Don’t you just love the internet?
You check your twitter page to see who’s following you (You rarely use the main site for anything else, as you’ve got some fantastic twitter aps like TweetDeck and Share-a-holic.)
Turns out Matthew Paul Turner is following you (must have been that one time you linked to one of his articles using Shareaholic).
You decide to see what’s new on his site, Jesus Needs New PR and find a fun little article on “stereotyping Christians by their favorite Christian author.”
This article links to “stereotyping people by their favorite author” which quotes from “readers by author.”
Amused by the content found on this collection of linked articles, you decide to write your own blog post on the stereotypes–and link to each article respectively.
As I am a reader, I found this collection of stereotypes particularly interesting. And though I have LOTS more than just ONE favorite author, I thought these comments about some of my favorites rather interesting.
From the Jesus Needs New PR list:
- Joshua Harris: Virgin (Yup.)
- Beth Moore: Moms whose voices become breathy while praying aloud. (Okay, so I’m only a mommy wannabe–but the “breathy while praying aloud” is probably true.)
From the original list:
- Jane Austen: Girls who made out with other girls in college when they were going through a “phase”. (Not even. I don’t know what Jane Austen this commentator is reading. More like, “girls with romantic fantasies of the strong and silent type”.)
- Nathaniel Hawthorne: People who used to sleep so heavy that they would pee their pants. (Well, as a child I did. But I don’t really get what it has to do with Hawthorne.)
- William Shakespeare: People who like bondage. (Actually, not everything is “Taming of the Shrew”–and even there, it’s not so much about bondage. Some of us just like the witty repartee and skilled linguistic jabs a la Beatrice and Benedict or Kate and Petruchio.)
- C.S. Lewis: Youth group leaders who picked their nose in the 4th grade. (Guilty as charged–except that I stepped down from the youth sponsorship gig last December.)
- Shel Silverstein: Girls who can’t spell “leheim”. (Had to look that one up because I didn’t realize the author was trying to say “L’Chaim”. I’m too much of a reader for this one. Spelling is usually easier for me than pronouncing–although I can pronounce this one thanks to “Fiddler on the Roof”)
- Michael Pollan: The girl who just turned vegan to cover up her eating disorder. (Nope. I like food too much for that one.)
If I were to turn the stereotypes the other direction, I should find that I enjoy:
- J.K. Rowling: Smart geeks.
- Anne Rice: People who don’t use conditioner in their hair.
- Sylvia Plath: Girls who keep journals.
- Vladimir Nabokov:Men who use words like ‘dubious’ and ‘tenacity’. (except that I’m a woman)
- Phillippa Gregory: Women who have repressed their desire to go to Renaissance Festivals (don’t know that I’ve repressed the desire–I just haven’t actually been to a Renaissance faire.)
- Stieg Larsson: Girls who are too frightened to go skydiving. (Not going to lie, I’m about the farthest thing from an adrenaline junkie.)
- Dean Koontz: People who would never dream of owning any type of “toy” breed dog.
- Richard Dawkins: People who have their significant other grab them under the table in order to shut them up whenever someone else at a dinner says something absolutely ridiculous and wrong. (Okay, so I’ve never actually had anyone grab me under the table, but I’m sure some people have felt like it on occasion. I do tend to be a bit opinionated and can be overeager to share my knowledge and, erm, “wisdom”.)
So what about you? What do your favorite authors say about you? And who should be your favorite authors according to these stereotypes?