Hrm. Yeah, it's a generalization I'm hanging that on, and really reader-dependent. I mean...for me? It's rare that the author's invisible, mostly because I'm a writer who hangs out with writers and was trained in critical theory at a university to look for the evidence of writers. It's just how I read at this point.

That said, the books that can swallow me whole and draw me down so deep that I forget to look for the writer are the ones I cherish, the ones I reread and push on others.

Eesh. That's wicked. As is the perception that having your income cut by 20% is something one somehow deserves, whether it's read as a privilege or not, by virtue of working for the state.