I was voraciously seeking out new fiction in the late nineteen-nineties, no doubt partially inspired by the fact that it was realistically the first time in my life I had enough disposable income to regularly offer business to local bookstores … Continue reading My Writers: Jonathan Lethem
In some respects, I’m not entirely sure I should even include Donna Tartt on this list. Unlike those writers that have preceded her in this informal tally and most who will follow her (certainly all of them in the initial … Continue reading My Writers: Donna Tartt
Though I loved reading throughout my school years, and therefore happily gravitated to English courses and even majored in English in college (along with Communication, because I decided to double-down on degrees bereft of vocational utility), I generally had a … Continue reading My Writers: John Steinbeck
I had a bunch of blocky Stephen King paperbacks on my shelf for a long time before I dared to commit to one. As I’ve mentioned before, I owned a copy of The Shining that beckoned to me occasionally. … Continue reading My Writers: Stephen King
The super-secret, ever-so-intriguing backstory behind the images chosen to accompany these “My Writers” posts is this: as often as I can, I try to select the book cover that corresponds to the specific edition of the title that was my … Continue reading My Writers: Don DeLillo
I’m glad to report that I fell for Ian McEwan’s literary sleight of hand in Atonement. I knew blessedly little about the novel when I picked it up to read it, little more, in fact, than it was earning acclaim … Continue reading My Writers: Ian McEwan
Thanks to the magic of interweb research, I can pinpoint my discovery of Michael Chabon down to the exact date. When I started worked in commercial radio in the mid-nineteen-nineties, one of the little oddities I discovered was the presence … Continue reading My Writers: Michael Chabon
As I mentioned at the start of this project, the original impetus came from a Facebook meme that challenged me to name ten personally influential authors as quick as could, tapping into the literary stream of consciousness that flows through … Continue reading My Writers: Anne Tyler
Throughout my high school years, I was a member of the Quality Paperback Book Club, an outfit that offered big, thick trade paperbacks, often exclusively, under the same rough model as the more famous Book of the Month Club. Part … Continue reading My Writers: Margaret Atwood
My friend Steve recently tagged me on Facebook, challenging me to come up with a list of “fifteen authors who have been an influence and you’re confident will always stick with you.” It was intended to be a brisk, modest exercise. The instructions even insisted that as little time as possible be used in the construction of the list. So naturally, I thought about it a lot. I didn’t agonize in the selection of the fifteen writers; I dutifully followed the instructions in that respect. But I did think about the list quite a bit after I shared it with … Continue reading My Writers: An Introduction
Coffee for Two 