Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Top Ten Tuesday - Top Ten All Time Favorite Authors



Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic from The Broke and the Bookish is Top Ten All Time Favorite Authors.  Can I do top 100?  Or top 1000?  After much thinking and crossing out and adding and removing - seriously if this was a piece of paper it'd be ragged by this point - here is my Top Ten Favorites!

1. Agatha Christie - Well of course Agatha had to be on my list.  I started reading her in middle school or maybe early high school and haven't really stopped.  In college I kept a list of what books I had in my purse at all times just in case I happened to stopped by the used book store that I practically lived in at the time.  I still have my hodge podge collection of her books and I love them.  I tended to buy the oldest version of the book the bookstore had because their rule was 1/2 the cover price and the older the book the cheaper the cover!

2. L.M. Montgomery - So confession time - my first interaction with Anne wasn't through the book.  It was through the movie with Megan Follows.  I loved that movie and have watched it so many times that I start to cry as soon as the death scene happens several minutes before it actually happens.  After I watched the movie I decided to pick up the book which I read in one day and talked my mother into buying me the entire set when I stumbled on it in a bookstore the next day.  I spent that weekend reading the series.  And 25 years later I still love them!

3. Patricia Wentworth - About the time I discovered Agatha Christie I discovered Patricia Wentworth and I think I love her just as much.  Maude Silver is a fantastic character who really deserves more recognition.  Her first book - Grey Mask isn't a winner for me but I love any book that has the name Miss Silver in the title as well as The Girl in the Cellar, She Came Back, The Ivory Dagger and countless others.

4. Barbara Michaels - Michaels is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me.  Some one gave my mother a copy of Houses of Stone when I was around 13 and I promptly stole it from her and stayed up most of the night reading it.  From there I read what everything by her that the library had as well as haunted the used bookstores for her books.  House of Many Shadows, Shattered Silk, Vanish with the Rose, and Into the Darkness are guaranteed reading slump busters.

5. Nora Roberts - I don't remember my first Nora book though I'm think it was Tears of the Moon of the Gallaghers of Ardmore series.  That's still one of my favorite trilogies and if you haven't read it you should.  Since then I've read almost every book of hers I could get my hands on and while some are better than others she never disappoints.  Several of her books are on my Keeper Shelf including the Gallagher books, Three Fates and Key of Knowledge (which features a librarian and a writer!)

6. Deborah Crombie - I'm not sure when I started reading Deborah Crombie but her first book A Share in Death was published in 1993 so it probably wasn't much later than that.  I love Gemma and Duncan and have enjoyed watching their professional and personal relationships grow.  I think Crombie has done a fantastic job of having the characters change but still seem like them.

7. Julia Quinn - I think the first one of Quinn's I read was The Duke and I and I was immediately in love.  She's still an auto-buy for me and I have a number of her books on my Keeper Shelf including The Viscount Who Loved Me, The Secret Diary of Miss Miranda Cheever, and It Happened in London.

8.  Rosamunde Pilcher - So if I was making a list of my favorite authors Pilcher probably wouldn't make the list because I don't currently consider her a favorite.  But since we're talking about ALL TIME favorites she definitely belongs on the list.  I discovered The Shell Seekers in high school and read my copy so many times that it literally fell apart.  As did the 2nd copy I bought!

9.  Dave Barry - This is another author that belongs on the list because of the All Time thing.  Dave Barry's columns used to run in our Sunday newspapers and I always looked forward to them.  His column on his son getting hit by a car literally brought tears to my eyes (the boy was fine - he was lucky) but so many times he has made me laugh till I cried.  Dave Barry Does Japan is fantastic as are many of his other collections.

10. Tony Horwitz - I accidentally stumbled upon Baghdad Without A Map years ago and absolutely loved it.  Since then I've read everything he's ever written.  He tackles each project objectively and with a good dash of humor.  The only one of his books that I wasn't completely sold on was Confederates in the Attic but Blue Hemisphere and A Voyage Long and Strange are not to be missed.

Those are my Top Ten All Time Favorites.  Did I get any of yours?  Any authors I simply must try?


50 comments:

  1. Oh, you've got a great list, Katherine! I've read some...many of the authors on your list. It was so hard to choose. I didn't put Deborah Crombie on because I've just started reading her. I think she would be on a future list. And if I lengthened my list some of the others would be on the list, too! It's fun to see the authors people choose.

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    1. I've enjoyed you discovering Crombie though it has made me want to do a huge reread!

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  2. L.M. Montgomery was almost on my list. I love the Anne books so much.

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    1. Anne is definitely one of my favorite characters!

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  3. Great list! I adore Nora Roberts. I think I've read just about all of her work that I can get my hands on ;)

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    1. I love Nora Roberts! So many of my favorite books are by her.

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  4. I love Nora Roberts, too! She was sort of a gateway author into the romance genre for me. I think the first Nora Roberts book I read was one of the MacGregor books. I love those. And I love the Gallagher books, too!

    And of course Julia Quinn! Of course, of course, of course!

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    1. I love that Roberts is gateway romance! So true! And of course Quinn! I'm wanting to go a rereading bender of her books thanks to you.

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  5. I have to try a Crombie book one of these days. Did you hear The Shell Seekers is being rereleased in May? I'll be blogging about it in a few weeks.

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    1. You must try Crombie! She's one if my favorites. I hadn't heard that The Shell Seekers was being rereleased but I link forward to seeing your posts on it.

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  6. Ah, I loved what you said about have 100 or even 1000 favorite authors. That's me. Multi-multi-favorites. Which is why I didn't do this event this week. Oh well. As to your list - we've talked about the fact that we have many favorites in common. I could say yes to Christie, yes to Michaels, yes to Roberts, yes to Crombie, yes to Pilcher. And I laughed at what you said about the oldest copy being cheaper. Yep, I used to do that too. Great minds, right?

    Mary said in her comment that The Shell Seekers will be rereleased in May? I might have to do a reread of that one and also the sequel September. Have you read that book?

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    1. Lol! Yes definitely great minds! I've never met anyone else who went for the oldest book but it was definitely the way to go! Plus some of my favorite covers are off my older editions.
      I have read September but it's been awhile. I very much enjoyed it though I wish Noel had been a little more enthusiastic at the end but other than that I loved it. I should reread it!

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  7. Great list! I read one of Deborah Crombie's books years ago (A Finer End I think was the title?) but I never got around to reading any of the other books in the series.

    My TTT

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    1. I've done that with so many authors I don't even know where to start! Crombie is an old favorite and I'm at least 3 books behind!

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  8. A lovely selection Katherine! I don't think I could have picked just ten!

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    1. Thanks! Really this list could've gone on forever!

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  9. Yes. It's hard to pick just 10. Especially when my list of auto-buy authors is getting pretty long. I'm definitely okay with that.
    On your list I've actually only read from one of the authors. BUT I definitely have Roberts and Christie on the "get on this now" author list. Those two ladies combined would take up half a library with all their published works. :)
    Happy reading!
    Brittany @ This is the Story of My(Reading) Life

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    1. Lol! My "get on this now" list is ridiculously long! I think you'd love Roberts especially her Key series

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  10. Dave Berry is so funny! I used to read his column all the time. I debated on Dave Berry, but I included Jenny Lawson on my list instead as I read her blog regularly now and she always makes me laugh. Agatha Christie is fantastic.

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    1. I love Jenny Lawson! I'm fairly new to her so she didn't make the list but she's so amazing!

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  11. I knew you'd have Agatha Christie on here! I don't remember if I read or watched Anne of Green Gables first but I grew up on the Megan Follows version and I love it and the book so much! :)
    http://youmeandacupofteablog.blogspot.com/2015/04/top-ten-all-time-favorite-authors.html

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    1. Of course Agatha made the list! Really I could make a favorites list of just her books! Oh and the Megan Follows movie is wonderful! I'd love to watch it again. The sequel is good too - nothing like the book but still good. I pretend the 3rd doesn't exist.

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  12. I am going to have to try out some of those authors on your list as I have noticed we have a similar taste in books. :)

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    1. We definitely have some similar tastes! You've added plenty to my TBR!

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  13. I watch the Megan Follows adaptation before reading the book too. I love that movie so much. It might be my favorite movie adaptation of all time.

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    1. It is fantastic! Olive the 2nd movie as well though I've tried to block out the 3rd!

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  14. Okay, Dave Barry surprised me. I expected your list to be all romance and mystery. :) You have a few authors that I haven't tried yet but maybe some day. :)

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    1. I've got to keep you on your toes! I love Dave Barry though romance and mystery are definitely my genre favorites!

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  15. Great list...I would have to add Kay Hooper, Gladys Mitchell and Heather Graham amon others.

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    1. I love Heather Graham though I'm pretty new to her. Kay Hooper is definitely one I want to read more. I'll have to look up Gladys Mitchell. I haven't heard of her.

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  16. I found Anne of Green Gables through the movie, too. And I adore Tony Horwitz as much as you. I certainly wish he'd get busy and write another book!

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    1. Oh definitely! Maybe we should start a letter writing campaign to get him moving!

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    1. I think you would love Deborah Crombie! Definitely start at the beginning of the series but all are good.

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  19. I've never read Agatha Christie, but suppose I should try to some time! Great list, thanks for visiting my post earlier.

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    1. You must read Agatha! Though of course I'm a bit biased.

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  20. Agatha Christie would be at the top of my list as well.

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  21. Nice list! I just received THE SHELL SEEKERS from the publisher (a reissue, I guess?) and I'm super excited to read it. I've heard tons of good things about it. I also need to expand my Agatha Christie horizons. I've only read AND THEN THERE WERE NONE.

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    1. I don't love The Shell Seekers quite as much now as I did when I was younger but it's still a great read. And Then There Were None is a good one but there are so many great Agatha books!

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  22. Yay for Nora Roberts! Well, JD Robb. That's her name I read but gah she's amazing. Great pick!

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    1. I'm the opposite. I've read just about everything by her as Nora but almost nothing under JD Robb. But yeah! She's amazing!

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  23. Even after I finished and hit publish, I wanted to go back and change out a name or too, add in ten more. Something. I forgot some great ones. It was hard!

    I enjoyed reading through your list, Katherine. I have only read one Deborah Crombie book, and I loved it. Agatha Christie is always a good one!

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    1. Oh I know! I was reduced to Eenie meanie moe for a few of these! You must read more Crombie and read the series in order. Normally that doesn't matter in mysteries but it really does in this one. They get a bit darker and more emotional as the series goes on but it still really works.

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  24. What a fantastic list! With the exception of Barbara Michaels, Patricia Wentworth, and Tony Horwitz, I've read all of these authors, and most of them were contenders for my favorites list. Christie, Crombie, Roberts, Quinn, Pilcher - I love all of those. So impossible to narrow it down! At least L. M. Montgomery made my list!

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  25. Love that you included Pilcher even if she's not currently one of your favorites. The authors who we loved when we were younger helped to make us the readers we are today so that's always a good thing.

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  26. OMG The Shell Seekers is one of my fav books of all time too even though I haven't read it for years. Now I want to go dig it out :)

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  27. I need to read more Agatha Christie! And yes, Julia Quinn! I heard she's bringing back the Bridgertons!! It Happened in London is totally one of my faves!
    Nora Roberts an author that I haven't read yet D: I should probably should change that soon, haha. Great list!

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  28. Awesome list! My mom is a huge fan of Nora Roberts and gifted me some of her books. I'll have to move them up on my shelf to read. I'll keep your picks in mind too!

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