The Rules:
Marry means this will be a book or author you will read for
the rest of your life. Fuck means you get to read once, in a
literary one night stand, and never again. You're attracted to the
boo or author, but you don't want to wake up next to him/her/it every morning for the
rest of your life. Kill means you eradicate the book or books from the world.
You may even be reaching back in time and strangling the work before it
was ever written.
The candidates:
Sophie Hannah, Tana French and Carol Goodman
My choices:
Marry: Tana French. She's a genius, full stop. She's also one of the very few writers whose books I enjoy rereading. Typically I don't love books in a series that follow different characters in the same universe, but French makes you feel like every new protagonist is worth spending time with, no matter how much you loved the last. I'm totally proposing.
Fuck: Carol Goodman. I've never read another author who uses water as a central thematic element in every single one of her two billion books (more like seven, probably). Water is really conducive to obsession. Sailors, fish, flowers: if they like water, I like them. If I could, I'd marry her too. But since I can't, this will be a long cherished literary one night stand. I will keep a folded photo copy of a cover of one of her books in my wallet until it's falling apart at the folds.
Kill: Sophie Hannah. I like Hannah's work. I've been reading a lot of it lately, and have no real desire to erase it from existence. But since I have to choose, I'm going to eliminate Hannah's books. While compelling, they're also unnecessarily confusing at times. Please don't hate me, Sophie Hannah!