One of my few ambitions is to develop a cult following. By which I do not mean I want to start my own religion. That is way too ambitious for me. No, I want to be one of those writers whose books are given a choice spot on the shelves in used bookstores because readers obsess over them the way I obsess over Rebecca. I want to be one of those writers who people have to read about even if they don't like my books the way I have to read about the Little Prince guy.
So you can see why I was interested in The Telegraph's list of 50 Best Cult Books. I wasn't there, but one day I hope to be.
Among the books included that might be of interest to kidlit folk:
The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
And then The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams was an adolescent cult favorite at Chez Gauthier. But that may just be the Gauthiers.
4 comments:
Hitchhiker's Guide was definitely a favorite - garnering almost cult-like status among my friends and I in High School (the early 80s)
Good luck with your cult-like following.
Thank you. The good thing about wanting a cult following is that you can go to your grave believing that it's still in your future. You don't have to be around for it to happen. While if you haven't won an American Book Award by the time you're on your death bed, unless your publisher is sitting on your best work, it ain't likely to happen.
So I see this ambition as being a very positive, optimistic attitude on my part. I'm really quite a perky person.
If you want a cult-like following, I think it helps to have a symbol your followers can flash at one another - a logo for the t-shirts, or a hand-sign. If you had to condense your entire body of work into a single icon, what would it be?
I will have to think about that one. You want to be careful about choosing your iconic symbol. Perhaps I will take a poll among friends and family.
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