Author Topic: Author! Author!  (Read 340277 times)

PatH

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3400 on: June 02, 2013, 05:18:29 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
Arlen, Michael, The Green Hat, straudetwo, #2711, roshanarose
Atwood, Margaret, The Blind Assassin, Gumtree, #277
Austen, Jane, Pride and Prejudice, Mary Bennett, #158
Baden-Powell, Robert, Scouting for Boys, Frybabe, #2847, rosemarykaye
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
Boswell, James, Life of Johnson, Samuel Johnson, Frybabe, #2755, PatH
Bradbury, Ray, Something Wicked This Way Comes, G. M.Dark, Frybabe #3356, PatH, #3358, straudetwo
Brittain, Vera, Testament of Youth, Vera Brittain, rosemarykaye, #3091, Frybabe
Bronte, Emily, Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff, Gumtree, #252
Buchan, John, 39 steps, Richard Hannay, PatH, #396
Burns, Olive, Cold Sassy Tree, pedln, #1594, rosemarykaye
Camus, Albert, The Stranger, Meursat, JudeS, #3196, JoanK, #3194, Frybabe, #3195, PatH
Carnegie, Dale, How to Win Friends and Influence People, JoanK, #310, Frybabe
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
Child, Julia, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, butter, PatH, #2546, pedln
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
Connolly, John, The Book of Lost Things, roshanarose, #2746, Frybabe
Conrad, Joseph, Heart of Darkness, Marlow, Gumtree, #226
Conroy, Pat, The Great Santini, Conroy's father, JudeS #1319
Costain, Thomas, The Silver Chalice, Basil, Frybabe, #3123, JudeS
Cronin, A. J., The Citadel, Andrew Manson, JudeS, #1085
Davies, Robertson, The Cunning Man, Jonathan Hullah,  straudetwo, #1382
Dickens, Charles, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Drood, PatH, #2227, rosemarykaye, #2283, Gumtree
Dostoevsky, Fyodor, Crime and Punishment, Roskolnikov, JudeS, #1209, 1213
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan, Study in Scarlet, Dr. Watson, PatH, #380
Dubus III, Andre, House of Sand and Fog, Col. Behrani, straudetwo, #3165, Frybabe
Dumas, Alexandre pere, The Three Musketeers, D'Artagnan, PatH, #939, 941
DuMaurier, Daphne, Rebecca, the nameless narrator, Gumtree, straudetwo and rosemarykaye, #1924
Ebers, Georg, Arachne, Arachne, Frybabe, #3227, straudetwo
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
Fielding, Henry, Tom Jones, Tom Jones, PatH, #3318, rosemarykaye.
Flaubert, Gustave, Madame Bovary, Frybabe, #2607, rosemarykaye
Forster, E. M., Passage to India, Frybabe, #2240, rosemarykaye
Fowles, John, The Collector, Frederick and Miranda, roshanarose, #2903, JudeS
Frankel, Bruce, What Shall I Do with the Rest of My Life? Frybabe, #2825, PatH
Galsworthy, John, The Forsyte Saga, Irene, PatH, #615,620
Gardner, Martin, The Ambidextrous Universe, Frybabe, #3398, PatH
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
Golding, William, Lord of the Flies, JudeS, #3139, straudetwo
Goodall, Jane, In the Shadow of Man, Flo, JoanK, #2815, Frybabe
Goodman, Carol, The Night Villa, the slave girl, Gumtree, # 1165
Grahame, Kenneth, The Wind in the Willows, Mr. Toad, rosemarykaye, #3362, PatH
Greene, Graham, The Third Man, Holly Martins, PatH, ##1175, 1179
Grey, Zane, Riders of the Purple Sage, Frybabe, #294, 299
Hamill, Pete, Tabloid City, pedln, #2662, straudetwo
Hardy, Thomas, Far From the Madding Crowd, roshanarose, #1741, rosemarykaye
Hawthorne, Nathaniel, The Scarlet Letter, Roger Chillingsworth, Frybabe, 2368, 2373, pedln
Henry, O., Mammon and the Archer, Anthony Rockwall, Ginny  #537
Hesse, Herman, The Glass Bead Game, straudetwo, Frybabe, #1962
Heyerdahl, Thor, Early Man and the Ocean, Frybabe, #3035, 3044, PatH
Hugo, Victor, Les Miserables, JoanK, # 1904, Gumtree
Hugo, Victor, Les Miserables, straudetwo, #2698, rosemarykaye
Irving, John, The World According to Garp, pedln, #2401, straudetwo
James, Henry, Washington Square, straudetwo, #981, 982
James, Henry, Wings of a Dove, Kidsal, #83
James, P. D., Devices and Desires, Inspector Dalgleish, #3430, rosemarykaye
Jenkins, Peter, A Walk Across America, Frybabe, #2641, pedln
Johnston, George, My Brother Jack, Gumtree, #2311, roshanarose
Keller, Helen, The Story of my Life, Anne Sullivan, JoanK #958
Kingsolver, Barbara, The Poisonwood Bible, pedln, #2581, rosemarykaye
Kipling, Rudyard, Kim, the lama PatH, #3023, JudeS
Knowles, John, A Separate Peace, pedln, #2560, Frybabe
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
LeCarre, John, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Smiley, rosemarykaye, #2591, Frybabe
LeFanu, Sheridan, Carmilla, roshanarose, #769
Lessing, Doris, The Grass is Singing, straudetwo, #2432, Frybabe
Li, Cunxin, Mao's Last Dancer, Li Cunxin, Gumtree, #1713, roshanarose
Lofting, Hugh, Dr. Doolittle, Dr. Doolittle, rosemarykaye, #2875, roshanarose
Macaulay, The Towers of Trebizon, Laurie, rosemarykaye, #2494, straudetwo
Mankell, Henning, Italian Shoes, Frederick Welken, Frybabe, #3179, 3182, JudeS
Mann, Thomas,Joseph and his Brothers, JudeS, #2934, straudetwo
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
Moon, Elizabeth, Remnant Population, Ofelia, Frybabe, #3274, PatH
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
Oe, Kenzaburo, The Changeling, Frybabe, #2998-9, PatH, JudeS
O'Hara, John, Appointment at Samara, straudetwo, #4471, Frybabe
Orwell, George, Frybabe, #97
Ovid, Metamorphosis, Frybabe, roshanarose, #1985
Parker, Dorothy, Big Blonde, straudetwo, #2505, rosemarykaye
Pearl, Matthew, The Dante Club, pedln, #1629, deems 2
Perry, Anne, Acceptable Loss, William Monk, #3010, PatH
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
Roth, Philip, The Human Stain, Colman Silk, straudetwo, #3378, Frybabe
Rowling, J. K, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry, PatH, #1409
Rhys, Jean, Wide Sargasso Sea, Jane Eyre, straudetwo, #1230
Sagan, Carl, Contact, Eleanor Alloway, Frybabe,#2447, PatH
Saint-Exupery, Antoine de, The Little Prince, the Prince, PatH, #2146, rosemarykaye
Saramago, Jose, Blindness, deems 2, #1652, straudetwo
Sayers, Dorothy L., The Nine Tailors, Lord Peter Wimsey, PatH, #2466, rosemarykaye
Scott, Paul, The Jewel in the Crown, Daphne Manners, rosemarykaye, #2622, Frybabe
Scott, Sir Walter, Ivanhoe, Ginny, #602
Sewall, Anna, Black Beauty, Frybabe, #1490, Gumtree
Shakespeare, William, Othello, Othello, PatH, #2353, Frybabe, #2355, rosemarykaye
Shelley, Mary, Frankenstein, the monster, PatH, #451
Smith, Alexander McCall, Mma Ramotswe, JudeS, #145
Smith, Alexander McCall, 44Scotland Street, Cyril, rosemarykaye, #1238, 1243
Smith, Dodie, I Capture the Castle, Cassandra, rosemarykaye, #3347, Frybabe
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
Stevenson, Robert Louis, The strange case of Dr. Jeckell and Mr. Hyde, Mr. Utterson, rosemarykaye, #2984, Frybabe
Stoker, Bram, Dracula, Jonathan Harker, JudeS, #631, 632
Stone, Irving, Depths of Glory, Camille Pisarro, Gumtree, #802
Strachey, Lytton, Queen Victoria, Queen Victoria, Frybabe, #3302, PatH
Swift, Jonathan, Gulliver's Travels, Lemuel Gulliver, PatH, #2835, Frybabe
Thompson, Morton, The Cry and the Covenant, Ignaz Semmelweiss, #2332, PatH, #2338, straudetwo
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
Van Allsburg, The Polar Express, Santa, Frybabe, #2570, pedln
Voltaire, Candide, Candide, straudetwo, #1809, Frybabe
Vonnegut, Kurt, Slaughterhouse Five, Billy Pilgrim, PatH, #3293, 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
White, T. H., The Sword in the Stone, Arthur (the Wart), #3069, rosemarykaye.
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.














JoanK

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3401 on: June 02, 2013, 06:27:44 PM »
Of Course!!! It has to be Martin Gardner, everyone's favorite for math puzzles in the Scientific American. I'll bet the book is the one sitting by my bed in my TBR pile (whose name I can't remember).

PatH

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3402 on: June 02, 2013, 11:55:48 PM »
You'll have to get the book, then, JoanK; I don't know it, would have to look it up.  Have a look in your pile when you go to bed.

That quiz was really driving me nuts (that's good).  I was thinking Loren Eisely this morning., but he didn't do a column.  Then finally a light bulb lit up.  Maybe I should have seen it sooner; I even own The Annotated Alice, inherited from my father.

Frybabe

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3403 on: June 03, 2013, 06:54:26 AM »
PatH, it is indeed Martin Gardner. I fondly remember reading his columns in Scientific American and doing his math puzzles in jr. high Math Club. The book I have in mind is the only one I've read that is not primarily a math puzzle book. It certainly contains puzzles that scientific minds have been and continue to work on involving time and space, as well as speculations on symmetry and asymmetry in other areas such as the arts and daily life. That clue should be a dead giveaway for the book I have in mind.

JoanK
, you mean you haven't read it already? Gosh, some of my books have been sitting, waiting to be read for that long too.


JoanK

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3404 on: June 03, 2013, 03:21:36 PM »
The book I have is called "The World is Large." I'll bet it's not the only one he wrote on larger topics.

Frybabe

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3405 on: June 04, 2013, 06:55:57 AM »
I have that one too, on my shelf, unread as yet. But, no it isn't The World is Large.

Book: Underwent three revisions with a slight title change later on.
           Subject matter includes mirrors, art, music, molecular physics, wildlife, and an early SETI experiment, the Ozma Project, which takes up the last eight chapters.
           The first edition included two lines of poetry, from a book by Nicholas Nabokov, which was purposefully attributed to a fictional author as a joke. Nabokov returned the favor in one of his books.
           In later editions, Gardner added newer cosmic theories such as twistors (don't think I am familiar with that term in cosmology) and superstrings.                         


It is a shame that Mr. Gardner is no longer with us to update this book, and to continue writing his columns.

straudetwo

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3406 on: June 04, 2013, 11:47:41 PM »
Is it possible that here haven't been any posts here  for 3 days, or is this the work of my sometimes erratic computer ?
We normally do not tak that muh time to cnfirm a winner or to trpl yo an incorrect guess.

Earlier today  I tried to connect with this site via the index and - would ou believe - I couldn't see the listing of the literary games !! checked three times.    One of the last items on the index are the archives.
Does the fault lie with   1) with my computer, and/or  2) my faulty vision ?
Thank you

rosemarykaye

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3407 on: June 05, 2013, 06:15:52 AM »
I have been reading daily but I didn't have a clue about this book.  Sometimes I feel so poorly-read  :(

Rosemary

Frybabe

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3408 on: June 05, 2013, 06:34:56 AM »
I am not sure how widely known Martin Gardner was internationally, Rosemary. Here, he is best known for his mathematical puzzles and math related monthly columns in Scientific American magazine. He also wrote about pseudo-science, and religious and philosophical subjects. He was an authority on Lewis Carroll, writing The Annotated Alice , as well as several annotated volumes of other authors like G. K. Chesterton,  Ernest Thayer, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Traude, I'm sorry to hear you are having such problems with the site. I've not had any problems when using my computer, but do have occasional issues when I use my Kindle. It likes to tell me I am not authorized to use the forum after I have logged in okay. It kicks me off when I go to open a discussion. I clean my history, cache, and cookies which sometimes works and sometimes not. Then I have to go in and clean out a few other things like the form fill settings.

PatH

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3409 on: June 05, 2013, 07:21:14 AM »
I agree with Frybabe, Rosemary; Gardner is probably not well known outside this country, and here mostly to math puzzle nerds.  He's quite entertaining, though.  Sometimes I feel poorly read too, with some of the books used for quizzes.  We all have our strong and weak areas.

The book is The Ambidextrous Universe.  I had to look it up, but that's fair enough, since I don't think anyone else was going to get it.

Traude, I have not had the problems you describe, and there have been posts in the last 3 days.  It must be a computer glitch of some kind.

Frybabe

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3410 on: June 05, 2013, 07:55:16 AM »
Winner      Winner      Winner

Correct, PatH.

Gardner was born and bred an Okie. He returned to Oklahoma after is wife died to be close to his son James, a professor at the University of Oklahoma at Norma. He passed away in 2010. I am tempted to get my hands on a later edition of The Ambidextrous Universe to read what he had to say about twistors and the superstring theory even though most of the book is the same as my older edition.

The original title was The Ambidextrous Universe: Mirror Asymmetry and Time-Reversed Worlds. The later editions were retitled The New Ambidextrous Universe: Symmetry and Asymmetry from Mirror Reflections to Superstrings. I have to admit to a partiality to the original title. It sounds more "romantic" and enticing to me.

JoanK

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3411 on: June 05, 2013, 03:54:08 PM »
They don't have it on kindle. But in searching, I found a book "Are Lobsters Ambidextrous". I ordered a sample.

Since PatH IS ambidextrous, she should be the one to read the Gardner.


JoanK

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3413 on: June 09, 2013, 04:26:14 PM »
Thanks, Fry. I've ordered it. (used, of course).

PatH

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3414 on: June 17, 2013, 09:01:48 PM »
Finally.  New quiz:

Book: One of a series with common elements.

Author: Some of my life experiences are reflected in my books.

Character: A personal tragedy shaped what I am now.

I'm sorry it took me so long.  It gets harder and harder to think of things.

Frybabe

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3415 on: June 18, 2013, 07:04:26 AM »
This looks interesting already. Thinking cap is on.

JoanK

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3416 on: June 18, 2013, 07:19:37 PM »
HMMMMM.

PatH

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3417 on: June 18, 2013, 07:30:58 PM »
I know you know this  one, JoanK.

PatH

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3418 on: June 19, 2013, 05:52:42 PM »
New clues:

Book: One of a series with common elements.
Was made into a TV mini-series.

Author: Some of my life experiences are reflected in my books.
I am a peer.

Character: A personal tragedy shaped what I am now.
I come into an inheritance.

JoanK

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3419 on: June 19, 2013, 05:53:10 PM »
Perhaps, but I'll wait for more clues.

straudetwo

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3420 on: June 19, 2013, 08:28:56 PM »
It sounds intriguing, but there's no bell ringing as yet.

PatH

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3421 on: June 21, 2013, 08:31:09 PM »
More clues:

Book: One of a series with common elements.
Was made into a TV mini-series.
Contains a distracting side issue.

Author: Some of my life experiences are reflected in my books.
I am a peer.
My deeply religious outlook shows in another of my books, but not this one.

Character: A personal tragedy shaped what I am now.
I come into an inheritance.
I'm torn between the demands of my vocation and my avocation.

rosemarykaye

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3422 on: June 22, 2013, 06:52:33 AM »
Gosh Pat, just had to look up 'avocation' - and I still haven't got the first idea who or what this is  ???

Frybabe

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3423 on: June 22, 2013, 07:03:55 AM »
No bells yet!

PatH

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3424 on: June 22, 2013, 10:47:13 PM »
I'm pretty sure you all know this author, whether  or not you have read this particular book.  I think I've made the book sound more pretentious than it is.  And I'd like to point out that any author who is a peer is going to be British.

New clues:

Book: One of a series with common elements.
Was made into a TV mini-series.
Contains a distracting side issue.
Is one of about 10 books by this author made into TV mini-series.  Another book was made into a well-recieved movie.


Author: Some of my life experiences are reflected in my books.
I am a peer.
My deeply religious outlook shows in another of my books, but not this one.
I am a woman.

Character: A personal tragedy shaped what I am now.
I come into an inheritance.
I'm torn between the demands of my vocation and my avocation.
In this book I play a less central part than in some others.

straudetwo

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3425 on: June 23, 2013, 12:23:48 AM »
Pat,  thank you for the additional clues.
s it Karen Armstrong ?

rosemarykaye

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3426 on: June 23, 2013, 06:22:55 AM »
Lady Antonia Fraser - Jemima Shore?

PatH

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3427 on: June 23, 2013, 09:19:48 AM »
Good guesses, but wrong.

JoanK

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3428 on: June 23, 2013, 04:18:51 PM »
PatH says she's sure I'll get it, but I haven't a clue.

I assume the ten books were made into one mini-series, not ten.

PatH

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3429 on: June 24, 2013, 09:32:56 AM »
This'll give it to you.  The character is a detective.

rosemarykaye

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3430 on: June 24, 2013, 11:26:21 AM »
PD James, Inspector Dalgliesh - but not sure which book!

PatH

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3431 on: June 24, 2013, 12:26:42 PM »
WINNER WINNER WINNER

The clues aren't really enough to give you the book.  If you want to guess, it deals with nuclear power.

PatH

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3432 on: June 24, 2013, 08:55:23 PM »
I don't think it's important to guess the book.  I just used the one whose details I remembered best.  It's Devices and Desires.

Explanation of clues: Book: There was a very well-done series of her mysteries, with Roy Marsden as Inspector Dalgliesh.  I was surprised at how many books had been adapted, but checked it on IMDB.  The movie is The Children of Men.

Author: James worked for a while in hospital administration, and also in the criminal justice system, and used what she learned in her books.  She is a life peer.  I didn't know how religious she is until I recently finally read The Children of Men.  I don't know if this shows up in the movie, which has been changed a lot from the book (I haven't seen it) but the book, in addition to dealing with a lot of social and political issues, is clearly a religious allegory.  Her familiarity with the details of Anglican hierarchy also shows up in some of the detective stories.

Character:  before any of the books, Adam Dalgliesh lost his wife and newborn (or not yet born) son in childbirth.  This affects him in a lot of ways, including being one of the sources of his poetry.  In the earlier books, he does a lot of wavering about whether to give up detecting to be just a poet or to shelve the poetry and detect.

In Devices and Desires, Dalgliesh has just inherited the lighthouse his aunt lived in, and is once again trying to decide how his life should go.  The side issue is a serial killer who turns out to have  nothing to do with the main issue, and Dalgliesh doesn't do much detecting in this book.

rosemarykaye

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3433 on: June 25, 2013, 03:00:41 AM »
Thanks for that background Pat, and for a great quiz that had me guessing till the last minute.

PD James is very much a High Anglican - isn't one of her Dalgliesh books set in a religious community (and another one starts in a London church)?  Roy Marsden is Dalgliesh so far as I'm concerned - wonderful actor.

Oh dear, now it's my turn.... :)

Off to Anna's very last prizegiving before she leaves St Mary's Music School - so I'll have a think on my way into town.

Rosemary

straudetwo

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3434 on: June 25, 2013, 10:47:55 PM »
Rosemary,  congratulations !

Pat,  May I quickly ask  about the TV miniseries and the movie, both mentioned as cues :. Were they Americana or British ?
Even if I had known the answer, it wouldn't not have helped me, simply because  I was never particularly attracted to detective and crime stor d am familiar with few crime writers, among them Edgar Wallace, Dorothy Sayers;  in more r4cent years,  - Donna Leon set ib ny beoved Vnice and Michael Dibdin, a British writer who died in Seattle a few years ago.  Of his large body of work I have read each of the crime stories set in Italy, one for every regione (plural regioni) in Italy (twenty). The attraction for 
me was the subject matter.
This is a delightful site, and (I wish there were more participants. The quizzes have been intriguing, of an exciting variety, and fun to work on and learning about.. Thank you for this latest example of excellence and fun.

PatH

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3435 on: June 25, 2013, 11:23:46 PM »
They're British.  The miniseries were shown here on PBS and are quite good.

This game is a lot of fun.  The only problem is that it's so much work thinking of new quizzes.  I think that inhibits some people from playing.  I like the fact that the different players think of such different types of books.

PatH

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3436 on: July 05, 2013, 04:56:35 PM »
I have put an up-to-date heading at the top of this page to make it easier for the next quiz.  (Hint, hint.)

Goodness, what a lot of good books we've used!

JoanK

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3437 on: July 06, 2013, 05:15:01 PM »
Straude: "The attraction for me was the subject matter."

You are not alone in that, or in liking Donna Leon for her evocation of a place. As a mystery story reader, I often say that everything I know, I know from reading mysteries. They take you to times, places and cultures all over the world and history.

There are other things I like about them, too: the puzzle, the dealing with human tragedy and the human condition, the sense of justice: but I too like best those that take me someplace new. 

rosemarykaye

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3438 on: July 06, 2013, 05:49:54 PM »
Pat - I hear you across the Atlantic  ;D  but I am away to Aberdeen all next week, so I'm not going to be able to post a new quiz very soon.  I'll do it asap, but if you would prefer to jump in and do it for me, I'm more than happy for you to do so - as you say, it's getting harder and harder to think of something.

Rosemary

straudetwo

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #3439 on: July 07, 2013, 10:12:36 AM »
Pat,
If  you like, I'd be happy to fill in for Rosemary.

JoanK,
Your thoughtful words are greatly appreviatf.
Traude