My Old and New Favorite Authors

I think it is difficult to come up with a list of favorite authors. I have often read a book that I liked very much, gone on to read something else by the same author, and have found myself disappointed in the next read. So to qualify for my favorite author list, I must have read more than one book and I must enjoy their writing consistently. It also helps if I get shivers up my spine when I find a title of theirs that I have yet to read.

Probably my favorite writer of all-time is Jane Austen. My favorite book of hers is Pride and Prejudice, the first one I read. Her other books have continued to delight and engage though. Her stories are superb, and her wit is sharp. I'm always entertained from cover to cover. This is a side note, but her books which have been made into movies have always been real winners. Sometimes I can't remember if I have read the book or just seen the movie....that's how good they really are.

Jan Karon also tops my list. Her Mitford series books are quirky and fun. I feel like I actually know some of her characters personally. I wish I could live in Mitford. Every book is good, and it is hard to pick a favorite, but if I had to I'd pick Shepherds Abiding, which is a Christmas one. If you can manage to read this around Christmas, it's just that much cozier!

I think that CS Lewis is a genius. I get so much out of reading The Chronicles of Narnia...even as an adult. The Screwtape Letters were frightening and eye-opening. I haven't even scratched the surface of his non-fiction, although I have read a couple. They are on my list...

Angela (Elwell) Hunt and Francine Rivers are among my favorite comtemporary Christian writers. I have to hang my head and admit that I find much Christian fiction sappy, predictable and poorly written. Yet that is not so with these two women. I have read them both extensively, and both have wide-ranging reportoires. My favorite Hunt novel is probably Afton of Margate Castle, one of her older ones. And for Rivers my favorites are the Mark of the Lion series and The Last Sin-Eater.

Betty Smith, writer of the enchanting A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, is another favorite. I think I've read most of her books, and I've loved them all.

I also think I need to add Dave Barry to my list. While I haven't read his novels (although we have one of his co-written Peter Pan tales on the shelf), he just makes me laugh. I don't often laugh out loud when I read, but I've come close to shooting Diet Coke through my nose when I read a Dave Barry column.

My new favorite author, whom I can't say enough good about, is E.D.E.N. Southworth. She is an author of the 1800s Victorian literature who has long been out of print and fairly recently re-discovered by Lamplighting Publishers. They have a few of her books there. After some research, however, I've discovered that she was an amazingly prolific writer, and some antiquated copies can be obtained here and there on the internet. It will be fun to hunt for some of them when I've exhausted Lamlighter's collection.

Some other authors, whom I expect are heading into my favorite's list are Dodie Smith and perhaps Stephen Lawhead. I just haven't read enough yet to classify them.

So do you have any authors I need to explore? I'm always looking for good ones!