Reading with Style discussion

10.8 Cory Day's Task: License to Write

License to write: Read a book by an author who has worked in a profession that requires a license as listed on this page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profess.... If not mentioned in their GR profile, please provide a link showing the author's previous profession.

Please post any questions here.

I may wish to read Tales of a Traveller by Washington Irving for this task... GR and Wikipedia fail to indicate that he was a lawyer...but this Encyclopedia Brittanica page http://www.britannica.com/biography/W... indicates:

"On his return he passed the bar examination late in 1806 and soon set up as a lawyer."

Another issue is that GR does not have a page count for the book...but a copy on Amazon shows it at 280p. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015...

Ed wrote: "I may wish to read Tales of a Traveller by Washington Irving for this task... GR and Wikipedia fail to indicate that he was a lawyer...but this Encyclopedia Brittanica..."

Fixed the page count. And, though the Britannica requires registration, I found the information at http://www.biography.com/people/washi...

I'm considering Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures by Vincent Lam. He is a Dr. which is mentioned in the book's blurb on GR.

Also, here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent...

Valerie wrote: "I'm considering Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures by Vincent Lam. He is a Dr. which is mentioned in the book's blurb on GR.

Also, here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vi..."

Got him!

Fast becoming one of my top books for the season, Mikhail Bulgakov started his career as a Dr!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail...

And Kingsley Amis was a teacher!

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

Edit : Actually, whilst this and Wiki have him listed as a teacher, I can only see him working as a lecturer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_K...

trained as a lawyer, but it doesn't say that what he did with the insurance firm was in the capacity as a lawyer, any ideas anyone ?

How about Ali Olson? From her webpage:

"Ali Olson is a longtime resident of Las Vegas, Nevada, where she has been teaching English at the high school and college level for the last seven years."

ok, Jose Saramago was a car mechanic ?!

I don't know about elsewhere, but a mechanic generally has to be licensed here, because of the nature of the safety aspect of their trade.

Amanda wrote: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_K...

trained as a lawyer, but it doesn't say that what he did with the insurance firm was in the capacity as a lawyer, any ideas anyone ?"

If you read further in the article, it describes him as "processing and investigating compensation claims, writing reports, and handling appeals from businessmen who thought their firms had been placed in too high a risk category". In USA, this is not a licensed type of job and the position is known as a claims adjuster.

Lisa Genova, graduated valedictorian, summa cum laude from Bates College with a degree in Biopsychology and has a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Harvard University, works for this task and everything of hers I have read has been good. I just have Love Anthony left to read and that's the one I'm going with!

Freeman Wills Crofts

Railway engineer

Tayeb Salih

Teaching? - "However, excluding a brief spell as a schoolmaster before coming to England, his working life was in broadcasting."

Just a reminder about the task. The professions have to be named in the wiki article, and they are these (so mechanics and railway engineers don't count):

Medical Doctors
Medical Nurses
Psychologists
Lawyers
Teachers
Engineers
Social Workers
Occupational Therapists
Architects
Plumbers
Electricians
Bartenders
Barbers
Massage Therapists

Amanda wrote: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_K...

trained as a lawyer, but it doesn't say that what he did with the insurance firm was in the capacity as a lawyer, any ideas anyone ?"

We'll take Kafka, as the article says:

Kafka was awarded the degree of Doctor of Law on 18 July 1906[b] and performed an obligatory year of unpaid service as law clerk for the civil and criminal courts

Yeah, "unpaid" but he did have his degree and apparently it was required to perform that "unpaid" service.

So, added to the list this morning:

Franz Kafka
Mikhail Bulgakov
Kingsley Amis
Ali Olson
Lisa Genova
Tayeb Salih

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Just a reminder about the task. The professions have to be named in the wiki article, and they are these (so mechanics and railway engineers don't count):

Medical Doctors
Medical Nurses
Psychologi..."

Elizabeth, sorry if I'm being slow but doesn't "engineer" cover a multitude of fields?

Freeman Wills Crofts was an engineer who happens to have worked mostly in the railway industry, eg helping design a viaduct.

"Railway engineer" was my phrase, not an official job description. (However, wiki describes Railway Engineering as encompassing a wide range of engineering disciplines, including civil engineering, computer engineering (probably not in Crofts' time though!), electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, industrial engineering and production engineering.)

He also worked in other fields, as explained in this quote from the same wiki linked above: "Croft continued his engineering career until 1929. In his last task as an engineer, he was commissioned by the Government of Northern Ireland to chair an inquiry into the Bann and Lough Neagh Drainage Scheme."

ETA - having just looked at the Crofts wiki again, it lists his occupations as "Civil Engineer, Novelist". Civil Engineer is one of the types of engineers when you click on the blue hyperlinked word "engineer" on the list of occupations.

Sorry - I had no intention of this becoming such an essay (embarrassed face)

Lagullande wrote: "Freeman Wills Crofts

Railway engineer"

He was a civil engineer, not an engineer on a train. I misunderstood.

10 Lawyers Who Became Authors

1. Erle Stanley Gardner
2. John Grisham
3. Scott Turow
4. Meg Gardiner
5. John Mortimer (Rumpole of the Bailey)
6. Richard North Patterson
7. Wallace Stevens
8. John Buchan (The Thirty-Nine Steps)
9. Louis Auchincloss
10. Henry Fielding (The History of Tom Jones (1749))

Thanks, Deedee. I've added all of these to the list!

Guy Gavriel Kay is a lawyer.
He returned to Canada in 1975 to take a law degree at the University of Toronto. He was called to the bar of Ontario in 1981.

doctors who became famous authors

• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes)
• W. Somerset Maugham
• William Carlos Williams
• Robin Cook
• Oliver Wendell Holmes
• Michael Crichton
• Anton Chekhov
• Zane Grey

Deedee wrote: "doctors who became famous authors

• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes)
• W. Somerset Maugham
• William Carlos Williams
• Robin Cook
• Oliver Wendell Holmes
• Michael Crichton
• Anton Chekho..."

Got these!

Stephen King:

After leaving the university, King earned a certificate to teach high school but, unable to find a teaching post immediately, initially supplemented his laboring wage by selling short stories to men's magazines such as Cavalier. Many of these early stories have been republished in the collection Night Shift. In 1971, King married Tabitha Spruce, a fellow student at the University of Maine whom he had met at the University's Fogler Library after one of Professor Hatlen's workshops.[18] That fall, King was hired as a teacher at Hampden Academy in Hampden, Maine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen...

Deedee wrote: "doctors who became famous authors

• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes)
• W. Somerset Maugham
• William Carlos Williams
• Robin Cook
• Oliver Wendell Holmes
• Michael Crichton
• Anton Chekho..."

my husband gave me that list last night :) Decided to go with Conan Doyle :)

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "He was a civil engineer, not an engineer on a train. I misunderstood."

No you didn't - I chose my words badly!

I actually just came back to delete my post, as I regretted making such a big deal over it. You all do so much work to keep the challenge so interesting, and you don't need petty argumentative types giving you extra hassle. Apologies.

Oh, look, Anthony Burgess was a teacher !

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony...

He remains my favourite for this season with that! ;)

Lagullande wrote: "Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "He was a civil engineer, not an engineer on a train. I misunderstood."

No you didn't - I chose my words badly!

I actually just came back to delete my post, as I regret..."

Don't worry about it at ALL! I get crotchety sometimes.

Got Stephen King and Anthony Burgess.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Don't worry about it at ALL! I get crotchety sometimes."

I tried to find a free clipart of a Crotchety Alaska, but alas they were all too expensive. Probably just as well.

Thanks for being understanding.

Lagullande wrote: "I tried to find a free clipart of a Crotchety Alaska, but alas they were all too expensive. Probably just as wel..."

LOL

Jeffery Deaver was a lawyer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffery...

Bea wrote: "Jeffery Deaver was a lawyer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffery..."

Got him!

Would a veternarian count? Unleashedby Eileen Brady

Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "Would a veternarian count? Unleashedby Eileen Brady"

While there are many professions which require a license, for the purpose of this task, we will be accepting only professions listed on the wiki link. A veterinarian does not work for this task.

ok,

Would Colm Tóibín work? Wikipedia says he's a professor.

Sam wrote: "Would Colm Tóibín work? Wikipedia says he's a professor."

Yes, he works!

So college professors count as teachers? I was thinking they had to be schoolteachers.

Does this work outside the USA (even though we don't use the title "professor" so commonly)? So for example Tiffany Murray has an equivalent job to a US college professor, although we call it a university lecturer, would that work?

Rosemary wrote: "So college professors count as teachers? I was thinking they had to be schoolteachers.

Does this work outside the USA (even though we don't use the title "professor" so commonly)? So for example ..."

Yes, professors are teachers. And I wouldn't have recognized "university lecturer" as such, so thanks for expanding my knowledge on that score.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch ... Yes, I'll add Tiffany Murray to the list!

Great, thanks Elizabeth! I'm loving all the possible combos this season! :)

In her bio here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muriel_...
it states that Spark taught English for a time.

And Sayers was also a teacher for a time

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy...

Amanda wrote: "And Sayers was also a teacher for a time

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy..."

Got both Muriel Spark (thanks!) and Sayers. Love the mug shot of Sayers.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Amanda wrote: "And Sayers was also a teacher for a time

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy..."

Got both Muriel Spark (thanks!) and Sayers. Love the mug shot of Sayers."

Er, i have to admit I didn't read too much about her the first time and didn't realize she was British. She just really looks like an American gangster!

Matt Love is a teacher
https://www.oregoncoastbank.com/matt-...
Do I get double points for 2 four letter names? LOL

itpdx wrote: "Matt Love is a teacher
https://www.oregoncoastbank.com/matt-...
Do I get double points for 2 four letter names? LOL"

Got him!

When I was working out a database query (wrongly), I found we have 2 people who have three 4-letter names! (We're not going to use the query, by the way, there were over 1200 authors already who qualify for that task.)

Adam Johnson - GR profile says he is an associate professor.

Raymond Carver was an English professor at Syracuse University--I just discovered this while reading an interview with him in Fires: Essays, Poems, Stories, which I am about to finish.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymo... - third sentence under "Second Marriage".

"In 1980, the two moved to Syracuse, New York, where Gallagher had been appointed the coordinator of the creative writing program at Syracuse University; Carver taught as a professor in the English department."