Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the wonderful folks over at The Broke & The Bookish
There are so many authors I would love to meet, whether it would be an in passing fall at their feet and tell them how much I love their books, or an in depth conversation over a cup of tea and cake. All of these authors are people that if given the chance, I would sell pieces of my soul to talk to.
1. Deanna Raybourn. I adore Deanna's books and I would love to sit and have tea and just talk about books, her writing and the research she does for each of her novels. I would also love to have a look at the books she has for research and reading - I'm nosy about other people's bookcases!
2. Maggie Stiefvater. I cannot get enough of Maggie's books. The Scorpio Races is one of my all time favourite books, and The Raven Cycle is utterly magnificent and poised to break my heart in the final installment due out later this year. I would love to know more about Maggie, her process, her ideas, and to be a passenger in one of her amazing cars...
3. J. K. Rowling. I think she may be someone who crops up on a lot of lists. So many of us owe so much to Rowling and her incredible books, most notably Harry Potter and Hogwarts, and once I got over the part where I stammered incoherently and probably burst into tears, she seems like she would be a really fascinating person to sit down and talk to.
4. Sarah Rees Brennan. Confession, I did meet Sarah at a signing she did with Cassie Clare on my 23rd birthday. I got to give her some birthday cake and stammer around the words I wanted to say about how much I loved her books and how she had inspired me and shown me that writing was actually something I could (and should) pursue. This time I would love to meet her for longer and be somewhat more coherent because anyone who has met Sarah/read her books/followed her social media accounts know that she is utterly brilliant and hysterical, and an afternoon spent in her company talking about everything from books to tv shows as well as everything in between would be incredible.
5. Kristin Cashore. Her books are amazing and her writing process seems utterly fascinating. She gives sneak peaks into her process on her blog and I love all the little insights and the methods she uses for each book she writes. Her blog is fascinating and I highly recommend checking it out for sneak peaks into how her writing comes together, the different processes and other little glimpses into her life.
6. Belinda Jones. I love Belinda's chick lit books, they always take me to some fantastic and wonderful destinations around the world, and you're guaranteed to learn some interesting history about the places she writes about too. So the chance to tag along on a research trip and to find out about all these amazing places? Yes please.
7. George R R Martin. His mind fascinates me. I'd want to wait to meet him until after all of the Song of Ice and Fire books are released, partly because I'd feel horribly guilty stealing any time that could be used writing, and partly because I imagine I am going to want to talk a lot about these books when the series is all out...
8. Neil Gaiman. Gaiman's books are incredible, his imagination both a terrifying and wonderful place to be, and his books are works of brilliance. I've been to several of Gaiman's talks and readings and he is endlessly fascinating and I would love to just ask an endless array of questions and hear his thoughts on a little bit of everything.
9. Terry Pratchett. A good portion of the book community adores Terry's books and I know that I am not the only one who would love to have sat down and talked to him about Discworld, his writing, his incredible characters and imagination. And to say thank you. For sharing his gift with us, for giving us these amazing stories and people, and making life that little bit funnier, brighter and more brilliant.
10. Anthony McGowan. Not for any fan purposes, or a love of his books. I would love to meet Mr McGowan to ask him why on earth he felt writing those tweets was a good idea, and why he thinks that Book Bloggers are pointless. And then I would love to show him just how incredible Book Bloggers can be and how sadly misinformed and caught up in his own importance he is.
So there are my ten authors I would love to meet (for a variety of reasons.) How about you? Are there any on my list that you would love to have a conversation with? Share your author loves in the comments below and link me to your own top tens!
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by the wonderful folks over at The Broke & the Bookish
This week is a tough one. Like really crazy tough, because there are so many authors that are favourites. Those who have written incredible series and bring out book after book of wonderfulness, and those who have written a single standalone that stays with you. And there are some who maybe their books aren't in your top favourites, but they are such wonderful kind and fabulous people that they sneak in anyway. They all deserve recognition and that makes it incredibly hard to narrow it down to just ten.
But I'm going to try... So here, in no particular order are my top ten all time favourite authors.
Deanna Raybourn
I finished reading a Gail Carriger book and went on Amazon to see if they could recommend me anything similar and 'Silent in the Grave' the first book in the Lady Julia series popped up. I devoured it (and the following two books) in record time and so began a love affair with Deanna Raybourn's books that I have never looked back from. I know that if Raybourn has written it, it is going to be supberb. She has the rare and dangerous gift of being able to create wonderfully real characters and put them into worlds so real you can almost taste them. When I dive into one of her books I know I am going to be immersed in an incredible story with wonderful and evocative writing. She researches so thoroughly that every story feels as though it is real and as though you are truly stepping into the country and time period depicted. No matter the story, Raybourn's books will always be a favourite and her a favourite author.
Maggie Stiefvater
I came to Maggie late, discovering her only with the publication of 'The Scorpio Races'. Nothing I have read comes close to what Maggie does with her tales. They are full of subtle magics, incredible characters and books that pull you in and make you fall in love until they become a part of you. 'The Scorpio Races' and then 'The Raven Cycle' are utterly stunning books, ones that always take my breath away. I am utterly in awe and cannot even put into words how incredible these books and Maggie's writing is. I adore them, and I couldn't ever do without them.
Kristin Cashore
The first time I read Graceling I disliked it. Then I waited a few years and read it again and fell in love, followed swiftly by Fire and Bitterblue and all three rocketed straight up into all time favourite books. For some reason reading Graceling for the first time I was in completely the wrong frame of mind, and I am so, so glad that I went back and re-read it because I cannot imagine not having these three books in my life. I listen to the audiobooks regularly (currently my go-to audiobook is Fire) and also go and check out Kristin's blog. Her blog is a fascinating mix of writing and editing and random things and pretty pictures and I love hearing each update from her corner of the world. I'm eagerly awaiting her follow up book to The Seven Kingdoms series, but in the mean time I more than love checking out the blog posts and re-reading these favourites.
Sarah Rees Brennan
I first found Sarah's work when she was writing Harry Potter fan-fiction. And it was brilliant. It was witty and sarcastic and brilliant and fleshed out characters in whole new ways and introduced me to this idea that writing could be fun. Then she went to do an MA in Creative Writing and I couldn't believe it. The idea of studying writing at uni had never crossed my mind before that point and she introduced me to the idea that maybe I could write. And then she got her books published and she blew me away all over again with how incredibly wonderful her writing was. It was everything I had fallen in love with all those years ago when I read her fan fic, but polished, refined and with her own incredible characters and plots. Her writing is incredible, it remains some of the funniest and most bittersweet and her characters are some of the most complex. But as well as all that she will always be the person who showed me that achieving my dream of writing was actually possible, and I will always remember that.
Tamora PierceI first discovered Pierce's books when I was 11 and desperately seeking any sort of distraction from the books in the school library. None of them were particularly great and then I discovered Alanna in The Song of the Lioness Quartet and I fell in love. Pierce's books always have magic in them and they always feature fantastic characters. Strong women who aren't afraid to fight for what they want and be who they were meant to be, regardless of what society thinks they should do. And strong men who are loyal and kind and aren't afraid to show weakness, frailty, or love. I got lost in these books, I wished I could live in these books, and I still love going back and re-reading them to this day. They are wonderful and full of such brilliant depths of imagination and that is what makes her one of my favourite authors.
J. K. Rowling
Do I really need to say anything? Like pretty much every other Potter fan, I fell in love with Harry and Ron and Hermione and never looked back. Rowling created a world I wanted to live in, Hogwarts is somewhere I can never wait to return to, and I was one of the lucky generation who grew up with Harry. With each new book I was older, so was he, and the world got darker and more dangerous as we explored it. Rowling did the extrordinary, she created a world that bridges language and country. Everyone who has fallen in love with Hogwarts is connected by these books and the love of reading they inspired, and I adore her for that.
Neil Gaiman
If Tamora Pierce introduced me to fantasy as a child, Neil Gaiman introduced
me to a whole new breed of fantasty as an adult. Gaiman's books are incredible with such vivid and terrifying imagination filling each page. I started with Neverwhere and fell in love with London, moved on to Stardust and found a whole new type of fairytale with heroines who swore and hero's who weren't really hero's at all to start with, and moved onto American Gods and wept from the sheer brilliance and scope of the story. Gaiman's stories in turn delight and terrify and he is such a kind and generous author, both with his stories and his time. If you ever get the chance to go to a talk of his, I highly recommend it.
Julia Quinn
Quinn introduced me to the idea of romance and true love. I mean I'd discovered it in fairytales and other such things, but this was my first foray into true romance and I loved it. Quinn's stories are always fresh and funny, brilliantly written and featuring wonderful characters. She reminds me again and again that happily ever after's are indeed possible and that true love really does exist, even when the world is a terrible place I know that Quinn will provide a ray of sunshine and I love her and her books for that.
Jasper Fforde
I was a precocious reader as a child, and as a result I found a lot of books and authors that I didn't fully appreciate until revisiting them when I was a bit older. Jasper Fforde is one of those authors, and whilst I loved him when I was younger, his books are utterly fantastic reading them as an adult. They are brilliantly imaginative, twisted and hilarious. His debut novel 'The Eyre Affair' plays with tropes and expectations so brilliantly, and I adore his haphazard and genius thought process that produces such ingenious books.
Gail Carriger
My first dip into steampunk, Gail's covers grabbed my attention and her witty and sharp writing kept me entertained for hours. She is still my favourite steampunk author and if I want a melodrama of manners with tea, pesto, vampires and werewolves she is my go to author I love - and she has the most awesome blog and twitter presence. There's always something new and exciting to see if you go on her blog or follow her and I love seeing the strange, weird and wonderful things that pop up.
So there you have my top ten favourite authors. Can you manage to pick only ten of your favourites? If so tell me in the comments below! You can also check out interviews with Deanna Raybourn, Sarah Rees Brennan & Gail Carriger in the author interviews tab at the top of the page.
