Tuesday Thingers: Favorite Authors

Today's Question: Favorite Authors. Who do you have named in your LT account as favorite authors? Why did you choose them? How many people share your choices? Can you share a picture of one of them?

I actually have 21 favorite authors. In alphabetical order, they are:

• Peter Abrahams (including me, he has 5 fans - the fewest of all my favorites)
• Jane Austen (has 1103 fans - the most of all my favorites)
• Dan Brown (I know, I know - don't throw anything!! He's got 130 fans, so I'm not the only one, okay!?!)
• Michael Buckley (author of the Sister's Grimm books, in case you're scratching your head on this one - has 7 fans)
• Lauren Child (creator of the wonderful Charlie and Lola books - has 12 fans)
• Eoin Colfer (has 67 fans)
• Michael Crichton (has 153 fans)
• Clive Cussler (has 53 fans)
• Kate Dicamillo (has only 13 fans - I'm actually surprised this one is so low.)
• Fannie Flagg (has 38 fans)
• Cornelia Funke (has 48 fans)
• John Grisham (has 126 fans - he's a sentimental favorite. I haven't read anything of his lately that I was crazy over, but The Pelican Brief will always be one of my favorite novels.)
• Jan Karon (has 34 fans)
• Janette Oke (has 15 fans)
• Rosamunde Pilcher (has 22 fans)
• Terry Pratchett (has 893 fan)
• Philip Pullman (has 746 fans)
• Nora Roberts (has 211 fans)
• J.K. Rowling (has 1,081 fans)
• William Shakespeare (has 532 fans)
• Nicholas Sparks (has 82 fans)

I only favorited an author if I absolutely loved more than one of their books. If I had to narrow it down to just five, I would pick Funke, Rowling, Pilcher, Crichton, and Pratchett. I share 7 favorite authors with one other user, 6 with three other users, and from there it goes up quite a bit.

If I'm forced to pick an absolute favorite author, it would be Cornelia Funke because of one book - Inkheart. Here is a photo of Mrs. Funke.

So, what about you? Who are your favorite authors, and why?

Booking Through Thursday: Other Worlds

Today's Topic: Are there any particular worlds in books where you’d like to live?
Or where you certainly would NOT want to live?
What about authors? If you were a character, who would you trust to write your life?

Are there any particular worlds in books where you’d like to live?

Well, if you've got even the slightest hint about me at all, you could probably guess that I'd love to live in the world of Harry Potter. Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley - all are fascinating to me, and I think it would make for a magical place in which to reside.

On a completely different note, I think I would like to live in the Mitford created by Jan Karon in her books about Father Tim and the other Mitfordians. It's so sweet and simple, and everyone knows everyone else. It has a very Mayberry feel to it, which in theory is appealing. On the other hand, having spent four years in a very rural area of Vermont (and barely escaping with my sanity), I am not sure that I would like it as much as I think I would like it.

Similarly, I think I'd like to live in any of Rosamunde Pilcher's beautiful stories. Her beautiful writing has always made me believe that there could be nothing better than sitting in a stone kitchen with an aga stove sipping tea and looking out over my lush gardens. (Which just goes to show how great she really is, because I hate tea, cooking, and gardening....)

There are some books that I would like to be able to be dropped into at certain key points and then removed from after the adventure was over - Timeline and Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton spring to mind, not that I want to get chased around by dinosaurs, but I would like to see them.

A less fictional place that I'd like to at least visit is the area depicted in Frances Mayes' Under the Tuscan Sun. I found her descriptions of the area, the food, the people, the architecture to be delicious, and I would love to experience even a little bit of that before I die.

Or where you certainly would NOT want to live?

Harry Potter's world as long as Voldemort was running amok. After his demise, though, count me in.

The Papua New Guinea areas explored in Kira Salak's The White Mary (see my review here to get a better picture of why).

In any setting of a Stephen King novel.

What about authors? If you were a character, who would you trust to write your life?

This is definitely tougher. I think most of my favorite authors could make my life more interesting, but is that what I would really want? J.K. Rowling, Cornelia Funke, Phillip Pullman would all create excitement and fun, but also they tend to get their characters in quite a bit of trouble. I think of all the authors I adore, Jan Karon might be the most trusted for not making my life more exciting than I could possibly stand.

Booking Through Thursday: Flavor

Today's Topic: Favorite Authors...

Think about your favorite authors, your favorite books . . . what is it about them that makes you love them above all the other authors you’ve read? The stories? The characters? The way they appear to relish the taste of words on the tongue? The way they’re unafraid to show the nitty-gritty of life? How they sweep you off to a new, distant place? What is it about those books and authors that makes them resonate with you in ways that other, perfectly good books and authors do not?

Trying to narrow down favorite authors is always difficult for me. I have quite a few, and it's not like they're all within the same genre or even several from two or three genres. They're rather all over the map categorically speaking, and it makes it more difficult to pinpoint the quality that draws me to them.

I would have to say my top favorite books are the Harry Potters (more especially books 3-5) and Inkheart. These I think I like for generally the same reasons - escape. Rowling and Funke have, with these novels, created amazing worlds that are as real to me as my own living room. To be able to walk down Diagon Alley or share a story with Meggie and Mo - these are my people, my places, everything I love about reading is contained in these books. I could read and reread and reread them and never tire of the way I feel each time I turn the pages. There is definitely something magical going on.

Then there are authors like Michael Crichton and John Grisham - neither of which I've read lately, but both of which I still count among my favorites. For me, their talent lies in realism. Where The Goblet of Fire gets me with its fantasticalness (totally made up that word), books like The Firm and even Jurassic Park are so well thought out and explained, that you don't even question the plausibility of the plot. Dinosaurs created from DNA extracted from a mosquito? Sounds good to me.

And then there are others like Rosamunde Pilcher, who's been with me for a while, and Nicholas Sparks, who's a relatively new friend. Both of these authors tug at my heart a little bit, make me cry, and give me hope all at the same time.

I could go on and on...but I think the answer really is that each of the authors I count among my favorites are brilliant at creating life on the pages of their books, characters that breathe, cities I want to visit, and stories I want to hear over and over again. And I am so grateful that they've found their place in the world of literature.

So who makes you swoon?

Tagged: About Me

I was tagged by kbookreviews with this meme, so here goes:

1. Who's your all-time favorite author, and why?
I feel like I should say someone like Shakespeare (who I do love) or Jane Austen (who I also love), but if I'm being honest, I'd have to say the person I read and re-read most often is J.K. Rowling. I absolutely adore the Harry Potter books. I get lost in the story and the setting each time I open one of her books, and it's just so comforting to know that if I'm feeling particularly blue, I can escape to Hogwarts for a great pick me up.

2. Who was your first favorite author? Do you still consider him or her among your favorites?
This is difficult because I don't really remember all that much of what I read as a child. I do remember enjoying Judy Blume, and I loved the Shel Silverstein books of poetry. I wouldn't say that either are favorites now, but I have started introducing my children to their books.

3. Who't the most recent addition to your list of favorite authors, and why?
Hmmm...I think that would be Michael Buckley, author of the Sister's Grimm series. I started reading them a few months back, and I really enjoy the stories. I've also recently begun reading Neil Gaiman. After reading Neverwhere and Stardust, I will definitely be looking for more from him.

4. If someone asked you who your favorite authors were right now, which authors would first pop out of your mouth? Are there any you'd add on a moment of further reflection?
Well, like I said in question one, I think my initial response is to go to Jane Austen, Shakespeare, and probably I'd mention Rowling. If I thought about it, though, there are so many that come to mind. Rosamunde Pilcher, Michael Crichton, John Grisham, Jeffrey Deaver (he's a new favorite), Eoin Colfer, Jan Karon, Nora Roberts (shhh...don't tell anyone about that one), Dan Brown, Anne Rice (the Witches more than the vampires), Dean Koontz, James Patterson, Terry Pratchett, and on, and on....But, I'm always looking to add to the list, so if you've got any suggestions, I'm all ears!!

So, now I get to be the tagger:

Planet Books, you're it.