TOP TEN TUESDAY | AUTO-BUY AUTHORS

 

I have several of these, and there are more that I’m sure will become auto-buy authors once they have more books out to buy! These are the ones that most immediately came to mind when I read the prompt:

Isabel Allende

 

I adore her mix of astute representation of the full range of human emotion, and some magical elements that serve to add colour and an eerie and otherworldly edge to her storytelling. It’s been years since I’ve read her, but all of the books of hers I have read have been favourites.

John Irving

 

I first started reading Irving when I was in grade 11 of high school. It wasn’t an easy experience, but was a rewarding one. It was the first time I realized that a book could simultaneously make me acutely uncomfortable and yet make me want to keep reading as if under a spell.

Tom Robbins

 

I loved Robbins when I was in high school. Similar to some of the Latin American authors I’ve read, he is able to draw his tales in a bright and vivid palette, making his characters and their experiences feel larger than life. He is also a master of timing and the absurd, which makes his books highly entertaining and full of surprises.

Michael Christie

 

He’s only written one novel so far (If I Fall, If I Die), and one book of short stories that I am saving because I can’t bear the thought of having read all of his work. But his novel is firmly one of my all-time favourite books, and I will buy anything else he comes out with. His sensitivity and ability to explore the inner lives of his characters with understanding, empathy and compassion made reading his books feel like being truly seen and understood. I’ve rarely had this experience while reading, but it’s one that I search for in nearly every book I pick up.

Angie Thomas

 

Thomas has that rare ability to address complex and timely issues without making it feel like she is sermonizing. She is a master of the writer’s mantra, “Show don’t tell.” She doesn’t have to state her views or stance on any issue, she shows you by how she and her characters handle it. She doesn’t have to tell you that there are many sides to any conflict, her characters live that out on the page for you. I am so impressed with her work, even more because it is targeted at young audiences. It is so important to give young people representations of issues like police violence and racism on the page so they can not only find themselves in literature if they aren’t privileged and white, but so that those of us who are can begin to understand some of the issues we don’t live out on a daily basis.

Becky Albertalli

 

Similarly to Angie Thomas, Albertalli takes issues that face young adults and makes them part of the fabric of her novels. I love the relationships she creates between characters, and the humour she imbues her writing with. Her books are compulsively readable, but will stay with you long after you turn the last page.

Bill Bryson

 

I love travel writing, and Bill Bryson is the king of the genre. He has traveled far and wide and managed to gather every quirky and absurd fact about the places he visits to present with perfect tone and timing. His books are laugh out loud hilarious, but also capture places brilliantly. His books are wide-ranging (he has written about the universe, his own childhood, the modern home and everything that happened in America in 1927, among various other topics) and all equally entertaining. I’d start with In A Sunburned Country if you’ve yet to try him out – it’s one of the funniest and most entertaining books I’ve ever read. In fact, I’m about due a re-read!

Peter Mayle

 

Mayle is another travel writer who has strayed into writing all sorts of other books as well. But his best known books, and my favourites, are his series of books on moving from England to Provence in the south of France and trying to settle in amongst the natives there. Similarly to Bill Bryson, Mayle manages to capture the minutia of culture in a way that brings you into his world and makes you feel like you are right there next to him. His books are full of entertaining and ludicrous anecdotes, but will definitely make you want to pack up and move to France tomorrow!

Rita Leganski

 

You’ll start to see a theme here – another novelist who is brilliant at the internal world of characters but also manages to draw her settings and stories with some magic and brilliant turns of phrase. To my knowledge she has only published The Silence of Bonaventure Arrow but is hopefully working on a follow-up!

Tayari Jones

 

I’ve only just discovered Jones thanks to her brilliant southern novel, An American Marriage. I have yet to read her backlist (the topics don’t appeal to me as much as this one), but I suspect I won’t be able to resist picking up whatever she comes out with next!

Barbara Kingsolver

 

I love Barbara Kingsolver, even though I have only read a fraction of her books (though some of those I have read multiple times). The best thing about her is that she is able to distill observations about human nature and the world into the simplest possible terms, making complex ideas seem simple. She also has a knack for picking thoughts I’ve been mulling over right out of my head and stating them in terms I never could have that capture them perfectly. I am in awe of her authorial voice and even though I have a huge backlist to catch up on, I will continue to buy her books as soon as they drop if for no other reason than to support her work. (I bought at least three copies of her last book for myself, family and friends.)

Authors who would be auto-buy if they were still writing:

Harper Lee

 

I haven’t yet read Go Set A Watchman because I want to re-read To Kill A Mockingbird first. But that book is a modern classic for very good reason, and I bought Watchman in hardcover as soon as it dropped and would continue to pick up her work if she had written more!

Marina Keegan

 

I am still so sad about her untimely death. Her book of short writing, The Opposite of Loneliness, held such startling talent and promise for a writer only just out of university, and I would have been first in line for anything else she wrote for the rest of her life had it not been cut short. Losing her was a great loss to the literary world, and I don’t think I’ll ever get over it.

Helene Hanff

 

I adore Helene. I feel like she’s the literary friend I never had. Q’s Legacy is one of my favourite books of all time, though 84, Charing Cross road is both her best known and another I love.

Sue Townsend

 

Best known as the creator of the Adrian Mole diary series, Townsend also wrote several other novels that tackled some important topics and interesting lives (including some imaginative representations of the royal family). I adored her ability to follow flights of fancy and to find humour even in the darkest of circumstances and relationships.

There are oh so many more, but these are the ones that I think top my list (though if I were doing teams, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett definitely would have been there). Do you love any of these authors? Which authors do you pre-order on the regular?

---

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly link-up feature created by The Broke and the Bookish and hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. Every week TTT has a different topic, and everyone who links up has to create a link of ten items that fit that topic. To see past and upcoming topics, go here.