It’s been a busy week here at the Semicolon ranch. (No, we don’t really have a ranch although we do live in Texas.) I’m trying to prepare to teach four different classes at homeschool co-op and several classes and subjects here at home. We got two of the girls signed up for dance at a new studio, and I’m still trying to get some other outside classes worked out for some of the other urchins. Elven Daughter now has a driver’s license, and I don’t. I couldn’t pass the vision test at the DPS to get my license renewed.

Life is gearing up fast and furious, and although Madame Mental Multi-Vitamin would tell you that reports of the death of summer are exaggerated, I am seemingly unable, or unwilling, to stop the momentum in that direction. We are running into fall, instead of sliding as MM-V suggests, and the whole of Major Suburbia is running along with us.

As for bookish thoughts, I copied these questions from the blog of Guatami Tripathy:

1. Who’s your all-time favorite author, and why?

That’s a very difficult question. I like different authors for different reasons and different genres. I started to say Charles Dickens was my all-time favorite, but I’m not always in a Dickensian mood. Maybe C.S. Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkien come closer to being my all-time favorites. I can almost always find something by Lewis that fits my need or mood from nonfiction to science fiction to myth to fantasy. And if those don’t fit the moment, there’s the unclassifiable Screwtape.

2. Who was your first favorite author, and why? Do you still consider him or her among your favorites?

My very first favorite? Maj Lindmann, a Swedish picture book author who wrote about the boy triplets, Snipp, Snapp, and Snurr and the girl triplets Flicka, Ricka, and Dicka. There was something absolutely fascinating to a six year old about three identical siblings having adventures in exotic Sweden.

Later, I graduated to Louisa May Alcott, Madeleine L’Engle, Lewis, and Tolkien. I still haven’t found anything better than those four.

3. Who’s the most recent addition to your list of favorite authors, and why?

Wendell Berry. Read about my love for Mr. Berry’s books here if you missed it the first time.

4. If someone asked you who your favorite authors were right now, which authors would first pop out of your mouth? Are there any you’d add on a moment of further reflection?

The four I mentioned above plus Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Thackeray, Stephen Lawhead, Dorothy Sayers, and Agatha Christie. I’d better stop there and refer you to this list.