Footnotes from the Library

Nancy Smith

Question: What if you could invite any 10 authors, living or dead, to a grand dinner evening, whom would you invite?

Keep in mind there are many people in many professions who are authors:

Presidents, doctors, business people, mothers, actors, historians, cowboys and military. The list of writers is endless. Just look at the weekly best seller list.

I put the question to our SunBird library volunteers and perhaps you can find some familiar names in their author list:

Marilyn Klooster – Likes John Grisham, Eric Larson, Nelson DeMille, Anita Shreeve, Judy Picoult, John Sanford and Kristen Hannah.

Sherry Fann – Reads Carol Higgins Clark, J.A. Jance, Vince Flynn, Brad Thor, James Rollins, Catherine Coulter, Michael Connelly, David Baldacci and new writers Preston and Child.

Margaret Speer – She’s an Agatha Christie reader. She also likes Barbara Kingsolver, Toni Morrison, Scott Berg and Chaim Potok.

Katherine Gibbs – Reads Diana Gabaldon, Patricia Cornwell, David Baldacci, John Grisham and Nicholas Sparks.

Lois Anderson – Here are her favorites: Charlotte Hubbard, Maeve Binchy, Sherryl Woods, Robyn Carr, Debbie Macomber, Tony Hillerman, Jimmy Carter, Diana Mott Davidson and Lillian Jackson Braun.

Bob Smith – Likes non-fiction writers like Bill O’Reilly and Montana’s Keith Ouzts (read The Generals of the King twice). A favorite is Murial Sibell Wolle’s Stampede to Timberline. He also reads William Johnstone, Louis L’Amour and Nicholas Sparks.

Howard Anderson – He has two great favorites, James Patterson and Stuart Woods.

Nancy Smith – Hard to only list 10. Margaret Truman, Tony Hillerman, Robert Parker, Sue Grafton, Billy Graham, William Johnstone, Kathy Reichs, Louis L’Amour, Bill O’Reilly and Robert Ludlum.

Shirley Jackson – Has many favorites but here are her 10: James Herriot (people and pets), Pat Conroy, Barack Obama, Richard North Patterson (his Exile book), Ernest Hemingway, Patricia Cornwell (medical mysteries), Henning Mankell (Swedish author), Ken Follett, Philippa Gregory (historical) and Carolyn Keene (read her at a young age).

One of the first books I read when I was young was The Wizard of Oz (before the movie). Now we have J.K. Rowling with Harry Potter on our shelves. Our Library has a fine collection of juvenile books that are great for those young visitors to SunBird.

What 10 authors would you invite to dinner?