Here's a few tidbits about your favorite authors, from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Attack of the Factoids.
The best-selling fiction author of all time is William Shakespeare. #2: Agatha Christie.
Writer Lewis Carroll coined the word “chortle.” It means a cross between a chuckle and a snort.
It took author J. R. R. Tolkien 12 years to write the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Author Norman Mailer claimed to have invented thumb wrestling.
Novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald was born Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald. The name was meant as a tribute to his second cousin three times removed, who was the composer of “The Star Spangled Banner.”
What did the initials in e. e. cummings’s name stand for? “Edward Estlin.” (Or “edward estlin,” if you prefer.)
In 1901 author Jack London ran for mayor of Oakland, California, on the Socialist ticket. He got just 245 votes and beat only the Prohibitionist candidate (60 votes).
After almost being killed by a minivan in 1999, author Stephen King bought the vehicle and beat it with a baseball bat.
Dr. Seuss didn’t become a real doctor until 1955 when Dartmouth University gave him an honorary degree.
Louisa May Alcott was on a committee that banned Huckleberry Finn from the Concord Library in Massachusetts. Of the book and its famous author, she said, “If Mr. Clemens cannot think of something better to tell our pure-minded lads and lasses, he had best stop writing for them.”
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The article above is reprinted with permission from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Attack of the Factoids. Weighing in at over 400 pages, it's a fact-a-palooza of obscure information.
Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute had published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts. If you like Neatorama, you'll love the Bathroom Reader Institute's books - go ahead and check 'em out!