op Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is Top Ten Authors I Would DIE to meet (living or dead). Now DIE seems a little strong ;) Maybe more like, would shove people out of the way…and flip a baby carriage over for…

LIVING
1) Donna Tartt — Well I think I’ve mentioned elsewhere that if I could have my pick of any writer!mentor, it would certainly be Ms Tartt. Gotta meet her first though, ya know?
2) Martin Amis — Has he moved to Brooklyn yet? Cause I’m already halfway there.
3) Zadie Smith — you know technically I’ve had opportunities to meet her but the one event I really wanted to attend ended up being filled up, so I had hauled my ass down to NYU for no reason. That was incredibly frustrating. There was an event following that, but it cost $25, and I didn’t really want to pay
4) Talitha Stevenson — She is not my favorite author (though I like her a lot obviously), but I think I can safely claim the title of BIGGEST TALITHA STEVENSON FAN LIVING IN THE US.
5) Kelly Braffet — So I’ve only read Josie and Jack, one of my favorite books, but her website is kind of funny, as is her ABOUT section on Facebook, which makes me think she’d be a blast to have a conversation with.

DEAD
6) J.D. Salinger — if you are somehow surprised by this, then this is probably your first time here. In which case, WELCOME! Oh what I wouldn’t give to be told GET OFF MY LAWN! by J.D. Salinger. ;)
7) Vladimir Nabokov — I’m sure I’d come off sounding like a complete ASSHAT to Nabokov. I mean he’s just so damned intelligent and clever (or was at least). Still, can I bask in the glory a lil’ bit? Can we talk about how there are huge sections of Ada, or Ardor that are just indecipherable to me but that it’s one of my favorite book anyway? Yes, let’s.
8) Edith Wharton — I’m gonna go ahead and blame Edith Wharton for my fascination with upper crust New York Society. And I’m pretty much okay with that.
9) F. Scott Fitzgerald + Zelda Fitzgerald — yes I’d like to meet them together, as a pair. I’ve always been strangely fascinated by them (whether because they epitomize the literary Jazz Age in my mind or because their mutually self-destructive ways are like watching the proverbial train wreck, I can’t be sure)
10) Sylvia Plath — yeah, I’m one of those….except not really. I’ve never read Plath’s poetry (well, ok I’ve read “Daddy” and “Mad Girl’s Love Song” because who the hell hasn’t?), but I have read The Bell Jar, which is right up there with The Virgin Suicides for me… i.e. books I liked a lot, but which did not convert me into a cult follower like they seem to do to other people. So it’s weird that she’s on this list in a way. But I keep coming across stuff about her (Rereading Women, Nom de Plume, Seducing the Demon), and yeah, you know what? I am kind of fascinated. I’m also fascinated by the fact that Ted Hughes lover (Assia Wevill) gassed herself in the same way. Maybe I should just have all three of them over for dinner in an afterlife….