A Swoon, an Afternoon and a Spoon...or...My Favorite Authors

I have been tagged by Carrie at Oak Rise Cottage (http://oakrisecottage.blogspot.com/) to answer some questions concerning my favorite authors. If you have not had an opportunity to visit her blog, please drop by! She is a fellow plate/china enthusiast who also has a wonderful collection of nativity scenes.

Who is your all-time favorite author and why? Ohhhh...that's easy if I think of it as my all-time favorite book...Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. For me it is the most unforgettable love story ever written. The power of Heathcliff's love for Catherine made such an impression on me as a teenage girl that I have never recovered from it. If teenage girls swooned back in the 60's, I would have swooned! If you don't believe me, read this:

"Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living! You said I killed you—haunt me, then! The murdered do haunt their murderers. I believe—I know that ghosts have wandered on earth. Be with me always—take any form—drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh God! it is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!"

Are you swooning yet? And what makes it even better is that it was written by a very sheltered minister's daughter who had probably never been in love in her life.

Who was your first favorite author and why? This is also easy...Kenneth Grahame who wrote The Wind in the Willows. I think I loved this book because I found it all by myself on the bookshelf at home. I was fascinated from the first words. Toad, Rat and Mole are still some of my favorite characters. To this day, I love anything involving little animals wearing old fashioned clothes and "messing about in boats" for an afternoon on the river!

Do you still consider him/her to be among your favorites? Oh, absolutely! This book is still considered a classic in children's literature. I plan to introduce it to my grandson when he's old enough.

Who is the most recent addition to your list of favorite authors, and why? That is also easy...it's Peter Mayle and I think the reason is obvious! As a retired French teacher who has lived in France, I find myself eating his every word with a spoon! I love his stories of the little villages and the villagers of the Luberon in Provence. And who can resist his detailed descriptions of French cuisine ...not me! That is why I chose the Luberon as my vacation spot when I retired. I really like his fiction better than his non-fiction. If you are not familiar with his work, try A Good Year or Hotel Pastis. And bon appétit!

If someone were to ask you who your favorite authors are right now, what are the first words that would pop out of your mouth? It's funny, but I still love the classics! I love anything by the Bronte sisters, Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy. Maybe I like the time period...maybe I'm a romantic...or maybe I just wish I could wear those dresses, ride in carriages and have a name like Bathsheba Everdeen or Elinor Dashwood! I'm not sure!

Because it is such a busy time of year, I will not tag anyone, but I would love to read your responses if you should decide to take on the challenge!

Rules: Link to the person that tagged you, post the rules somewhere in your meme, answer the questions, tag six people in your post, let the tagees know they have been chosen by leaving a comment on their blog, let the tagger know your entry is posted.