TOP TEN TUESDAY | AUTHOR DUOS I WANT TO WRITE A BOOK TOGETHER

 

I probably won’t make ten on this one, because honestly I’ve never really considered this. I mean, I have authors I love individually, but I rarely think about which ones would go well together. Maybe because I don’t tend to think about pairing at all – I’m not a wine drinker and I kind of figure beer goes with anything. At any rate, for whatever reason, this is a new area for me. So let’s have some fun!

       

I actually discovered Sarah Vowell through the introduction she wrote to Nick Hornby’s collection of articles, Shakespeare Wrote for Money. I loved her tone and humour, which I think would match excellently with Nick Hornby’s.

         

Both of these books made me laugh out loud in places, but also surprised me with their insight and vulnerability. I’d love to read a book written by Lena Dunham but interspersed with cartoons by Allie Brosh.

         

This one is a bit of a cheat because Roald Dahl is no longer with us, but there wasn’t anything in the rules about living authors only, and I had to include these two. They’re the authors of my all-time favourite children’s books, but there’s one major thing they share. Both are able to write for children in a way that hints at adult information that any adult reading the books will pick up on. In this way the content is layered, making it great for pretty much any reader. They also both have a kind of dark and twisty side, so there’s that too.

         

These two women are among my favourites on Twitter, not just because of their work, but because they’re two of the funniest voices on the site. I really feel like if they put their heads together, they’d come up with something brilliant, hilarious and just straight up awesome.

         

There’s a similar tone of cockeyed romance in both of these books. I also loved how both dealt with flawed characters in a sensitive way (even if the end of The Rosie Project jumped the shark a bit for me) and that the supporting characters were just as interesting as (if not more interesting than) the main characters.

         

Tom Robbins is an author I discovered in high school and have loved ever since. His books are vibrant, creative and full of very witty lines – but they’re also undeniably weird. Douglas Coupland, an author from my neck of the woods, likes to take risks (both with content and format) and challenge himself. It doesn’t always work, but I respect his vision and unwillingness to stick to any kind of proven formula. I think these two quirky minds, if put together, could pretty much do anything.

         

I just read the first book in the Series of Unfortunate Events, and I loved it. Like Roald Dahl and Neil Gaiman there’s an undercurrent of the dark, which is also present in Rowling’s world. But I loved the setting and how Snicket’s characters were loyal, resourceful and tough. It reminded me of Harry, Ron and Hermione in the best possible way.

         

These are two “nerdy” authors who I think would get along. I suspect their interests would overlap and that they’d be able to come up with some really cool ideas that utilized their knowledge of pop culture and their interest in video games and the online world.

         

I read Mindy Kaling’s newest book last month (quickly followed by her first book, because I loved Why Not Me? so much) and she mentioned her friendship with B.J. Novak once or twice. I loved both of their writing styles, and I think a book by the two of them would be pretty much the most hilarious thing ever.

         

A lot of parallels were drawn between these two book when Luckiest Girl Alive came out, and Gillian Flynn was even quoted on the cover. While the two books have very different structures, the unreliable narrator in Gone Girl and the cutting (at times cruel) voice of the narrator in Luckiest Girl Alive did leave me with a similar feeling, and there’s a certain darkness and unlikability in both characters.

This was fun! I think I’ll be looking for literary pairings from now on. What about you guys? Would you like to read books by any of these pairs of authors? Which author duos would you pick? Share in the comments!

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly link-up feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week TTT has a different topic, and everyone who links up has to create a link of ten items that fit that topic. To see past and upcoming topics, go here.