My best friends

I have decided to create a list of authors who write non-fiction and seem like they would be my best friend if given a chance. Something all these people have in common is how bold they are. The things they do and what they say is bold and brash and I love it. They make me step back from myself and think about what I really want and how I should suck it up and just do whatever it is. I think that is what friends should do. Plus they are all just so KICK-ASS!

In no particular order:

Mary Roach: wrote Stiff, Spook, Bonk and soon to be released How to Pack for Mars (HURRAY). I got to meet her in Portland so my suspicions were confirmed. She is funny, a little goofy, spunky, tenacious, and willing to have sex for science in an MRI machine. What is not to love there. I have learned amazing facts from her books (like how pigs have to orgasms to conceive which is interesting for the AI guys) and laugh out loud constantly.

Barbara Kingsolver: wrote a lot of books, my favorite being Small Wonders. She is intelligent, spunky, an environmentalist, and daring. She was an ex-pat for a while (which I would love to do for a time and have done a little) and has also been a live model for an art class like me. We have so much in common and I am sure she has amazing stories to tell from her hippie past.

Hannah Friedman: wrote Everything Sucks. I am unsure if we would be good friends now because I don't know how well she will weather her young "fame-dom." But the girl she depicts in her book stumbling through high school being funny and slightly daring would be my high school self's bosom buddy.

Kerry Cohen: wrote Loose Girl. I might have had difficulty being friends with her as a boy crazy girl with a lot of self-hate. However, the woman she seems to have become would be a hoot to hang with. I think couple dates would be fun with her and her husband as well. Plus I could listen to all her fun stories from the past.

Lauren Slater: wrote Opening Skinner's Box and Love Works Like This. We would get along fabulously. Great humor, interest in psychology, neurotic about children and a bit daring. I think the former her and the current her would have lots of fun with me.

Chuck Klosterman: wrote a lot of books but my favorite is Killing Yourself to Live. I more hope we would be friends than know. I just REALLY want to be his friend. I have a huge intellectual hard-on for him.

Bill Bryson: wrote a lot of books but my favorite is Sunburned Country. That man is hilarious and sort of embraces new cultures that he visits. I would love to get lost with him, drink a lot with him and talk about all the different ways we could die in Australia (of which there are many).

Kristin Cashore (counts even though she has only written two fiction novels because I have become obsessed with her through her blog). She is hilarious, loves Buffy and is the one who turned me on to trapeze lessons. We would trapeze together. We would make stupid jokes together and then we would have Joss Whedon marathons.

Azar Nafisi: wrote Reading Lolita in Tehran. Talk about an amazing woman. So courageous. So intelligent. We could talk about literature all day and then she could tell me about the awful things she had to endure in Iran. We would then work on humanitarian projects together.

Sloane Crosley: wrote I Was Told There'd Be Cake. Pretty funny gal, foul mouthed and gets into ridiculous situations which is something I can relate to. We could weather the odd situations together, and possibly find more of them.

I really want to add Buffy, Dana Scully, Eowyn, Arya Stark and Mulan to the list though I have a hard time justifying them being on it. Maybe I should change criteria for this list, which would basically mean just the name.