My Favourite Authors

The Authors I Love
Please forgive me, I’ve used a stock image here. I will use images of my actual self at some point, I promise.

Writers really need to be readers too.

I don’t really have a particular genre I like to read. I seem to stumble upon books I really love and then end up reading everything the author has written.

Mainly because everything else they’ve written is pretty good too.

This happened to me when I discovered Sir Terry Pratchett. I found him in a train station.

My boyfriend-at-the-time and I were in a long distance relationship which meant I travelled on the train a lot. I had spoken to a friend who had recently finished a Pratchett novel and he suggested I give it a go.

Not one to start at the beginning, Thief of Time was on the shelves of Hull train station’s WHSmiths. Within a year of picking up Thief of Time off the shelf,  I had read everything Terry Pratchett had written, including Good Omens. I was hooked! I still am hooked.

So, a brief list of my favourite authors (I really need to read more!) and the books I liked that they wrote.

Sir Terry Pratchett
Obviously, my number one absolutely favourite author. He is very sadly missed.

The Discworld novels are focused around certain characters: the wizards, the witches, Death and the Watch. There are some novels like Mort, Jingo, Going Postal, The Truth which don’t focus on these characters but include them.

The Watch series are my absolute favourite, and if I had to pick one from the series, it would be Night Watch.

I don’t want to give a synopsis as I don’t want to spoil what happens but the book is really a treat. It’s a fantasy, obviously, based in Anhk-Morpork, a place where Vampires are estate agents, and it’s funny and sad and just beautiful. There are people who still now leave a twig of lilac on Treacle Mine Road. How do they rise up?
I’m currently re-reading Guards! Guards! which is the first Watch novel in the Discworld series. The great thing is, I’ve forgotten what happens in detail so it’s like reading the book for the first time, love it!

Patrick Rothfuss
I think the Kingkiller Chronicles have to be my second favourite so far series of novels, and that’s only second to Terry Pratchett who will always be my favourite.

I need to know what happens to Kvothe. That the latest novel ends so suddenly, I was left wanting a lot more. I heartily recommend The Name of the Wind to anyone who needs an addiction after Song of Fire and Ice.
The characters come alive, almost as if you’re in the tavern, drinking ale with the barman with the strange coloured hair. It’s almost as if you are in the tavern while he’s telling his tale. There are so many questions about this series, some of which are answered while others leave readers anticipating the next novel.

Warning: This is an addictive series. Read at your own risk.

Frederik Pohl
Living abroad, one of my favourite things to do was to go to the English bookshop and buy books. In between Sir Terry’s books, I read a variety, including the Harry Potter books but one of my favourites was Gateway by Frederik Pohl.

I didn’t know anything about the book before I read it. I’d not heard of Pohl before then either. I noticed the book, thought it sounded interesting, and read it.

It’s a book that’s haunting final scene has stayed with me. I really connected with the final scene and find that it has left a lasting impression on me. I didn’t realise it was the start of a saga so I haven’t read the subsequent books, but this is one of my absolute favourites.

Neil Gaiman
Neil is quite possibly the favourite author of a great many people. If you haven’t heard of him, although I’m sure you have, he wrote the book that the film Stardust is based on, staring Michelle Pfeiffer and Claire Danes, .

I haven’t read Stardust but I have read Neverwhere, How the Marquis Got His Coat Back (in the wrong order) and Coraline.

I’ve only just started reading Neil Gaiman’s books but so far, I’m liking them. I did like Good Omens which he wrote with Terry Pratchett, so I’m bound to like the style.

George R. R. Martin
I have to admit, I didn’t read A Game of Thrones until the first series had finished. I couldn’t wait for the second series, I wanted to know what happened next.

Almost everyone has seen the television series, everyone knows what A Game of Thrones is about.

I still suggest reading the books, even if you have seen the series. The books make you turn the page, even if you have seen the series, the books make you want to find out more. There is obviously more detail in a book than there can be in a television programme so the books still inspire and captivate. I am waiting for Winds of Winter and I’m looking forward to reading it.

Other Books I’ve Liked So Far

I have read Enders Game. I enjoyed it but what troubled me was the role of female characters in the book. I don’t recall any female characters in roles of authority, for example. I think, for its time, it’s a really interesting book to read.
Enders Game is also the start of the Enders Series of books.

On the list:
I have the first book of the Expanse to read and Shadows of Self, which I’ve not heard of before and I have a sense I’ve dropped myself into the middle of a series. It’s interesting nonetheless.

You may notice
Many of my favourite reads are in the Fantasy genre rather than the Sci Fi genre. However, I prefer to watch Sci Fi on the TV rather than Fantasy. No idea why that is.