Today, a question. Actually, two questions.
First, who are your favorite writers? I ask because a). I’m always curious about such things and b). because if you found me here, there’s a good chance we might enjoy some of the same writers.
Although, maybe not. And that’s ok. Truth be told, I’m a little hesitant when someone asks me for a book recommendation: After all, how do you quantify taste? It’s like setting someone up on a blind date: It may look good on paper (or swiping left or right, or however the kids do things these days) but when two people meet, the chemistry may be all wrong.
That’s how it is with books. You either feel it or you don’t.
I like to think my taste is eclectic, but maybe not so much. (It’s probably more fusty and Brit-centric than eclectic.) I’m not a genre reader, although two of my all-time faves (Dorothy Dunnett and Hilary Mantel, rest their souls) wrote historical fiction. I’m not a fantasy reader per se, but I adore both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Mysteries aren’t necessarily my thing, but I hold the novels of P.D. James near and dear.
More favorites, in no particular order:
Jane Austen (there never will be another)
Nick Hornby
George Saunders
E.M.Forster
Christopher Isherwood
Evelyn Waugh
Amor Towles
Dorothy Parker
Tom Stoppard
Marilynne Robinson
Edith Wharton
Vikram Seth (A Suitable Boy is my desert island book.)
Dodie Smith
Paul Scott
Tom Wolfe
James Thurber
Robert Graves
V.S. Naipaul
P.G. Wodehouse
My second question: Where do you find your favorite writers? Recommendations from friends? The trusty internet? Or do you simply get sucked in by a winsome cover in a bookstore?
I stumbled across my first Dorothy Dunnett book, Game of Kings, at our library’s used book sale. I had never heard of her, and as I said, wasn’t a huge historical fiction fan. But something about the cover design and blurbs caught my attention. Because of that chance meeting, a decades-long obsession was born.
More often these days, something interesting pops up on my social media feed. That’s how I recently discovered E.F. Benson, author of the Mapp and Lucia novels — which are ridiculous, silly, and utterly captivating little gems from a bygone era.
And because my brain is incapable of holding a thought long enough to write down an author’s name or a book’s title, my new strategy is whenever a book piques my interest, I immediately order a used copy off Amazon.
Which is why our house looks like this.
And this.
And this.
Someday, I will get through them all. Maybe.
Thanks for checking in. See you on Sunday.
Your list is sure a whole lot more classic than mine :) I love thrillers and crime fiction with a large interest in British authors. I have also switched almost 100% to ebooks. I read a lot in bed and my wife prefers me reading them to a book with a light. My cousin is an avid reader also and has similar tastes so we swap ideas. Also bookbub.com has a daily email list where they send out the best ebook deals. They are usually $2 or $3 so if I see something interesting I try it out. Here's a sampling:
Robert B Parker
Gregg Hurwitz
Mick Herron
Arthur Conan Doyle
Jonathan Kellerman
Tom Woods
Faye Kellerman
Lee Child
Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
JA Jance
Stephen King
Sue Grafton
Kelley Armstrong
CJ Box
Harlan Coben
Kathy Reichs
Tom Wood
Michael Connelly
John Sanford
Thomas Perry
Janet Evanovich
Joan Hess
PJ Tracy
Christopher Fowler
For Science
Ray Kurzweil (he just put out a great but scary book on AI)
Neil Degrase Tyson