Author Topic: Author! Author!  (Read 359050 times)

PatH

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 10951
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #560 on: May 19, 2010, 07:05:21 AM »


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#

Atwood, Margaret, The Blind Assassin, Gumtree, #277
Austen, Jane, Pride and Prejudice, Mary Bennett, #158
Baum, L. Frank, The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy, JoanK, #342
Blackmore, Richard, Lorna Doone, Lorna Doone, Frybabe, #462
Bronte, Emily, Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff, Gumtree, #252
Buchan, John, 39 steps, Richard Hannay, PatH, #396
Carroll, Louis, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Alice, JoanK, # 426
Christie, Agatha, Hastings, JoanK, # 127
Clancy, Tom, Hunt for Red October, Frybabe, #553
Collins, Wilkie, The Moonstone, Rachel Verinder, PatH, #311
Conrad, Joseph, Heart of Darkness, Marlow, Gumtree, #226
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan, Study in Scarlet, Dr. Watson, PatH, #380
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
George, Elizabeth, Lynley and Havers, Tomereader1, #168
Grey, Zane, Riders of the Purple Sage, Frybabe, #294, 299
Henry, O. Mammon and the Archer, Anthony Rockwall, Ginny  537
James, Henry, Wings of a Dove, Kidsal, #83
Melville, Herman, Moby-Dick, the whale, PatH, #482
Milton, John, Paradise Lost, Frybabe, #413
O’Brian, Patrick, Master and Commander, Jack Aubrey, JudeS, #319
Orwell, George, Frybabe, #97
Peterson, Roger Tory, Field guide to the Eastern Birds, Mockingbird, JoanK #202
Rand, Ayn, We the Living, Frybabe, #498, 502
Shelley, Mary, Frankenstein, the monster, PatH, #451
Smith, Alexander McCall, Mma Ramotswe, JudeS, #145
Steinbeck , John, Journal of a Novel, Gumtree, #53, 60
Tolkien, J. R. R., Lord of the Rings, Frodo, PatH, #238, 241
Trollope, Joanna, The Best of Friends, Sophie, Mippy, #218
Vreeland, Susan, The Forest Lover, Emily Carr, Mippy, #364
Wethers, Beck, Left for Dead, Ginny, #29
Xenophon, Frybabe, #173




PatH

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 10951
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #561 on: May 19, 2010, 07:06:32 AM »
It's impossible to guess how hard or easy people will find a book.  I've been surprised both ways.

Gumtree

  • Posts: 2741
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #562 on: May 19, 2010, 09:37:25 AM »
Yes, just go for it Mippy -

I watched the Hunt for Red October not so very long ago. It was much better than I remembered it - I don't much care for Sean Connery but I was amazed ('blown away' is too strong) by the quality of his acting in this film. Certainly, he was convincing.
Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

Mippy

  • Posts: 3100
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #563 on: May 19, 2010, 09:59:56 AM »
Thanks, all!   I will go for it in the morning ... deciding among 3 possibles ... may be harder than easier but that's your problem     ...  haha    ???
quot libros, quam breve tempus

PatH

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 10951
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #564 on: May 19, 2010, 09:19:54 PM »
Mippy, remember when Judy put in what should have been an obscure clue from "Master and Commander" and hit a bunch of us Patrick O'Brian nuts?  There probably wasn't a single scene we wouldn't have recognized.

Hard is good.  And if you have 3 possibilities, you're set up for the next time you win.

Mippy

  • Posts: 3100
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #565 on: May 20, 2010, 09:10:33 AM »
Thanks, PatH !

Day One
Author:  I was born in the South, but I don't set my novels there.

Character:  I was married quite young to an older man, who was not such a faithful man.
quot libros, quam breve tempus

Mippy

  • Posts: 3100
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #566 on: May 21, 2010, 06:58:33 AM »
Day Two:
Author:
  I'm an American.

Character:  Somewhere in Europe, my life continues to be eventful!   

          If no one wants to guess, it's hard to sit here all alone!
quot libros, quam breve tempus

Frybabe

  • Posts: 10024
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #567 on: May 21, 2010, 08:02:15 AM »
I'm here Mippy.  I thought of Frances Mays who spends a lot of time in Tuscany.

PatH

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 10951
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #568 on: May 21, 2010, 09:02:02 AM »
I'm here, too.  I'm working on it.

Mippy

  • Posts: 3100
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #569 on: May 21, 2010, 09:23:35 AM »
nope, Margie, but interesting guess ... loved that book about Tuscany!

Update to Hint of Day Two:
should have been:

Author:  I am an American woman.
quot libros, quam breve tempus

Gumtree

  • Posts: 2741
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #570 on: May 21, 2010, 10:07:10 AM »
Well, for a start there are lots of American women - and lots of them are novelists and I guess lots of those come from the south.... You can tell that I haven't a clue can't you!
Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

Mippy

  • Posts: 3100
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #571 on: May 21, 2010, 10:47:19 AM »
Who wrote:  make it hard!   So I did.   More clues tomorrow.    Off the rest of today!
quot libros, quam breve tempus

Frybabe

  • Posts: 10024
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #572 on: May 21, 2010, 11:59:37 AM »
Mippy, I expect you are talking about Under the Tuscan Sun. Mayes wrote at least three other books about Tuscany as well as one on Greece and one on her travels around Europe with her poet husband. I saw one novel and a book about writing poetry on her site as well.  One of these days I must get a hold of some of her other books.

Now to put my thinking cap back on.

ginny

  • Administrator
  • Posts: 91354
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #573 on: May 21, 2010, 12:24:10 PM »
How about Patricia Highsmith (born in Texas, some people consider Texas the south) lived in Europe, do we need the book too? The Talented Mr. Ripley.

Mippy

  • Posts: 3100
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #574 on: May 22, 2010, 06:40:40 AM »
Nope, Ginny ~  I recall you really like that author, therefore I wouldn't use her!

Day Three

Author
:   Another of my novels, not this one, has famous activity in Greece and in Britain.

Character:   I'm a strong woman when Fortuna goes against our land,
                              but I'm not a Roman woman.

      (This is to keep Ginny and Margie from going off track on Roman novels).
quot libros, quam breve tempus

JoanK

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 8685
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #575 on: May 22, 2010, 02:33:05 PM »
Did you mean for famous to be in italics? I haven't a clue, but I'm going to guess that her other book has "famous" in the title?

Mippy

  • Posts: 3100
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #576 on: May 23, 2010, 06:21:50 AM »
nope, that word is not in any of her titles, JoanK!   Our Israel connection is amazing, but we ought to take that to email and not bother these author,author contests, right?

Day Four
Author: 
Ignore my other titles.   This novel has a large bird in the title, which is supposed to take the reader to one of the well-known historical characters in this book.

Character: My sister did not survive to enjoy a long life, but  I outlived both her and my husband and became a well-known patron of the arts.
quot libros, quam breve tempus

Mippy

  • Posts: 3100
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #577 on: May 24, 2010, 06:55:01 AM »
Day Five             ???
ok, see clues in Day Four.   As I understand the rules, no guesses = no new clues

Was this too difficult?  Apparently.
quot libros, quam breve tempus

Frybabe

  • Posts: 10024
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #578 on: May 24, 2010, 08:51:42 AM »
Too difficult? Not any more than some of the others. Some of them have run for this long and maybe more. Others were guessed right away.

Large bird in the title? Oh gosh, how large? Eagle, hawk, owl - these can be small too. Moa, Dodo, Condor, Crane, Ostrich? The first two very large and very extinct.
Then there is the Roc, very, very large and very, very mythical. Was the Phoenix a big bird? And then there is Big Bird (of Sesame St. fame). And the only title I can think of in all that just now is Day of the Condor which I am sure is not what you are looking for.

Mippy

  • Posts: 3100
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #579 on: May 24, 2010, 09:26:47 AM »
Margie  ~   I'll answer right away, since it's so good to "chat"  and not about the Big Bird from Sesame Street.   I'd originally typed big, then changed it, because I also thought of that PBS bird.  All your bird guesses are wrong.     :-\

Bird hint  (Title hint)    In early summer, we see a pair of these large birds by their nest every time we drive past the marsh on the way to West Yarmouth (MA), so they are not mythical or really all that rare.
quot libros, quam breve tempus

PatH

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 10951
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #580 on: May 24, 2010, 10:14:42 AM »
I wasn't around much yesterday, but that dratted bird was running through my mind, and now you've knocked out all my guesses.  I'll have to think some more.

The rules leave it up to you when you provide more clues

"The challenger may or may not provide more clues, his prerogative"

but when people are stuck is when they need another clue, so I'm glad you said more about the bird.

Gumtree

  • Posts: 2741
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #581 on: May 24, 2010, 11:22:00 AM »
I don't recognise any of the clues for the book or the author. I'll be cross if it's one of my favourites.
Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

Frybabe

  • Posts: 10024
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #582 on: May 24, 2010, 04:30:21 PM »
I'm stumped!


An historical novel perhaps?



ginny

  • Administrator
  • Posts: 91354
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #583 on: May 24, 2010, 07:17:05 PM »
Frances Mayes also wrote Swan. :)

Pelicans, herons, geese, swans, ospreys? Bitterns?

JudeS

  • Posts: 1162
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #584 on: May 24, 2010, 07:33:32 PM »
OK, more large birds.
Vultures, Kites, falcons,swans, Kingfishers.
Also ravens, blackbirds and gulls.
Have we forgotten one?

JudeS

  • Posts: 1162
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #585 on: May 24, 2010, 07:39:28 PM »
Harper Lee is a Southern woman writer who wrote
"To Kill a Mockingbird" but there are no other books by this author.
I'll keep trying.

JudeS

  • Posts: 1162
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #586 on: May 24, 2010, 07:52:58 PM »
Well after a bit of research I came up with an author that fits about half the clues.  Even though I can't find any books by her with a birds name.

Lets see if this helps at all.
The Golden Apple
by Eudora Welty

Frybabe

  • Posts: 10024
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #587 on: May 24, 2010, 08:08:40 PM »
I didn't know Harper Lee is female. How about that. I looked her up. To Kill a Mockingbird appears to be her only published novel although she has written several short stories and articles. And look at that, she was a friend and neighbor of Truman Capote, even helping him do research for In Cold Blood.

Gumtree

  • Posts: 2741
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #588 on: May 25, 2010, 12:39:13 AM »
The  ostrich and the emu are also large birds - turkey ?
Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

Mippy

  • Posts: 3100
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #589 on: May 25, 2010, 06:14:53 AM »
Good morning, early birds!
Ginny and Jude have listed the correct bird!   but real clues later after a cup o' ...  
Nope, on the author, Ginny.

Hint:  The book has little to do with the bird in the title ... tricky author !
quot libros, quam breve tempus

ginny

  • Administrator
  • Posts: 91354
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #590 on: May 25, 2010, 06:49:11 AM »
The only common denominator of our two lists is Swan ahd there are SO many books with Swan in the title. I think it would help to know the genre or the age of the book. Is this a modern children's book or an older book or?

Leondardo's Swans by Karen Essex.

Mippy

  • Posts: 3100
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #591 on: May 25, 2010, 08:53:52 AM »
Ginny is the winner!   Hurray!

I chose this one because I do suggest others in this group would enjoy it.   The novel is only indirectly about Leonardo's art.  
          
Author Karen Essex, born in New Orleans, chose not to write about the American South.  Her novels include Kleopatra and  Stealing Athena, which is about Lord Elgin, his wife, and the famous marbles he looted from Greece.

Here's the link to Essex's web site:  http://www.karenessex.com/aboutkaren.html
 
Character:  The character and her sister are Isabella and Beatrice d'Este, princesses of Ferrara in Italy, who lived in the early 1500s.  Isabella survived the violent upheavals of that period to outlive her husband  -- who had a series of mistresses -- and became a famous, wealthy patron of the arts and a friend to several Popes, princes, emporors, and kings.   The sister Beatrice, in contrast, died young, and was less famous.                              
Leonardo painted both sisters into several of his works, according to the novel, since not all his frescos are still intact.   There are some interesting passages about Leonardo's inventions.
quot libros, quam breve tempus

Frybabe

  • Posts: 10024
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #592 on: May 25, 2010, 08:57:47 AM »
Congrats, Ginny!

I've never heard of Karen Essex so now I am off to look her up.

Gumtree

  • Posts: 2741
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #593 on: May 25, 2010, 11:04:40 AM »
Ginny: Wow - how did you get that one?  Amazing!

Mippy - that really was hard but worthwhile - I've never heard of the author but will see if I can find that book in my library. Thanks
Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

ginny

  • Administrator
  • Posts: 91354
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #594 on: May 25, 2010, 01:26:51 PM »
The two swans on the two lists and Fortuna was the key for me in this one. :)

I'll put up a new one tonight, weather permitting, when the baby leaves.

JudeS

  • Posts: 1162
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #595 on: May 25, 2010, 05:46:36 PM »
Wow-
After rereading Ginny's list I saw I had repeated the Swan.
Oh well a mistake I thought.  However a mistake that led to the solution of an author I had never heard of, let alone the name of the book of which I never heard either.

Congrats Ginny on this difficult puzzle.

PatH

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 10951
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #596 on: May 26, 2010, 09:59:22 AM »
Congratulations, Ginny.  I'm glad you got it; I have heard of the book, but I don't think it would have popped into my head.

ginny

  • Administrator
  • Posts: 91354
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #597 on: May 26, 2010, 08:17:11 PM »
Well thank you all! The fun of collaboration, love it!

Here's a new one:


Author Clue #1:  I didn't start out to write novels but there was so much competition in my field I decided to try my hand at the novel.

Book  Clue #1: The book contains appearances by two famous persons in history but is not about them.

Gumtree

  • Posts: 2741
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #598 on: May 27, 2010, 01:54:26 AM »
H'rmmmph!
Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

ginny

  • Administrator
  • Posts: 91354
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #599 on: May 27, 2010, 07:07:14 AM »
Is that Australian for WOW!~!

?

hahahaaa