Thursday, May 26, 2011

Author Love - Literary Hop

I have a few favorite authors. Granted, it doesn't take a lot for me to go on an "Author Marathon" (I tend to read books by the same author back to back to back till I find a flop) but only a few of these marathon authors have earned a spot on my coveted favorites list. I say coveted, I am pretty sure Milan Kundera doesn't care that I a 21 year old American girl is singing his praises, but I can pretend.

It's Thursday. A Literary Hop Thursday to be exact.

Literary Blog Hop
As always, thanks to the ladies at the Blue Bookcase for hosting this fantastic event. 

This week's prompt is:
Talk about one author that you love and why his or her writing is unique. Please be specific

As I was babbling about before, I love quite a few authors but if I have to pick one for this post I'm going to go with Milan Kundera. It was a tough choice but my one of my best friends just started reading The Unbearable Lightness of Being at my request and Kundera is now fresh in my mind. Back in the summer of 09 I was looking for some really fantastic books to sink my teeth into. This was a time before I'd started this blog and the best resource I knew of on the internet was a very nice, but someone limited community on livejournal that compiled reviews and recommendations. I came across some girl talking about The Unbearable Lightness of Being and I went straight to Barnes and Noble to pick it up.  I tore through Unbearable Lightness that day and spent the rest of the summer devouring the likes of The Book of Laughter and ForgettingImmortality, Slowness, The Farewell Waltz and Ignorance.  In the end I didn't end up liking everything Kundera wrote, but I did love his consistency. 


As a writer Kundera focuses on Philosophy in his fiction. I've always found this adds an extra level to his novels. There is the story, then there is the theory he is seeding throughout.  It's not always effective, and it's easy for readers to find his work pretensions, but there are some true gems in his work.  Some of my favorite quotes are from Kundera novels, and if just for that he can remain in my top three.

"People are always shouting they want to create a better future. It's not true. The future is an apathetic void of no interest to anyone. The past is full of life, eager to irritate us, provoke and insult us, tempt us to destroy or repaint it. The only reason people want to be masters of the future is to change the past."
"You can't measure the mutual affection of two human beings by the number of words they exchange." 
"Love is the longing for the half of ourselves we have lost." 
Hope everyone is staying dry and safe in this crazy weather!

  


3 comments:

Christina said...

Nice choice! I've only ever read Ignorance, and I wasn't blown away. It was good, but not as great as I'd hoped (after so many friends recommended Kundera to me). I have a feeling I'd love Unbearable Lightness though.
Thanks for participating in the hop!

Loni said...

I agree that the philosophical quality of Kundera's work adds a unique quality. It's been a long time since I read The Unbearable Lightness of Being. I should go back to it sometime.

Anonymous said...

Ah, yeah, I can agree with this one. Although, I both loved and despised The Unbearable Lightness of Being. He is a truly interesting writer, though, and I have a soft spot in my heart for that particular book because my favorite singer wrote a song about the book called Tereza & Tomas.

The author I chose is a bit unusual as well, but also knew a great deal about psychology and philosophy (though he used it in a very... bizarre... way).