagery; I loved Sal and her crazy grandparents and “the lunatic” and Phoebe.
I hope I have adequately responded to the post.
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I think it's a good sign that you relate more to characters than to syntax and imagery. That's what a story's supposed to do. If the style sticks out to you without you even really thinking about it, then obviously the author isn't doing enough to suck you into the story.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I agree. REBEL! DEATH TO TEACHER! FREEEEEEEEDOM!