15 Authors in 15 Minutes -- edited

I tried to use some keyboard shortcuts, and this is up in two versions. I'll read all comments both places :-D

This post was originally a Facebook note for which I was tagged by a blog-friend. I decided to put it on here as well (with added commentary) because there are a couple of people whose lists I'd like to see with whom I am not Facebook friends. And frankly, if you wind up here and this looks like fun to you, by all means play along -- leaving a link here would be wonderful -- and maybe expand my reading horizons!!

Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen authors (poets included) who've influenced you and that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes. Tag as many friends that are passionate about reading as you can, including me, because I'm interested in seeing what authors my friends choose. (To do this, go to your Notes tab on your profile page, paste rules in a new note, cast your fifteen picks, and tag people in the note.)

(My comments on each author were not part of the Facebook post.)

1. The Holy Spirit -- As the ultimate author of the Bible, in the same way I'd list Edward Stratemeyer as the author of Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys. Somebody else did the actual writing, but the inspiration was his.

2. CS Lewis -- He's the ultimate reason I have more than two kids. (Read That Hideous Strength.)

3. JRR Tolkien -- A daughter named Arwen. Any questions?

4. Robert Heinlein -- He was my first introduction to sci-fi. Some of it has palled after 40 years, but he was definitely formative for me.

5. Jan Karon -- I want to live in Mitford!

6. Barbara Mertz (Barbara Michaels/Elizabeth Peters) -- Amelia Peabody Emerson is what keeps me reading her, but I got hooked by the Readers Digest condensation of Ammie, Come Home.

7. Rudyard Kipling -- For the poems, although I like his stories just fine. But I'm a creature of rhyme and meter, and his poems suit me.

8. Dr. Seuss -- He's one of the authors who make reading the same book to your kid 72 bazillion times bearable. Ask me how many I have memorized!

9. Georgette Heyer -- She never palls. Romance with true literacy and period clothes!

10. George and Helen Waite Papashvily -- If you don't know them, Google them and then find one of their books, especially Anything Can Happen.

11. C.J. Cherryh -- For the Foreigner series.

12. Madeleine L'Engle -- I remember the day I was handed A Wrinkle in Time, and read it in one sitting. Some of her stuff has what I consider slightly whiffy theology, but I like her anyway.

13. Edith Schaeffer -- If anybody knows where my copy of Hidden Art is, I want it back!

14. John McCrae -- "In Flanders' fields the poppies grow..." The most awesome of one-hit wonders.

15. Louisa May Alcott -- Eight Cousins, Rose in Bloom, and Jack and Jill! And yeah, the famous stuff, too.

 I have to admit that I spent 5 of my 15 minute circling the bookcases in the hose to make sure I didn't leave somebody out, or put somebody of lesser importance in. I figured (correctly) that I would get good guidance from what I own a lot of.

And I would LOVE to see lists from Enbretheliel and Mighty Maggie and Rae, if you guys even see this............