Authors And Reading

Hola Readers, how is everybody?  Shockingly I've been super busy...I know *gasp*...I'm never busy right.  Anyways today I would like to talk about one of the things that struck me while I was on my trip.  It mostly has to do with a readers...or more specifically my view on a book in relation to who wrote it.  One of the books that I read on this trip (rambling in the next couple of days, I promise) almost completely changed when I realized the demographics of who wrote it.  I have lately found that the more I know about an author of a particular book, the more it seems to influence how I

perceive it.  For example, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke was all that much cooler for me because I know how long it took her to write it and how it was her first book and any other little details like that really enhanced my enjoyment of the book.  I find I am pre-dispositioned to like books by my favorite authors and am willing to defend even their occasional duds.  I find it hard to pick up a book by a disappointing author, even if the book is supposed to be completely different.  Sometimes I'll pick up a book by an author I know nothing about, sometimes I'm not even sure of their gender and then I'll read that book and form an opinion.  If the book is really good, or really bad, or something about it strikes me, then I will usually do some research on it, and that usually includes the author.  I can not tell you how many times I have discovered facts an tidbits about the author and/or the circumstances behind a book that has changed my whole out look on it.  After this revelation of something that has been part of my reading psyche since the age of four, I've been trying to decide how I feel about it.  On one hand, I like forming my own opinions of books with minimal outside influence...that being said, I feel that a book should be a piece of art from the author and I would assume that pieces of them, their personality, their experiances, their beliefs, etc... all play at least some small part in what they write, so of course knowing those things is going to affect my reading experience.  Anyways, I guess I was just surprised at how much the various details of the authors changed my whole reading experience.  Ok enough of my overly introspective thoughts.  Happy Reading Everybody!