Big month for birthdays—-three in the family—-and you, too?
from my library June birthdays ©booksandbuttons
It’s a good month to group these authors at their birthday party tables. For instance, there
are the authors who are big hits in the junior high reading lists: Anne Frank, Helen Keller, Pearl Buck, Esther Forbes ($500 prize if you know why on this one) and George Orwell.
Then the women’s table——-yea!! Barbara Pym, Dorothy Sayers (where in the world are my Dorothy Sayers books? couldn’t find any to use in photo!), Elizabeth Bowen, Djuna Barnes, Mary McCarthy, Lillian Hellman–what a gab fest.
The rest we’ll sort of seat at the “classics” and “other” tables . .
I had a nice time reading about some of these authors while I was working on this post—go ahead and read about Elizabeth Bowen——Djuna Barnes—-Lillian Hellman—-and especially Dorothy Sayers. It makes you want to run right over to the library and get some of their work . . .
And it’s interesting (kind of) that two of the authors used a similar theme (well, maybe a lot of them did, but this one comes to mind) of old childhood friends meeting up again after many years. There’s “The Group” by Mary McCarthy—-group of 8 women who were at Vassar, class of 1933——and “The Little Girls” by Elizabeth Bowen—-3 women right after World War I–England.
Might be fun to add these two to your summer reading list (mine coming out soon!!) to compare how the authors worked the similar themes.
All right, the birthday list:
June 2 Thomas Hardy; Barbara Pym–don’t miss her! Promise yourself–
Barbara Pym—recommended reading!
June 3 Allen Ginsberg
June 6 Thomas Mann
June 7 Elizabeth Bowen
maybe this summer?
June 12 Anne Frank; Djuna Barnes
June 13 Dorothy Sayers; Fanny Burney; William Butler Yeats
Never heard of Fanny Burney? Well, she’s early—here’s a darling cover illustration to entice you into reading “A Busy Day” a play written in the 19th Century:
Cover illustration by Diana Sterling for “A Busy Day” by Fanny Burney;
©booksandbuttons
June 14 Harriet Beecher Stowe
June 17 John Hersey
June 19 Blaise Pascal
June 20 Lillian Hellman
June 21 Mary McCarthy
June 22 Erich Maria Remarque (see this month’s book club selection)
June 25 George Orwell
June 26 Pearl Buck
June 27 Helen Keller
June 28 Esther Forbes
June 29 Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
this old favorite–
And I’ll finish the page with Thomas Hardy—can hardly top that. I have two copies of “Under the Greenwood Tree”. I think I’ll read my old copy this summer.
books by Thomas Hardy
