This Week in Reading August 23 - 29

Authors born this week -

Nobel Prize in Literature
Poet, playwright Maurice Maeterlinck (1911)

Novelists and story writers
Theodore Dreiser, Zona Gale, Jules Romains, Jean Rhys, Jorge Luis Borges, C. S. Forester, Christopher Isherwood, Robertson Davies, Julio Cortazar, Brian Moore, Janet Frame, Thea Astley, A. S. Byatt, Howard Jacobson, Paulo Coehlo, Martin Amis, Oscar Hijuelos

Poets and Playwrights
Poets: Robert Herrick, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., William Ernest Henley, Guillaume Apollinaire, John Betjeman, Thom Gunn, Charles Wright, Rita Dove Playwrights: Johann Wolfang von Goethe, Edgar Lee Masters, Preston Sturges, Ephraim Kishon, Willy Russell, Charles Busch

Thinkers, Believers, Scientists, Historians, Biographers
Thinkers: John Locke, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Believers: Mother Teresa Scientists: Bruno Bettelheim, Roger Tory Peterson, Clifford Geertz, Nathan Pritkin Historians: Arnold Toynbee, Sr., Howard Zinn, Jeremy Schaap Biographers: Chris Offutt

Humorists, Essayists, Editors, Journalists, Officials, Media and Others
Humorists: Bret Harte, Will Cuppy, Mark Russell, Stephen Fry Essayists: Jo Freeman, William Least Heat Moon Editors: Malcolm Cowley Journalists: Ben Bradlee Officials: Lyndon Baines Johnson, John McCain Media and Others: Malvina Reynolds, Robert Greenwald, Rachel Ray, Sam Stern

Mystery / Crime / Suspense Writers
Mystery: Earl Derr Biggers Crime: Suspense: Ira Levin, Frederick Forsyth, Nelson DeMille

Fantasy / Science Fiction Writers
Fantasy: J.S. Le Fanu Science Fiction: James Tiptree, Jr., Jack Vance, Michael P. Kube-McDowell

Romance / Historical Fiction Writers
Historical Fiction: Antonia Fraser

Visual Artists
Illustrators: Tasha Tudor Graphic Novelists: Jack Kirby Cartoonists: Max Beerbohm, Walt Kelly

Young People’s Writers
Children: Charles Ghigna, Karen Hesse Teens: Orson Scott Card

Obituary

Novelist, memoirist, journalist Dominick Dunne (83)

Events to read about this week:
Vesuvius erupted and covered the city of Pompeii, the White House was burnt in the District of Columbia, Paris got liberated, and New Orleans was devastated. The Gutenberg Bible and the motion picture camera both changed how information was shared, and two vital social movements, black civil rights and woman’s suffrage changed how human space was shared.

This Week’s Questions:

Speaking of the printing press and the motion picture camera, no less than fifty-two authors born this week had something to do with the medium of film, either as writer of a story, poem, or novel that was made into a movie or television program, or have appeared as themselves in documentary footage - sometimes even as a performer - or were portrayed by others on film or television. A few are outright filmmakers to begin with. You could probably do this every week, but in this special week see if you can match the author with the film.

Authors -

1. Preston Sturges
2. Earl Derr Biggers
3. Willy Russell
4. Frederick Forsyth
5. Christopher Isherwood
6. A. S. Byatt
7. Julio Cortazar
8. James Kirkwood
9. Jean Rhys
10. Paulo Coehlo
11. Jorge Luis Borges
12. Nelson De Mille
13. Janet Frame
14. Jack Kirby
15. J.S. Fanu
16. C.S. Forester
17. Ira Levin
18. Theodore Dreiser
19. Oscar Hijuelos
20. Brian Moore

Films -

A. Torn Curtain
B. The Mambo Kings
C. A Chorus Line
D. An Angel at My Table
E. Iron Man
F. Rosemary's Baby
G. The African Queen
H. Let’s Scare Jessica to Death
I. A Place in the Sun
J. Blow Up
K. Possession
L. Educating Rita
M. Wide Sargasso Sea
N. Veronica Decides to Die
O. Sullivan’s Travels
P. The Day of the Jackal
Q. Charlie Chan movies
R. Cabaret
S. The Gospel According to Mark
T. Word of Honor

Answer to Last Week’s Questions:
Candy / Is Dandy / But liquor / Is quicker has often been attributed to Dorothy Parker, because she was that witty, but it was written by Ogden Nash. On the other hand, the poem about everybody attributing every epigram to Oscar Wilde was written by Ms. Parker.