Top Ten All Time Favorite Authors

Good gravy.  How do you pick just ten of your favorite authors?

I decided to make rules, because otherwise it's impossible (impossible!) to narrow it down.  There are too many. I asked myself: which books have I picked up and read and re-read (and haven't already written about ad nauseam on this blog)? How many of those authors have written other books that I've picked up and read and re-read?

And then I chose.  Eurgh.

So, yes, JK Rowling and Zora Neale Hurston should be on this list, as well as Hans Fallada, Frantz Fanon, Leo Tolstoy, and Diana Gabaldon.  But here we have it, cut down to a mere ten.  Three ladies, seven men, all white, five from Western Europe, five from these United States, nine out of ten deceased.  If you want to read something (potentially) life-changing, go pick up one of their books/letters/essays/poems.  My favorites? Linked in their names.

From left to right!

Top Row: 

Marilynne Robinson, Dorothy Sayers, Albert Camus, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Primo Levi

Bottom Row: 

Louisa May Alcott, Walt Whitman, Steig Larsson, Roald Dahl, John Steinbeck

Also, whenever I see that picture of John Steinbeck I think: You old cad, you.

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Who are your ten all time favorite authors? Would you be able to narrow it down?

Currently Reading...

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

What I'm enjoying so far: One of my favorite scenes is the description Patty Howe cutting flowers in the second story while Kevin looks on, and the way the coast and the water were brought to life.  As someone who's spent a lot of time on the East Coast, and in particular the Northeast, there was something about the way the whole thing was written that so captured the feeling of being in that environment.  It was both beautiful and real - reminded me of Richard Russo's Empire Falls, in a way.

What I hope to see more of: I really want to see more of the townspeople and other, maybe less-central characters.  I don't know if they should be called less-central (I think Olive is supposed to be the central character?), but I'm enjoying reading about them and discovering their back stories, flaws, feelings, and memories.  Minor characters can be little gems when done well, and so far I like what Ms. Strout is doing with them.

My overall thoughts on the book: This was not at all what I expected - when I first saw this book, I didn't think it would be a series of short(er) stories.  It took me a bit by surprise (in a positive way).  It also doesn't feel as if the book - its characters, its setting and mood - is diminished by that structure.  Each story seems to get progressively richer.

Have you read Olive Kitteridge? Is it on your list? What were your thoughts?