THE LIBEMEME

Just when I couldn’t think of anything interesting to post about, along comes this blogmeme courtesy of Roxanne. Here it is:

Copy the list of ten authors below. Replace any that are not included in your home library with one(s) that are. Note any replacements in boldface.

1. Arthur C. Clarke
2. H. L. Mencken
3. Kinky Friedman
4. Herman Melville
5. P. J. O’Rourke
6. Joseph Heller
7. John Irving
8. Michael Chabon
9. Margaret Atwood
10. William Shakespeare

Roxanne didn’t have any in boldface, but I sure as hell do. My library only managed to bat .400 against Rox’s list, which included Simone de Beauvoir, Salman Rushdie, Sarah Vowell, James Joyce, Iris Murdoch, and Vladimir Nabokov. I know what you’re thinking: No Nabokov? No Joyce?

No.

But not only do I have a Kinky Friedman book - autographed, mind you - I have a bag of Kinky Friedman coffee beans. So what my library might be missing is more than made up for by what my bladder is filled with.

As to one of the authors I didn’t have, I could have replaced Sarah Vowell with Neal Pollack, f’r instance, or maybe David Sedaris... but I picked another McSweeney’s alumnus/contributor, Michael Chabon. I’m not going for obscurity here.

Now, for the real (non-meme-related) question: How many of these authors’ books have you read lately? ’Cause I’ve read books by two of the authors on Rox’s list (Friedman and Irving) within the last month. Boo-Yah!