Posted on December 9, 2020 at 8:00 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

We took a page out of the New York Times’s By the Book column recently and invited our readers to choose three authors — living or deceased — to appear at their dream dinner party.

The bonus question: what thematic dishes would be served at these parties?

Our Facebook fans must’ve been hungry, because they were full of clever and (mostly) delicious answers.

Grab a snack and scroll to see who’s coming for dinner and what they’ll be eating!

(For a multicourse menu based on James Baldwin’s life alone, check out The Paris Review.)

Carolyn L.: Ernest Hemingway — lots of Scotch, oysters, steak and fries. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle — anything English; probably a meat pie and gin or ale. Agatha Christie — tea and desserts.

Claudine M.: Leon Uris, for Friday evening Seder.

Cherilyn L.: Neil Gaiman. Boneyard ribs and ghost potato soup.

Denise S.: Margaret Mitchell (BBQ at Twelve Oaks), Agatha Christie (high tea in a grand old English manor), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (evening drinks in the library).

Elizabeth C.: Jane Austen (“pease soup, a spare rib, and a pudding”); Oscar Wilde (champagne, caviar, and roast duck); Maya Angelou (lemon chicken and pears poached in port).

Jennifer M.: Diana Gabaldon. Haggis.

Jody T.: So hard to choose. Harper Lee — tomato aspic. Dr. Suess — green eggs and ham. Laura Ingalls Wilder — stew with cornbread. John Grisham — a good cold beer and burger.

John W.: Poe (crow), Shakespeare (rice pudding), Christie (plum pudding).

Kathy M.: Terry Pratchett — salmon, roasted vegetables and lemon meringue pie.

Kathy W.: Shakespeare with English muffins.

Kristi S.: Shirley Jackson, Florence King, and Ruth Rendell. Yankee pot roast, fried okra, and Yorkshire pudding all ’round. And lots of bourbon.

Leslie A.: Diana Gabaldon, Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Mincemeat pie, with pumpkin pie for dessert and a nice chardonnay.

Lorraine T.: Terry Nation (Survivors), Zora Neale Hurston, Maya Angelou. Smothered chicken, rice, collard greens, mac ’n’ cheese, peas with carrots, biscuits. Sweet potato pie. Apple pie. Peach cobbler. White wine. Sweet tea. Orange/lemon/lime water. Smooth jazz playing in the background.

Louise W.: Charlotte Bronte — roast mutton off the moors. Stephen Fry — a Greek meze in recognition of his book on Greek myths, Daphne Du Maurier — lovely fresh mussels from the Cornish coast.

Margee L.: Laura Ingalls Wilder, Dr. Seuss, and Eloise Wilkins! Roast Beast will be served.

Margie F.: Don Miguel Ruiz, Gabriel García Márquez, Jorge Luis Borges. Drinks — red and white wine, beer, seltzer, margaritas. Appetizers — empanadas, arepas, albóndigas, ceviche. Salad — avocado and tomato. Entrees —chicken with rice, roast pork, beans, fried plantains. Dessert — tres leches, fresh fruit salad.

Marie L.: Elizabeth Gilbert, Elizabeth Strout, Elena Ferrante (who would decline so her sub would be Lily King).

Michael W.: Dean Koontz, Fannie Flagg, and Roddy Doyle. I don’t know about Dean Koontz, but fried green tomatoes with Fannie Flagg and Guinness with Roddy Doyle.

Pamela B.: Voltaire, Dan Brown, and Jean M. Auel and to eat we would have a boeuf bourguignon with rustic herb dumplings.

Roxanne H.: Anne MacCafferty (bubbly pies), Terry Goodkind (spicy stew), Dianna Gabaldon (venison stew and shortbread).

Sheel D.: Thomas Hardy, Charles Dickens, and Enid Blyton — bread, turkey and ginger beer.

Sylvia R.: I want dinner with Stephen Hardin and Alan C. Huffīnes. I think the menu should include pimento cheese sandwiches from Jerry's Meat Market & Grocery in Newcastle, Texas.

Una O.: Wordsworth, M W Craven, Emily Brontë — chocolate profiteroles.

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