I follow Chuck Palahniuk’s substack and have discovered many authors I now love through his recommendations, but I’m always struck by how much he raves about someone who used to be incredibly popular and literary famous - Nora Ephron, Charles Baxter, Thom Jones - but who I wasn’t assigned to read in school and who I would have never heard of otherwise. And those examples - they were best sellers! They’re in anthologies! Where do you go famous authors? How do you vanish? How do you return? Is love possible? Thank you for your attention to this matter.
When I finally got around to reading HEARTBURN I was gutted that I hadn't encountered it sooner! But also I could see why it was not assigned to me in high school or undergrad.
What I've learned from taking this poll is that there are so many authors I've heard of but not read yet, and of those I've read, there were fewer that I could, hand on heart, say that I liked. The problem is me. I've become stingy with my five stars!
Maybe it would muddy the waters too much, but I think the survey should ask where you are from, not just whether or not you are American. Eg I am Australian, and I think that means I am far more likely to have read classic American authors than your average British respondant.
Cool. I had to look up a couple to make sure I was actually remembering the names correctly of people whose books I had read. I guess it is a peculiar thing about us readers who haven't taken an education in the humanities that we will often read novels and kind of forget the name of the author.
taking the survey was funny for me! I knew all the American authors but barely three of the British. They really don’t assign much British literature in schools here, and even in college the only “classics” I read out of 8 or so classes have been Shakespeare and Joyce
Completing this poll made me feel like such a bad English major!
I follow Chuck Palahniuk’s substack and have discovered many authors I now love through his recommendations, but I’m always struck by how much he raves about someone who used to be incredibly popular and literary famous - Nora Ephron, Charles Baxter, Thom Jones - but who I wasn’t assigned to read in school and who I would have never heard of otherwise. And those examples - they were best sellers! They’re in anthologies! Where do you go famous authors? How do you vanish? How do you return? Is love possible? Thank you for your attention to this matter.
When I finally got around to reading HEARTBURN I was gutted that I hadn't encountered it sooner! But also I could see why it was not assigned to me in high school or undergrad.
Looking forward to seeing the results and learning who fell off.
1- Does having read one poem/one story of an author counts as "read their work"?
2- Slightly ashamed I had to google which Brontë wrote what again.
One poem / story counts!
Thanks! That was fun. Did I miss Usula Le Guin or should I recommend she be added? I’d like to nominate Sean Thor Conroe as well.
I’m looking forward to the results
I took the poll. Thanks Naomi for putting this together. The results should be quite interesting.
If Nathaniel Hawthorne isn't the most assigned / least liked author I'll eat my hat. (Though I am not currently wearing a hat.)
What I've learned from taking this poll is that there are so many authors I've heard of but not read yet, and of those I've read, there were fewer that I could, hand on heart, say that I liked. The problem is me. I've become stingy with my five stars!
Question to self: Am I losing touch with contemporary American authors? South African here.
Maybe it would muddy the waters too much, but I think the survey should ask where you are from, not just whether or not you are American. Eg I am Australian, and I think that means I am far more likely to have read classic American authors than your average British respondant.
Do you want people who filled out the pilot to do this one also, or will that lead to double counting?
That would end up double-counting. I didn’t end up changing the survey that much
Cool. I had to look up a couple to make sure I was actually remembering the names correctly of people whose books I had read. I guess it is a peculiar thing about us readers who haven't taken an education in the humanities that we will often read novels and kind of forget the name of the author.
Oooh I love surveys.
Two things I learned:
- I've read wait fewer British authors than I thought
- I have no memory of which books I read in college English classes. High school reading is pretty vivid, but after that everything blurs together.
taking the survey was funny for me! I knew all the American authors but barely three of the British. They really don’t assign much British literature in schools here, and even in college the only “classics” I read out of 8 or so classes have been Shakespeare and Joyce
If we took the beta version posted on Notes, do we need to take it again for our results to be included?
No I didn’t alter it that much and the dataset continued over.
Nice, thanks!