The Discussion Post – My Dream Bookish Dinner Party

So I’m sure you’re all familiar with the dinner party question – if you could invite anyone dead or alive to a dinner party who would you pick. I thought why not do a bookish version – authors or characters – who would you invite? I’m going to limit myself – and you if you’d like to leave an answer in the comments – to 10 guests, and I’m going to split mine 50/50, 5 authors and 5 characters but you can split yours anyway you’d like.

Authors

1. J K Rowling – I’m sure she’ll make a lot of lists. While Harry Potter didn’t kick-start my love of books, that was already there from a young age, the series certainly formed a huge part of my youth, from when my year 6 teacher read the Philosopher’s Stone to our class when I was 10, until the Deathly Hallows was published just before I turned 20. I grew up with Harry Potter, and perhaps more importantly, for a bookish girl with frizzy hair, Hermione.
2. James Oswald – James Oswald is the author behind the Inspector McLean series and I’m a little obsessed with this series currently – Crime fiction with a hint of the supernatural thrown in. I met him last month at the launch for his latest novel and he was a genuinely lovely guy who had some great stories so I definitely think he’d be a great addition to a dinner party.
3. Malorie Blackman – As the woman behind the Noughts & Crosses series Malorie is another author who had a huge impact on my youth.
4. Stephen Fry – This is possibly a bit of a cheat – I’ve read one of his autobiographies but I’ve not read any of his novels. On the other hand I absolutely adore him and would love to chat to him, and he is technically an author so he’s getting an invite. Plus one of the bars at my university was named after his novel The Liar so I’m counting that.
5. Agatha Christie – I love crime fiction and she’s the Queen of Crime so I’d have to have her there.

Characters

1. Hermione Granger – As I briefly touched on above being the type of child I was having a character like Hermione to identify with was fantastic. I remember watching the first film in the cinema the Christmas it was released and my dad turning to me on the way out and asking when I’d met J K Rowling as Hermione was obviously based on me.
2. Sherlock Holmes – This maybe disastrous for my house, should he decide to shoot something, or blow something up having gone off to experiment however I think he’s an amazing character so I’d love to have a conversation with him.
3. DCI Nightingale – Nightingale is a character in the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch, he’s a wizard but magic in this world isn’t the same as magic in the world of Harry Potter so I’m sure he and Hermione would have some interesting debates. Plus he’s lived through a lot so I’m sure he’d have some interesting stories to tell.
4. Gaia Moore – Gaia Moore is the lead character in the Fearless series by Francine Pascal. I loved this series as a teen – looking back it’s a little ridiculous, a girl born without the fear gene, her dad is a spy with an evil twin who is the head of a criminal empire. But if anyone was going to have some interesting stories to tell it would be Ms Moore.
5.  Lyra Belacqua – I think Lyra would be such an interesting person to have a conversation with. I loved the idea of having a dæmon, and I fell in love with Pan and the relationship the two of them shared.

What do you think of my chosen guests? Who would you invite to your dream dinner party? Let me know below!