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Meme:Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Authors

Deciding who to put on a list of favourite authors turned out to be more difficult than I imagined, becuase there are just so many wonderful writers out there. To make my choice, I decided not to include any author by whom I have only read a single book, no matter how big a favourite it is and how much I want to read more by them, and that made it easier. I sat down and thought about the books I re-read most frequently, the ones that have given me the most enjoyment, and the authors whose books I collect, and came up with this list:

  • Jane Austen, for all her wonderful characters and plots.
  • Georgette Heyer, for writing detailed and funny historical novels and romances with sparkling dialogues and great characters.
  • L.M. Montgomery, for inventing Anne Shirley and giving her all those adventures to have.
  • Jennifer Crusie, for her funny dialogues, ugly but endearing animal characters and lively plots.
  • Agatha Christie, for writing some of the most enjoyable mysteries I have read.
  • Terry Pratchett, for being funny and writing such wonderfully structured stories.
  • Gerald Durrell, for being able to transport me to wherever each of his books takes place, an for writing character descriptions that make me feel as if I personally know the people and animals he is describing..
  • J.R.R. Tolkien, for building an absorbing world and creating interesting characters and intricate plots.
  • Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, for consistently enjoyable storytelling and for Sherlock Holmes.
  • James Herriot, for his warm and entertaining animal tales.

As you can see, I put the ladies first, but that is not necessarily an indication of the order of preference :-)

Comments

Bev Hankins said…
I love Georgette Heyer...but I lover her more for her mysteries than her romances. Although, I have to admit, she does do historical romance very nicely.
danya said…
Jane Austen made mine as well! You've got lots of great picks on this list - haven't read any of James Herriot's books in a long time but I remember some of his stories being very funny!
Anonymous said…
Your tastes are all over the place! :) Love your reasonings as well.

I think we should all thank Arthur Conan Doyle simply for Sherlock Holmes, ha.
George said…
This is an impressive list! I'm glad you didn't make obvious picks like Shakespeare or Dickens. Austen is a favorite of mine. I prefer Jack Vance and Michael Moorcock to J. R. R. Tolkien for fantasy. Christie is in a class by herself. As is A. C. Doyle.
Audra said…
Fabulous range of authors! I very nearly included Gerald's brother, Lawrence, on my list -- well, he made my original list, which was too long. Alas. Someday, I might try again, as I'm sure my feelings will change!
Did you hear that noise? It was me hitting my head because I left off James Herriot. I love, love, love his stories. Plus they have such happy memories of me reading to my children who are now grown up and away from home.

I never had a chance to finish looking at all the lists last night because I had to go to a meeting and it ended up being the meeting that would never end. Ha. I like your list. As I was driving home from said meeting I thought that I should have put Harper Lee on my list since I think that To Kill a mockingbird is a perfect book. However, I based my list on body of work and I force myself to pick authors that I have read three or more of their books. But I think my list would look different today than yesterday...an evolving list.
Bibliophile said…
Anne, lists like these are always subjective, and thus influenced by what we feel like at the time we write them. A couple of authors on my list might not have made in onto the list had I drawn it up last week or next month.
I've read at least one book by almost everyone on your list so I agree with your choices! (Though I have not read any Conan Doyle or Agatha, sadly....)

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