Booking Through Thursday - Authors Q and A

Deb at Booking Through Thursday has a good Q and A for us this week:


1. Do you have a favorite author?

In a Weekly Geeks meme several weeks ago, I wrote about my very favorite author, Isabel Allende, so I'll choose another of my very favorites: Louise Erdrich.

2. Have you read everything he or she has written?

Not everything, but close to it. I didn't finish The Antelope Wife; haven't read any of her children's books, and have one of her novels, The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse, on my TBR shelf.

3. Did you LIKE everything?

No. I couldn't get into The Antelope Wife; may give it another try, it's been years. And her most recent novel, The Plague of Doves, was wonderful until the last 50 or so pages, then it fell apart for me.

4. How about a least favorite author?

Hmm. I know there are some I've never read that I know would be least favorite if I did (e.g. Danielle Steele) but that's not really fair. I'll have to say, for now, Anne Tyler.


5. An author you wanted to like, but didn’t?

Joyce Carol Oates. Read More!

Booking Through Thursday: Books/Authors I Love and Why

This week's Booking Through Thursday conundrum:

Think about your favorite authors, your favorite books . . . what is it about them that makes you love them above all the other authors you’ve read? The stories? The characters? The way they appear to relish the taste of words on the tongue? The way they’re unafraid to show the nitty-gritty of life? How they sweep you off to a new, distant place? What is it about those books and authors that makes them resonate with you in ways that other, perfectly good books and authors do not?

Great questions - what draws me to some authors and makes me run from others.... I love authors that tease a story out, with enough foreshadowing to keep my interest but not so much as to be obnoxious. Great examples are two I just finished reading: The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood and The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell. Kazuo Ishiguro also does this brilliantly - it's like watching a slow strip tease (an elegant one, not one of those pole dances, ewww).

Well drawn characters are essential. Nothing is worse than getting to the end of a book and feeling like I don't know or don't like any of the characters (there are exceptions to the latter, e.g. Fingersmith, in which most of the characters have questionable motives and actions, but it makes for a wonderful romp).

I do love books that have some sort of morality message or that unveil human foibles - but again, the message must be subtle. Please don't bang me over the head with it (I felt that was the downfall of Kingsolver's Prodigal Summer, though I usually love her writing).

Other qualities I love: subtle humor, a unique story, I-did-not-see-that-coming twists, and, of course, well crafted writing. Authors I think accomplish these so well: Margaret Atwood, Louise Erdrich (I'll be starting her new book The Plague of Doves this weekend), Sarah Waters, Isabel Allende, Joanne Harris. Read More!