My Top Five Favorite Authors
75A top five list of favorite authors is obviously not going to be an objective one. Everyone looks for something different in an author; no one’s list is better than anyone else’s. The authors I have chosen as my five favorites are all extremely celebrated authors and who often cause great debates in universities around the world. I do not make this list to appear elitists. There are truly authors I consider to be my favorites. I have read most of their works and have enjoyed them for years.
That being said, I also love a good “chick-lit” novel by authors like Sophie Kinsella and Helen Fielding. I also have a weakness for the “Cat Who...” books of Lillian Jackson Braun and the Hamish MacBeth mysteries of N.C. Beaton. For a time, I read my way through Star Trek novels and considered Peter David to be one of my favorite authors. If I were to list all my favorite authors, it could probably fill a small volume.
So, without further ado, here are my top five favorite authors:
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Pride & Prejudice
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Jane Austen
While on the surface, the writing of Jane Austen often sounds old-fashioned and stuffy to some, nothing could be further from the truth. She has a very satirical and almost sarcastic view of life in 18th century England and especially of the class of which she herself was a member of. While her heroines almost always end up marrying the man of their dreams, Austen herself never married. She was a bit of a pioneer; a woman of her class actually working for a living was almost unheard of.
My favorite novels of hers are Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Persuasion.
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Giovanni's Room
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James Baldwin
James Baldwin was an African-American author; son of a minister. He was also gay and ended up moving to France, where he died. His novels give us a graphic view of what life was like for a young black man in the middle of the 20th century in America. The language he uses is both graphic and poetic, often at the same time.
My favorite novels of his are Giovanni’s Room, Go Tell it on the Mountain, and If Beale Street Could Talk.
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Slaughterhouse-Five: A Novel
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Kurt Vonnegut
The novels of Kurt Vonnegut are some of the funniest American novels of all time. Yet, most of them have a serious and often tragic story to tell. His most famous novel, Slaughterhouse-Five, came about from his being a German prisoner-of-war in Dresden during the allied bombing of that city in World War II. Most of his novels have a science fiction element to them.
My favorite novels of his are Slaughterhouse-Five, Sirens of Titan and Breakfast of Champions.
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Hamlet (The New Folger Library Shakespeare)
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William Shakespeare
Although William Shakespeare is often among the least understood and most hated author by high school students, he remains the most famous playwright in history. I didn’t come to appreciate Shakespeare until I was well into my adult years. His plays never fail to get right to the heart of human emotions and motivations. Most of our drama since then has been based on Shakespeare’s themes.
My favorite plays of his are Hamlet, Midsummer Night’s Dream and Othello.
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A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Penguin Classics)
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James Joyce
It seems that you either love James Joyce or you hate him. Many see him as being overrated and elitist. What I love about James Joyce is his use of language. Even in his autobiographical novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, he experiments with and plays around with language. The best way to read James Joyce is aloud, and then you get the full force of his extraordinary talent with language.
My favorite novels of his are A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Finnegan’s Wake and Ulysses.
I hope you share some of my enthusiasm about these great authors. Why don’t you comment and let me know who your top 5 favorite authors are. Happy reading.
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Kurt Vonnegut -Between Time & Timbuktu or Prometheus-5
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Easton Press SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE Vonnegut SIGNED SEALED
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NEW Jane Austen Collection
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The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James (2007...
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Comments
My list is quite a mix, with no overlap to yours at all, although I can see where you're coming from with Austin and Shakespeare. Mine would probably include E.M.Forster (Room with a View, Where Angels Fear to Tread, Maurice, and A Passage to India), Ursula leGuin (Earthsea Trilogy, Rocannons World, and The Lathe of Heaven), Ellis Peters (The Cadfael mysteries), John Steinbeck, and Maeve Binchy. Of course, if you asked me again tomorrow, the list might have changed. I'm quite fickle that way!
Great choices Amanda. I worked my way through the Cadfael mysteries and the works of John Steinbeck. And I've read and enjoyed Maeve Binchy and EM Forster (I read A Room with a View and Maurice).
Packerpack, I read Davinci Code and it wasn't that bad. I haven't read any of his other works.
Thanks for commenting and sharing :)
Okay, here's my top 5: Shakespeare, Shakespeare, Shakespeare, Shakespeare, and Shakespeare!
Just kidding! Othello was one of my favorites too, but MacBeth and Romeo and Juliet (my short, the Absence of Aurora was inspired by both Othello and Romeo and Juliet) are aces for me.
William Faulkner should not be ignored. I read a embarrassingly long essay on "As I Lay Dying" in college. My professor wanted me to publish it.
Korea's Hwang Sun-Won taught me how to write like a gun was pointed at my face. He had what doctors would classify as OCD as a writer. His writing was never "finish."
George Orwell is next. Animal Farm is one of the best novels of the 20th Century. J.D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey is another one of my favorites and so is Fitzgerald's Gatsby...
And my all time favorite author? Ernest Hemingway. He's my hero and my inspiration to write. He's taught me so much about the written word and didn't even have to open his mouth. I have every single one of his works and then some. If I can write half as good as he did, I'll be twice the writer I thought I could be!
Thank Dohn. Of course, I love Orwell too. I must have read 1984 at least 10 times and Animal Farm a couple of times. And, The Great Gatsby is on my top list of books, I adore it. :) I have also read a lot of Hemingway but he isn't among my favorites. I've read a few of his book but mostly because I was studying him. However, I really enjoyed The Moveable Feast. I collect books on the Lost Generation and that is probably the best book about that time.
Shakespeare aside, I like Melville, Dickinson, Whitman and Flannery O'Connor. Just now reading House of Mirth by Wharton which is a fine novel that is strong where Austen is weak. But any such list is deficient without mentioning Tolstoy and Dostoevsky.
Great choices. I read House of Mirth in college, it was very fine. I read Crime and Punishment in my 20s, great writing but so, so dark.
Thanks for sharing.
thanks for making me one of you favouirite hupage authors I'm chuffed ! :)
Kurt Vonnegut lived in Barnstable, MA which is the town next door to where I grew up on Cape Cod. When I was in High School, he let Barnstable High School perform the first stage production of Welcome to the Monkey House. I went to the performance with friends in the cast and later we were all invited back to his house for a cast party. He is actually one of my least favorite writers. And when he asked me what I thought of his writing, I'm afraid I was rather rude (although at the time I thought I was being rather intellectual). I cringe at the thought now, although he was rather good natured about my outburst. Wouldn't you know, I ran into him off and on for the next 30 years. If he saw me in a bookstore, he would peek over my shoulder and say something like, "So him you like!" I do miss his intellectual force. (By the way another fabulous hub.)
Wow, what a great memory. That is hilarious. You certainly have had touches with greatness :)
Of my favorite authors, I met James Baldwin. It was just a signing of one of his books (which turned out to be his last) and I was too intimidated to anything more than "hi" :)
One of the reasons I love living in Cambridge, MA and on Cape Cod is the huge number of interesting people that live here or visit on a regular basis. I was hanging out in a local bookstore one night many years ago and Vonnegut came in with Norman Mailer and John Updike. It's sad to think that they're all gone now. I really do think the world is a little less smart and urbane without them. I said hi and tried not to pass out and then just sort of listened to their chatter until the bookstore closed.
uninvited writer, nice list of authors. My favorite authors are Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, E.R. Braithwaite's To sir with Love, East of Eden by John Steinbeck & Shakespear's As you Like it.
Thanks for taking me down the memory lane of High school & College reading...
Thanks for answering my question! I have just one word to say to you, young lady:
Tolkein
Okay Nellie, I'm moving to Cambridge :)
So many of the greats are dying off. I have to cultivate some new favorites :) Surely there are some writers today who can replace those urbane, intelligent men and women?
Great list DynamicS, East of Eden is definitely one of my favorite novels.
Julie-Ann, Tolkein is alright :) I have only made it through the Hobbit, I have tried to read Lord of the Rings several times...
Yes, I have read Pride & Prejudice in high school. Jane Austen indeed was a great author, we loved analyzing her novel and excerpts from her other pieces. My favorite is Alexandre Dumas, Charles Dickens, and John Steinbeck. Great hub!
Thanks for commenting Ron. It's great to talk to men who like Jane Austen :)
An interesting, but safe list as few could argue with the choices. I cannot do "top" lists ... but somewhere in any writing list E.A. Poe must reside.
jfx
I agree, Poe deserves to be in the top lists :) But, then again, so many others also deserve to be there. It is hard to get it down to just 5. I picked ones who I have read all of, or most of, their works.
Has anyone read 'The Crysallids'? Can't remember the author, but what an amazing novel. My 5 favorite authors would have to be; Bodie Thoene, Jeremy Jenkins and Tim Lahaye, Jack Whyte, Wilbur Smith...I could keep going, but I won't :) good hub
I read Day of the Crysallids when I was younger, it was by John Wyndham. (I had to look that up :) )
Scary story but excellent.
yeah, i think thats it. I read that in grade 6 i think. I LOVED it. Was that the one about the kids with telepathy?
Yes it was.
I also liked his The Midwich Cuckoo
Love the list. My daughter and I are avid readers. We are both big Austen fans. I don't think I could come up with a list of my favorites it would take me forever and it depends on my mood. Just finished 3 books in two weeks: Wicked, The Lost Symbol and The Road.
packerpack says:
4 months ago
I am enjoying Facebook so much. The moment you publish and update your link I get to know and here I come to read. i have been doing this for the past 5 hours. Enjoying it. Now I will not miss Hubs from my Fav hubbers. O yes you do rank hing in my list of fav hubbers here.
Anyways back to topic, William Shakespeare is not doubt the best and then comes Jane Austin for me. However I have a completely different fascination for Mr. Dan Brown. You don't seem to like his work! Different people different taste!