Hello again friends. I have prepared a list, similar to the one I posted last week, listing my personal history of favorite authors as a way of charting how my tastes have changed over the years.
First, because I know you are very concerned (after all, the fact that I was going to the Yo La Tengo concert was the motivating factor for starting these lists), I had an awesome time at the show in Newport. They were spectacular, and the Southgate House is a truly badass venue for a concert.
Here for your viewing (and listening) pleasure is an earlier performance of Yo La Tengo covering “Count Me In” (originally performed by Gary Lewis & the Playboys). The way they played it at the show in Newport was a little bit different (and the setting didn’t really look anything like this), but I’ve listened to this track at least fifty times since I got back from the show. It’s awesome.
So, as a special continuation of the thrilling, award-winning (I promise) series on how my tastes have changed over the years, I present this awfully interesting list of my favorite writers over the years. Please enjoy, please share your thoughts, and please feel compelled to think about these questions for yourself and offer similar lists.
Favorite writers
1992-1995: Gary Paulsen
If you are a follower of this blog (and since you’re reading this I assume that you are. Isn’t logic fun?) you are probably aware of my early love for Gary Paulsen’s ability to capture the mind of a growing young man. On a related note, I am terrified of going back to read Paulsen’s books because I am certain that I will find them utterly irredeemable. Maybe someday I’ll be brave enough.
1994-1995: RL Stine
Yes, I was a silly young man, and to make matters worse, I was probably on the tail end of the age range for these books when I actually read them. I do specifically remember reading Stine’s “adult novel” Superstitious, which was filled with unnecessarily graphic sex scenes. I read sections to my friends while we were on break from standardized testing. I was awesome.
1995-1997: Ray Bradbury
Bradbury was the first serious author I really read, and he’s a big reason why I am still so interested in literature today. The evolution from someone like RL Stine to an author with the capability of Bradbury was an invaluable step in my ability to appreciate literature and what it can do. Even now I still think that Bradbury had one of the greatest imaginations in the history of American literature.
1997-1999: Stephen King
I was once a very impressionable young man, and I took to reading Stephen King because my Mom has one of the largest collections (not officially, of course) of Stephen King writing and related memorabilia. Some might consider King a step back from Bradbury (and I could be one of those people), but if you have read Four Seasons, I think you know that Stephen King is often unfairly maligned.
1999-2001: Kurt Vonnegut
The reality is that this list could easily stop at this point, because I couldn’t make a convincing argument that Kurt Vonnegut ever stopped being my favorite author. His range and wit are matched by very few authors I’ve ever encountered, and I think it is sad that he is not considered in the pantheon of truly great American authors alongside the likes of Twain and Faulkner.
2001-2003: Douglas Adams
I contend that no college-aged person (except for annoying douches, and none of them really count as people anyway) can read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and not be completely blown away. It’s easy to get lost in the amazing humor of
2003-2005: Leo Tolstoy
Much like The Beach Boys in my previous list, it’s possible that Tolstoy was never really my favorite writer. I would be remiss, however, if I didn’t acknowledge how much I changed as a result of reading his work, namely The Death of Ivan Ilych. I still haven’t gotten around to the vast majority of his longer works, but I don’t really mind because his shorter works are simply great.
2005-2008: John Updike
Of all the authors I’ve ever read, Updike is the hardest to describe. His short work is so thoughtful, and his early novels show an incredible maturity that you can’t even begin to understand unless you read The Poorhouse Fair. For all his brilliance, however, Updike is not as easy to label or explain as other writers I adore like Vonnegut or Tolstoy. All I can say is that Updike is a real wizard.
2008-present: JD Salinger
My feelings for Salinger have been reinforced by the inane and inexplicable backlash against The Catcher in the Rye that took place as a result of Salinger’s passing. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything that compares to Nine Stories, and there is simply no other author whose body of work is so concise and yet so moving and impressive. If you have a problem with Salinger, you can come to me and we can sort it out.
