Literati and Libations

July/Part II

Photo by Karan Grover on Unsplash

If another excuse is required to raise one’s glass, know that several more prominent literary figures have July birthdays, including:

• July 16^th

  Anita Brookner (1928), author of Hotel du Lac;

• July 17^th

  Erle Stanley Gardner (1889), author of the Perry Mason series;

  Mark Bowden (1951), author of Black Hawk Down, and The Finish: The Killing of Osama Bin Laden; and

  Cory Doctorow (1971), author of Pirate Cinema, Homeland, and Little Brother;

• July 18^th

  William Makepeace Thackeray (1811), author of Vanity Fair and Barry Lyndon;

  Hunter S. Thompson (1937), author of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and The Rum Diaries; and

  Elizabeth Gilbert (1969), author of Eat, Pray, Love;

• July 19^th

  Stephen Coonts (1946), author of the Deep Black series and the Jake Grafton series;

  Jayne Anne Phillips (1952), author of Lark and Termite, and Quiet Dell; and

  Garth Nix (1963), author of the Abhorsen Trilogy and the Old Kingdom series;

  “If life gives you limes, make margaritas.” –Jimmy Buffett

• July 20^th

  Cormac McCarthy (1933), author of The Road, No Country for Old Men, and All the Pretty Horses;

  Thomas L. Friedman (1953), author of The World is Flat, and Thank You for Being Late; and

  Jess Walter (1965), author of Beautiful Ruins and The Financial Lives of the Poets;

• July 21^st

  Hart Crane (1899), author of Poet and The Bridge;

  Ernest Hemingway (1899), author of For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Sun Also Rises;

  John Gardner (1933), author of Grendel and Moriarty;

  Gary Trudeau (1948), author of the Doonesbury comic series;

  Michael Connelly (1956), author of the Harry Bosch series, the Lincoln Lawyer series, and the Mickey Haller series; and

  Ilyasah Shabazz (1962), author of X: A Novel;

• July 22^nd

  David Shields (1956), author of the Dead Languages and How Literature Saved My Life;

• July 23^rd

  Raymond Chandler (1888), author of The Big Sleep and Farewell, My Lovely; and

  Lauren Groff (1978), author of Fates and Furies and The Monsters of Templeton;

“There comes a time in every woman’s life when the only thing that helps is a glass of champagne.” ―Bette Davis

• July 24^th

  Alexandre Dumas (1802), author of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo;

  Zelda Fitzgerald (1900), author of Save Me the Waltz; and

  John D. MacDonald (1916), author of Cape Fear

• July 25^th

  Robyn Carr (1951), author of the Grace Valley Trilogy and the Virgin River series;

• July 26^th

  George Bernard Shaw (1856), playwright of Saint Joan and Pygmalion;

  Aldous Huxley (1894), author of Brave New World;

  Jean Shepherd (1921), author of A Christmas Story; and

  Rick Bragg (1956) All Over But the Shoutin’, Ava’s Man, The Prince of Frogtown

• July 27^th

  Bharati Mukherjee (1940), author of Desirable Daughters and The Tree Bride;

“Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whiskey is barely enough.” –Mark Twain

• July 28^th

  Beatrix Potter (1866), author of the Peter Rabbit series and The Tale of Benjamin Bunny;

  John Ashbery (1927), author of Quick Question and Commotion of the Birds poems; and

  Natalie Babbitt (1932), author of Tuck Everlasting and The Moon Over High Street;

• July 29^th

  Alexis de Tocqueville (1905), author of Democracy in America;

  Chester Himes (1909), author of If He Hollers Let Him Go and the Grave Digger Jones series; and

  Chang Rae-Lee (1965), author of On Such a Full Sea and The Surrendered;

• July 30^th

  Emily Brontë (1818), author of Wuthering Heights;

  Archer Mayor (1950), author of the Joe Gunther series; and

  Ann Brashares (1967), author of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series; and

• July 31^st

  J. K. Rowling (1965), author of the Harry Potter series and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Santé!

Thanks for reading,