Author Topic: Author! Author!  (Read 354048 times)

JoanK

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2200 on: August 11, 2011, 03:48:37 PM »
 


Welcome to Author! Author!  

This is a game in which the contestants match their wits with a  challenger, who suggests a character in literature, non- fiction or fiction. The challenger may or may not provide more clues, his prerogative,, and never more than one a day.


Once a day the challenger will say if the guesses are correct or not. The winning contestant gets lots of acclaim and the chance to pose the next challenge. If he does not want to post a new challenge he can say so and whoever does can begin a new game.

Of course you could look these up on google in an instant, what challenge is that? The  idea is to rack one's brain to try to remember where this particular character appeared and who wrote about him/ her. Should be great fun.

The challenger also has the option not to mention the name of the character, but only a description.


Authors used so far:

Author, Book, Character, Challenger, Post#, winner

Anonymous, Beowulf, Beowulf, PatH, #1301
Atwood, Margaret, The Blind Assassin, Gumtree, #277
Austen, Jane, Pride and Prejudice, Mary Bennett, #158
Banks, Lynn Reid, The L-Shaped Room, Jane Graham, Rosemarykaye, #1785, unguessed
Baum, L. Frank, The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy, JoanK, #342
Bennett, Alan, Uncommon Reader, Queen Elizabeth II, rosemarykaye, #1605, pedln
Blackmore, Richard, Lorna Doone, Lorna Doone, Frybabe, #462
Bronte, Emily, Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff, Gumtree, #252
Buchan, John, 39 steps, Richard Hannay, PatH, #396
Burns, Olive, Cold Sassy Tree, pedln, #1594, rosemarykaye
Carroll, Louis, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Alice, JoanK, # 426
Cervantes, Don Quijote, Don Quijote, PatH, #701
Chesterton, Gilbert K., The Father Brown books, Father Brown, PatH, #2179, JoanK
Christie, Agatha, Hastings, JoanK, # 127
Christie, Agatha, Death on the Nile, Hercule Poirot, JoanK, #752
Clancy, Tom, Hunt for Red October, Frybabe, #553
Clarke, Arthur C., Rendezvous with Rama, roshanarose, #2064
Clemens, Samuel, see Twain, Mark
Coetzee, J. M., Disgrace, David Little, Straudetwo, #1336
Collins, Wilkie, The Moonstone, Rachel Verinder, PatH, #311
Conrad, Joseph, Heart of Darkness, Marlow, Gumtree, #226
Conroy, Pat, The Great Santini, Conroy's father, JudeS #1319
Cronin, A. J., The Citadel, Andrew Manson, JudeS, #1085
Davies, Robertson, The Cunning Man, Jonathan Hullah,  straudetwo, #1382
Dostoevsky, Fyodor, Crime and Punishment, Roskolnikov, JudeS, #1209, 1213
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan, Study in Scarlet, Dr. Watson, PatH, #380
Dumas, Alexandre pere, The Three Musketeers, D'Artagnan, PatH, #939, 941
DuMaurier, Daphne, Rebecca, the nameless narrator, Gumtree, straudetwo and rosemarykaye, #1924
Eliot, George, Daniel Deronda, Gumtree, #190
Eliot, T. S., Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, Bustopher Jones, PatH, #110
Essex, Karen, Leonardo's Swans, Isabella d'Este, Mippy, #591
Faulkner, William, The Sound and the Fury, Caddy, 1429, 1439, Frybabe
Galsworthy, John, The Forsyte Saga, Irene, PatH, #615,620
George, Elizabeth, Lynley and Havers, Tomereader1, #168
Gibbon, Edward, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Zenobia, Frybabe, roshanarose, #2003, 2011
Gilbert, W. S., The Savoy Operas, Frederick, or the Pirate King, #1108, 1111, 1112
Goodman, Carol, The Night Villa, the slave girl, Gumtree, # 1165
Greene, Graham, The Third Man, Holly Martins, PatH, ##1175, 1179
Grey, Zane, Riders of the Purple Sage, Frybabe, #294, 299
Hardy, Thomas, Far From the Madding Crowd, roshanarose, #1741, rosemarykaye
Henry, O., Mammon and the Archer, Anthony Rockwall, Ginny  #537
Hesse, Herman, The Glass Bead Game, straudetwo, Frybabe, #1962
Hugo, Victor, Les Miserables, JoanK, # 1904, Gumtree
James, Henry, Washington Square, straudetwo, #981, 982
James, Henry, Wings of a Dove, Kidsal, #83
Keller, Helen, The Story of my Life, Anne Sullivan, JoanK #958
Lagerlof, Selma, The Wonderful Adventures of Nils, Nils Holgersson, JudeS #899
Lahiri, Jhumpa, The Namesake, the boy, Frybabe, #4110, pedln
Lamb, Charles and Mary, Tales From Shakespeare, Macbeth, JoanK, #1301
Lampedusa, Giuseppe di, The Leopard, Don Fabrizio, Gumtree, Frybabe and straudetwo, #2031, 2032
Larson, Erik, Devil in the White City, pedln, #2226, Frybabe
LeFanu, Sheridan, Carmilla, roshanarose, #769
Li, Cunxin, Mao's Last Dancer, Li Cunxin, Gumtree, #1713, roshanarose
Maupin, Armistead, Tales of the City, rosemarykaye, #1553, pedln
McCourt, Frank, Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt, JoanK, #1062
McCullers, Carson, Member of the Wedding, straudetwo, pedln, #1859
Melville, Herman, Moby-Dick, the whale, PatH, #482
Miller,Arthur, Death of a Salesman, Gumtree, #1005, 1006
Milton, John, Paradise Lost, Frybabe, #413
Mitford, Nancy, roshanarose, #839, 840
Murdoch, Iris, The Sea, the Sea, Charles Arrowby, straudetwo, #1197, 1198
Nabokov, Vladimir, Lolita, Lolita, JudeS, #1124
O’Brian, Patrick, Master and Commander, Jack Aubrey, JudeS, #319
Orwell, George, Frybabe, #97
Ovid, Metamorphosis, Frybabe, roshanarose, #1985
Pearl, Matthew, The Dante Club, pedln, #1629, deems 2
Peterson, Roger Tory, Field guide to the Eastern Birds, Mockingbird, JoanK #202
Potok, Chaim, The Chosen, Danny Saunders, pedln, #1890, JoanK
Potter, Beatrix, Jemima Puddleduck, rosemarykaye, #1478 pedln, #1482 deems2
Plutarch, ----, Themistocles, roshanarose, #1025, 1027
Preston, Douglas, Dinosaurs in the attic, Frybabe, #1456 rosemarykaye
Rand, Ayn, We the Living, Frybabe, #498, 502
Rowling, J. K, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry, PatH, #1409
Rhys, Jean, Wide Sargasso Sea, Jane Eyre, straudetwo, #1230
Saint-Exupery, Antoine de, The Little Prince, the Prince, PatH, #2146, rosemarykaye
Saramago, Jose, Blindness, deems 2, #1652, straudetwo
Scott, Sir Walter, Ivanhoe, Ginny, #602
Sewall, Anna, Black Beauty, Frybabe, #1490, Gumtree
Shelley, Mary, Frankenstein, the monster, PatH, #451
Smith, Alexander McCall, Mma Ramotswe, JudeS, #145
Smith, Alexander McCall, 44Scotland Street, Cyril, rosemarykaye, #1238, 1243
Spark, Muriel, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Miss Brodie, Gumtree, #671, 672
Stead, Christina, The Man Who Loved Children, straudetwo, #1690, Gumtree
Steinbeck , John, Journal of a Novel, Gumtree, #53, 60
Stoker, Bram, Dracula, Jonathan Harker, JudeS, #631, 632
Stone, Irving, Depths of Glory, Camille Pisarro, Gumtree, #802
Tolkien, J. R. R., Lord of the Rings, Frodo, PatH, #238, 241
Tolstoy, Leo, War and Peace, Pierre Bezukhov, PatH, #1267
Trollope, Joanna, The Best of Friends, Sophie, Mippy, #218
Tuchman, Barbara, A Distant Mirror, Frybabe, #2117, straudetwo, #2118, PatH
Twain, Mark, Life on the Mississippi, the author, JoanK, #2192, Frybabe
Tyler, Anne, Digging to America, Maryam Yazdan,Mippy, #735
Urrea, Luis Alberto, The Hummingbird's Daughter, Saint Teresa de Cabora, Frybabe, #1835, straudetwo
Voltaire, Candide, Candide, straudetwo, #1809, Frybabe
Vreeland, Susan, The Forest Lover, Emily Carr, Mippy, #364
Weir, Alison, Innocent Traitor, Lady Jane Gray, roshanrose, #883
Wethers, Beck, Left for Dead, Ginny, #29
Wharton, Edith, The Age of Innocence, Frybabe, rosemarykaye, #2054, Gumtree #2055
Wilde, Oscar, The Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Bracknell, #2131, rosemarykaye
Windsor, Kathleen, Forever Amber, Amber, Traude, #927, 928
Wodehouse, P. G., Bertie Wooster, PatH, #1046, 1048
Wolfe, Tom, The Right Stuff, Chuck Yeager, roshanarose, #2091 Gumtree, #209x Frybabe
Woolf, Virginia, Flush, Gumtree, #1511, 1513, rosemarykaye
Woolf, Virginia, Orlando, Orlando, PatH, #1141
Xenophon, Frybabe, #173
Zola, Emile, Germinal, Etienne Lentier, Gumtree, #1352


Only the latest heading is up to date.































Boy, that rings no bells at all.

roshanarose

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2201 on: August 11, 2011, 09:33:11 PM »
The author is still living. I take that as a definite. So set in the 20th century (that should make it easy  8))

Perhaps the "novel" is semi-autobiographical?

I keep thinking "musician" as the character. 



How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?  - Plato

Frybabe

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2202 on: August 11, 2011, 10:41:59 PM »
The character is not a musician.

rosemarykaye

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2203 on: August 12, 2011, 02:38:02 AM »
Is the author of Chinese origin?

Rosemary

Frybabe

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2204 on: August 12, 2011, 07:43:54 AM »
No, not Chinese.

Frybabe

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2205 on: August 12, 2011, 01:37:06 PM »
Author: Born in England, but now lives in the US.
             First book, of short fiction, won a Pulitzer Prize

Book: Novel about growing up as a first generation American.
           The author's only full length novel so far, it was made into a movie.

Character: Named after a Russian writer.
                  The story follows our character from birth to his divorce and his mother's return to her homeland.

pedln

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2206 on: August 12, 2011, 02:24:07 PM »
Is it The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri?  And the character is the boy named after Gogol.

Frybabe

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2207 on: August 12, 2011, 04:50:52 PM »
Hurry, Pedln Wins!

Lahiri, as far as I know, still writes pieces for The New Yorker and other literary review rags.

She is currently serving on the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.

PatH

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2208 on: August 12, 2011, 05:12:49 PM »
WINNER WINNER WINNER

Good for you, Pedln!

It's all a sinister plot, though.  I just got the heading up to date earlier today.  I'll show you.  I'll do it right now.

Frybabe

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2209 on: August 12, 2011, 06:05:19 PM »
 ;)

pedln

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2210 on: August 12, 2011, 07:52:28 PM »
Named after a writer and first generation American was what tipped me off, Frybabe.  Loved the book and the movie, both.

Okay, coming up

Author
  American writer of non-fiction whose works depict particular events in history.

Book
   Lots of characters;  focuses on a good guy and a bad guy

PatH

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2211 on: August 12, 2011, 07:59:52 PM »
If anyone gets it from that, I will look into staging a virtual 21 gun salute.

pedln

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2212 on: August 12, 2011, 11:26:14 PM »
What?  You want more, already?

Author
  American writer of non-fiction whose works depict particular events in history.
  Graduated college summa cum laude in the 1970's

Book
   Lots of characters;  focuses on a good guy and a bad guy
     The book is quite site/location  specific

roshanarose

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2213 on: August 13, 2011, 01:47:50 AM »
pedln - I didn't get a chance to congratulate you.  Well done - I regret I have never heard of the book.

btw Because I am from a different part of the world - could someone explain to me what "summa cum laude" means?
How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?  - Plato

Gumtree

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2214 on: August 13, 2011, 07:06:22 AM »
Pedln Congrats on that quiz - I haven't read it either.

Roshanarose: summa cum laude  - with the highest praise. Enrolments are now open for Ginny's Latin course if you'd like to learn more - much more.  :D
Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

pedln

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2215 on: August 13, 2011, 10:29:50 AM »
Thanks, roshanarose.

and at the college level -- cum laude (good grades)  magna cum laude (better yet) summa cum laude -- with highest distinction, or something like that.

Author
  American writer of non-fiction whose works depict particular events in history.
  Graduated college summa cum laude in the 1970's
  Won an  Award for this book

Book
   Lots of characters;  focuses on a good guy and a bad guy
     The book is quite site/location  specific
   Focuses on the preparations for a very specific event; at the same time, the bad guy was up to no good.

JoanK

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2216 on: August 13, 2011, 06:30:35 PM »
It5's not "Berlin 1961" is it? I don't know anything about the author.

pedln

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2217 on: August 13, 2011, 07:50:45 PM »
No, it's not Berlin 61.  The event in this book occurred much earlier.

pedln

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2218 on: August 13, 2011, 07:54:56 PM »

Author
  American writer of non-fiction whose works depict particular events in history.
  Graduated college summa cum laude in the 1970's
  Won an  Award for this book
   The author's most recent book, not this one, was published this year.

Book
   Lots of characters;  focuses on a good guy and a bad guy
     The book is quite site/location  specific
   Focuses on the preparations for a very specific event; at the same time, the bad guy was up to no good.
   To paraphrase the author -- he liked the idea of light and dark, ying and yang -- the massive act of civic good will alongside the crimes.

Frybabe

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2219 on: August 13, 2011, 08:33:49 PM »
I think I know the author but I am not sure yet so I'll keep my mouth shut for now. Was the author's latest book mentioned in one of our forums recently?

roshanarose

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2220 on: August 13, 2011, 09:48:11 PM »
Pedln - Was it preparation for an event of a martial nature?

Gum - I have decided to forego Latin and learn German instead.  Keeping it in the family, so to speak.
How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?  - Plato

pedln

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2221 on: August 13, 2011, 10:59:06 PM »
Quote
Was it preparation for an event of a martial nature?

Nope, I think civic good will describes it very well.

This book is not like it at all, but for some reason it always makes me think of Sister Carrie.
(How's that for a red herring?   :D   )

straudetwo

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2222 on: August 14, 2011, 12:15:39 AM »
While I was  preparing for the TH session on Aging, I missed the fast-paced developments here altogether.  Especially Jhumpa Lahiri.  I read her first book, a collection of stories, titled The Interpreter of Maladies, which was awarded the Pulitzer. 

No clue yet on the latest quiz.  Not much time either. Daughter just flew in, and I could not be happier.

In haste, as usual...

roshanarose

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2223 on: August 14, 2011, 08:13:28 PM »
straudetwo - I am so happy that your daughter is visiting.  It probably sounds a bit warm and fuzzy, but daughters are great, aren't they? 
How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?  - Plato

pedln

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2224 on: August 15, 2011, 11:32:09 AM »
Erik Larson

Author
 1. American writer of non-fiction whose works depict particular events in history.
  2. Graduated college summa cum laude in the 1970's
  3.  Won an  Award for this book
   4. The author's most recent book, not this one, was published this year.
   5. The author lives in Seattle.  When asked if he/she would have written the book if he/she    lived in New York, the answer was in the affirmative.

Book
   1.  Lots of characters;  focuses on a good guy and a bad guy
    2. The book is quite site/location  specific
    3. Focuses on the preparations for a very specific event; at the same time, the bad guy was up to no good.
   4.  To paraphrase the author -- he liked the idea of light and dark, ying and yang -- the massive act of civic good will alongside the crimes.
  5.  This book is not like it at all, but for some reason it always makes me think of Sister Carrie.   (How's that for a red herring?       )
  6.  The bad guy went to med school, got involved in insurance fraud, bought a small pharmacy, was not the only builder in the book.

pedln

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2225 on: August 15, 2011, 11:42:07 AM »
Surely you know now, the name of this book.

If not, I'll be back tomorrow to tell you who was at this big event civic good will.

Frybabe

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2226 on: August 15, 2011, 02:42:00 PM »
Pedln, I guess I waited too long to put up my guess. The bookis Devil in the White City. The event was the Chicago World's Fair of 1893. Random House has put up a very nice website for the book.
http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/devilinthewhitecity/home.html

I'm kind of surprised no one guessed it.

pedln

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2227 on: August 15, 2011, 05:20:16 PM »
WINNER!   WINNER!   WINNER!

Frybabe, what do you mean you waited too long.  You got it.  Congratulations.  And obviously you know the author -- Erik Larson.   I had tons of clues left  -- like all the people who attened the Exhibition -- Jane Adams, Buffalo Bill, Tiffany.  Not to mention of course, the architect Daniel Burman.  And that's where we got Cracker Jack, Juicy Fruit, and the Ferris Wheel.  Such a super book.

Has anyone read any of his others?  I have not, but am on my library list for his new one -- In the Garden of the Beasts.  A fried has read the Marconi one and another, but did n't like them as well as Devil.


roshanarose

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2228 on: August 15, 2011, 10:48:29 PM »
BRAVO FRYBABE
How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?  - Plato

rosemarykaye

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2229 on: August 16, 2011, 03:37:48 AM »
Well done Frybabe!


Frybabe

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2230 on: August 16, 2011, 09:20:57 AM »
Give me a day or two to come up with another quiz. I have only a few days left to get my books, etc for classes which start this coming Monday, AND George is on his way over with his laundry. I guess he doesn't want to wade through water and attempt to carry stuff down to his basement just yet. He is feeling much better, but is still not quite up to par. Most of the current water situation, BTW, comes from his neighbor changing his downspout and drainage which, of course, has affected George's nice new basement entrance. Grrrrrrrrr! George's contractor has tried a fix or two, but it hasn't worked so far.

Frybabe

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2231 on: August 17, 2011, 09:46:37 PM »
Ready!

Author: Best known writing novels, this author also wrote short stories, a libretto for a well known opera, several biographies, travel writings, and sundry other writings.

Book: Based on the author's experiences, the book represents a clash of cultures, racial tension and prejudice.


roshanarose

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2232 on: August 18, 2011, 09:56:52 AM »
I sat in front of my screen, racking my tiny worn out brain and came up with James Baldwin, having to admit I have never read anything he has written.
How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?  - Plato

Frybabe

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2233 on: August 18, 2011, 11:08:00 AM »
Not James Baldwin.

Frybabe

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2234 on: August 18, 2011, 08:10:30 PM »
Author: Best known writing novels, this author also wrote short stories, a libretto for a well known opera, several biographies, travel writings, and sundry other writings.
All of the author's novels were written early in his career. After extensive travels, he returned home to write this book.

Book: Based on the author's experiences, the book represents a clash of cultures, racial tension and prejudice.
The story revolves around four main characters and a false accusation.

PatH

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2235 on: August 18, 2011, 10:58:12 PM »
I have a feeling I knw it, but I'm sure not coming up with it.

roshanarose

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2236 on: August 18, 2011, 11:48:32 PM »
Maybe "Atonement" by Ian McEwan?  Although I am trying to recall any racial tension.
How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?  - Plato

rosemarykaye

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2237 on: August 19, 2011, 03:07:31 AM »
Paul Scott? Raj Quartet?

Gumtree

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2238 on: August 19, 2011, 04:02:50 AM »
Yes, I thought Paul Scott too - but don't know that he wrote opera libretto - I've only read the Raj and a couple of his other India based  books - didn't know he wrote opera libretto ... but the clues for the book fit the Raj fairly well.

I've been intending to read Hilary Spurling's biography of Scott - maybe I should get on with it.
Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

Frybabe

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #2239 on: August 19, 2011, 09:45:05 AM »
Nay to both, but Gumtree has the right part of the world.