Greetings, Fearless Readers. I hope you are well. I bought several .99 and $3.82 Regency Romance novels tonight, and I do not feel one tiny iota of guilt over it.
At all.
My fiscal irresponsibility is not what this post is about. I can't remember where I found the above image, but it poses the question: If you could eat dinner with any 7 famous people (dead or alive) who would you choose and where would they sit? There are a lot of folks I would like to throw back the Diet Coke with and whose elbows I'd like on my metaphorical table. I decided to go with writers, though, for fear that Benjamin Franklin and Gloria Steinan would either run off together, or kill each other.
Speaking of killing each other... you may note that I carefully set Charles Dickens and Elizabeth Gaskell on the same side of the table with a person between them, so they were not required to look at one another and possibly get irritated, should one or the other slurp their soup or start critiquing the other's work.
The hard part is picking who sits next to you. Laura Ingalls Wilder is the writer who made me appreciate my own love of nature and the wild prairie I grew up in and around. I felt the Laura of the Little House books was a kindred spirit, as I also had a beautiful blond, blue-eyed sister in whose shadow I lingered. And I had a tendency to get myself into trouble. As for Jane Austen being to my right, who invites Jane Austen to a party and doesn't sit next to her? I put Elizabeth Gaskell where I felt we could see and talk to each other, even if she is a little far away.
I was torn about having to place Stephen King a seat away from me. However... could you imagine listening in on a Stephen King and Jane Austen conversation? I imagine Joseph Sheridan LeFanu and Stephen would also have a lot to talk about.
I have one empty seat. There are so many people who could sit there. Shakespeare, even though I am no scholar of his works. He might be offended at how little I know of his legacy. Wilkie Collins is another - you know I love teh gothic! Anne Radcliffe, even though I don't quite get the cavalier way she treated her career. Georgette Heyer! How did I forget her? Or Edith Wharton - my favorite! How could I forget Edith? Harper Lee? Virginia Woolf? See why I left that seat empty? gah!!!
What about you? Can you fill those seats?
Hmmm....
ReplyDelete1. Dorothy Parker, definitely. I want witty folk!
2. Churchill, I think. For statesmanlike statements on the state of the state.
3. Director Allan Dwan. I think he could tell some great stories of early Hollywood.
4. Mark Twain for some good homespun humor.
5. Lewis Black for sarcastic bloviating.
6. Oscar Wilde for more wit. He and Dorothy could go at each other. Might have to put them on opposite sides of the table.
7. Cole Porter. Later he could head over to the piano and keep us entertained.
There. Semi-lightweight, and entertaining company. Don't want too much heavy stuff. My reputation would never recover!
What an excellent list! Lewis Black would be a fabulous dinner guest. I'd imagine Twain would have a lot to say back to him, though! :) Thanks for sharing!
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