This Week in Reading September 6 - 12

Authors born this week –

Nobel Prize in Literature
Poet Frederic Mistral (1904)

Novelists and story writers
Leo Tolstoy, O Henry, Alexandr Kuprin, D.H. Lawrence, Elinor Wylie, Franz Werfel, George Bataille, Julien Green, James Hilton, Cesare Pavese, Carmen Lafloret, Grace Metalious, Michael Ondaatje, Anne Beattie, Barry Siegel, Alice Sebold, Jennifer Egan, James Frey

Poets and Playwrights
Poets: C. J. Dennis, H.D, Siegfried Sassoon, Edith Sitwell, Louis MacNeice, Mary Oliver Playwrights: Lodivico Ariosto, Alfred Jarry, Michael Frayn, Jerome Ragni

Thinkers, Believers, Scientists, Historians, Biographers
Philosophers: Charles Sanders Peirce, Theodor Adorno Believers: Neale Donald Walsch Scientists: Jared Diamond, Stephen Jay Gould, Michael Shermer, Terry Tempest Williams Biographers: Carl van Doren, Robert M. Pirsig

Humorists, Essayists, Editors, Journalists, Officials, Media and Others
Humorists: Jeff Foxworthy Essayists: Jane Addams, Mary Hunter Austin, Paul Goodman, Paul Miller Editors: H. L. Mencken Journalists: Jessica Mitford, Simon Reeve, Maria Bartiromo, Markos Moulitisas Media and Others: Elia Kazan, Sid Caesar, Charles Kuralt, Pamela des Barres, Bill O’Reilly, Carly Fiorina

Mystery / Crime / Suspense Writers
Mystery: Phyllis A. Whitney

Fantasy / Science Fiction Writers
Science Fiction: Stanislaw Lem, Dan Cragg, China Mieville

Visual Artists
Illustrators: Sergio Arragones Photographers: Ben Shahn Graphic Novelists: Alison Bechdel

Young People’s Writers
Children's: Felix Salten, Eric Hill, Philip Ardagh

Events to read about this week:
Philo T. Farnsworth perfected his telvising process so that years later we could see the first events such as the Miss America contest, the Star Trek series, ESPN, a network devoted totally to sports, on which we saw Cal Ripken break Lou Gehrig's iron man record, and news events such as President Ford pardoning Richard Nixon for his Watergate indiscretions, and the opening of the Kennedy Center for the Arts. What we did not see on television, however, was the discovery of prehistoric paintings in a cave in France, and the the founding of California as a state.

Obituaries
Hollywood columnist Army Archerd, (87)
Literary critic Richard Poirier (83) (late last week)

This Week’s Questions:

This week gives us several very famous literary authors and most of us know them through their work, yet some held social and political ideas that could give others pause. Many complained about the puritanism of their time. We all probably know Mencken's famous quote - "Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy" - but who, born this week, said these words?

"To the Puritan, all things are impure, as somebody says."

"The great artists of the world are never Puritans, and seldom even ordinarily respectable."

"Perhaps there is no happiness in life so perfect as the martyr's."

"Puritanism persists, yet there is a remarkable shift away from moralism and hypocrisy and toward plain inconsistency."

"Pure and complete sorrow is as impossible as pure and complete joy. "

Answers to Last Week’s Questions:
Eleanor Alice Burford Hibbert (we hadn’t even caught onto her real married last name at the library). (1906 – 1993) was the prolific “Queen of romantic suspense” who is credited with reinvigorating the gothic romance genre as Victoria Holt in 1960. She wrote close to two hundred novels under pseudonyms for her historical romances, among the most well know were Jean Plaidy (the "Tudor Sagas," "Plantagenet Sagas", the "Norman Trilogy," ((not to be confused by the three play trilogy called "the Norman Conquests" by Alan Ayckbourn.)) etc) and Philippa Carr (the "Daughters of England" series.) She also used at least five other names for other series, with her own birth name, Eleanor Buford, leading the list which includes Kathleen Kellow, Ellalice Tate, Anna Percival, and Elbur Ford. She also wrote a few stories and some books for children.

C. J. Cherryh, a contemporary writer with over forty books already, has wrttien at least seventeen different kinds of science fiction genres from space opera to high fantasy. Her series include "Tristan," "Cyteen," "Compact Space," "Faded Sun," "Merovingen Nights," and she has contributed to other series and has written many stories.

Joan Aiken, (1924 – 2004), daughter of the famous poet Conrad Aiken, created about a hundred fantasy novels which she called “unhistorical romances” for youth (mostly) and adults. Her most well known series was "The Wolves of Willoughby Chase" but "Arabel and Mortimer," and "Black Hearts in Battersea" were also popular. She also wrote plays and many stories.

Edgar Rice Burroughs, (1875 – 1950,) wrote many more pulp series besides the Tarzan adventures we all know him by. The other series include the "Barsoom" books about fighting Martians on the planet Mars, the "Pellucidar" series about going to the center of the earth, along with series about the Moon, about the planet Venus, and the "Land That Time Forgot." He also wrote historical novels, western novels, other jungle series books, and other science fiction, as well as many stories.

Mary Renualt, (1905 – 1983,) wrote contemporary fiction as well as the historical novels set in Ancient Greece that she was most well known for. The name 'Mary Renault' is a pseudonym, as is the name Cherry Wilder, another prolific genre author born last week.

All the authors above, and their series, may be found in the Novelist database available through the Online Resources page with your Glendale Public Library barcode (found on the back of your library card.) And while there, check out Biography Resource Center for more on the lives of fascinating authors to be found here at the library.

This Week in Reading May 10 -16

Authors born this week:

Nobel Prize in Literature: Novelist Camilo Jose Cela (1989)

Novelists and story writers
Benito Perez Galdos, Katherine Anne Porter, Juan Rolfo, Bel Kaufman, Nayantara Saghal, Francisco Umbral, Alphonse Daudet, Bruce Chatwin, Armisted Maupin, Koji Susuki

Poets and Playwrights
Poets: Dante Alghieri, Edward Lear, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Andrey Voznesenskii, Adrienne Rich, Kathleen Jamie Playwrights: Arthur Schnitzler, Mikhail Bulgakov, Max Frisch, Anthony Shaffer, Peter Shaffer, Paul Zindel, Allen Ball

Thinkers, Believers, Scientists, Historians, Biographers
Believers: Karl Barth, Jiddu Krishnamurti, Louis Farrakhan Scientists: Richard Feynman, Farley Mowat Historians: Ariel Durant, Janine Basinger

Humorists, Essayists, Editors, Journalists, Officials, Media and Others
Humorists: Mort Sahl, George Carlin Essayists: Hal Borland, Studs Terkel, Edward T. Hall, Jeremy Paxman Officials: Henry Cabot Lodge Media and others: Arthur Sullivan, Irving Berlin, Yogi Berra, George Lucas, Robert Zemeckis

Mystery / Crime / Suspense Writers
Mystery: Daphne Du Maurier, Leslie Charteris

Fantasy / Science Fiction Writers
Fantasy: L. Frank Baum, Roger Zelazny, Stephen R. Donaldson, Thomas Tessier Science Fiction: Olaf Stapledon, L. Neil Smith, John Scalzi

Romance / Historical Fiction Writers
Historical Fiction: Barbara Taylor Bradford

Visual Artists
Illustrators: Margaret Rey

Young People’s Writers
Children’s: Rachel Billington, Carolyn B. Cooney, Mike Lupica, Eoin Colfer

Events to read about from the first woman to run for president to the United States first space station.

This Week’s Questions:

Categorizing writers is always a fuzzy undertaking. While it’s obvious that many novelists wrote short stories, that many fantasy authors also wrote science fiction, and some illustrators also wrote books for children, too, some nonfiction writers also wrote poetry and plays. Many fiction writers wrote nonfiction and a few screenwriters also wrote novels and plays. Some historical fiction is also romance, and some crime is both mystery and supense.Nor always is there a clear line between philosophers and religious thinkers, or between essayists and journalists. And some wrote in several genres and for different ages.The categories used here are generally what the author is most known for, though he or she could easily fit into another category as well.

That said, which author born this week was a philosopher first and a fiction writer second?

Which author has also had a political career and ran for president?

Which nonfiction author readily admitted that some of his nonfiction is fiction?

Which authors published the book they are known by only after segments ran in newspapers?

Which one serialized a book first on a website before it was published?

Answer to Last Week’s Question:

“Poetry is the art of understanding what it is to be alive.” - Archibald MacLeish, poet

“All poetry is putting the infinite with the finite.” – Robert Browning, poet

"Words make love on the page like flies in the summer heat and the poet is only the bemused spectator." – Charles Simic, poet

“The courage of the poet is to keep ajar the door that leads into madness.” – Christopher Morley, mystery novelist.