Humor

Authors: They’re Just Like Us

Elizabeth Allen

Staff Writer

Lifelong book lover, Elizabeth Allen managed to get a degree in something completely unrelated that she never intends to use. She’s a proud Connecticut native who lives in a picturesque small town with her black olive-obsessed toddler daughter, her prom date-turned-husband, and her two dim-witted cats Penny Lane and Gretchen Wieners. She spends her days trying to find a way to be paid to read while drinking copious amounts of coffee, watching episodes of Gilmore girls until the DVDs fail, waiting for her husband to feed her, and being obnoxiously vain about her hair. Elizabeth’s work can be found at www.blackwhitereadbooks.com, where she is currently reading and reviewing all of the books referenced in Gilmore girls. She is also the cohost of two podcasts discussing the work of Amy Sherman-Palladino (“Under the Floorboards” and “Stumbling Ballerinas”). Basically, her entire goal in life is to be a bookish Lorelai Gilmore. She clearly dreams big. Twitter: @BWRBooks

Like a lot of other readers, authors are my superheroes. I view them as possessing some sort of Avengers-level powers that they selflessly use to entertain, educate, and teach empathy to the world. Meeting some of my favorite authors is a practice in not physically assaulting them with the onslaught of my love and admiration. Depending on their security team, this could be detrimental to my well-being.

So it always brightens my day when I realize that these geniuses of the page are just like me! They may see their names on the New York Times Bestselling list or be shortlisted for The Man Booker, but some struggles are universal.

 

They ponder the big questions:

 

Their siblings drive them nuts:

 

They get their lives at Target (and totally buy into the unicorn trend):

 

They fall for Oreo’s latest flavor trickery:

 

They food brag:

 

They worry about the gaps in their wardrobe:

 

They look to otters and puppies for comfort:

 

They wish they hadn’t done something, and then share their shame on social media anydamnedway:

 

They figure out new and unique ways not to do what they’re supposed to be doing:

 

They want you to see how adorable their pets are:

 

They are fiercely loyal to their favorite musicians: