Today I am thankful. I am thankful for the authors and books that inspire me. Books, and the authors who write them, have made me happy and sad and angry and afraid and fulfilled and understood and a little less alone. I am in awe of you.
So in honor of this, I am giving you the top ten contemporary authors I am thankful for (as hosted by The Broke and The Bookish). This in no way reflects their talent (though of course I think they’re talented), it solely reflects the way I feel about their work. I am limiting it to contemporary authors because I don’t know that anyone wants to read about my love for Charlotte Brontë, E. M. Forster, or Jane Austen again (although you’re still stuck with the top four).
- John Irving
- Richard Russo
- Stephen King
- Jeffrey Eugenides
- Ian McEwan
- Cormac McCarthy
- George R.R. Martin
- Joe R. Lansdale
- Donald Ray Pollack
- Tie: John Sandford/Elmore Leonard
- Honorable mention goes to the readers and commenters of this blog, it goes without saying that I am thankful to each and every one of you who take the time to read and comment.
Although I’ve always fancied myself a feminist (and an extremely liberal one at that), I cannot explain why my top ten lists are dominated by men. It is a mystery, though I have a few guesses. I feel like I should say (and it is true) that there are several contemporary women writers that I admire and enjoy, including, but not limited to: E. Annie Proulx, Margaret Atwood, Judy Blume, Alice Hoffman, A.S. Byatt, Isabelle Allende, J. K. Rowling, etc.
Image: Modern Hepburn
flannel and folklore 
I love, love, love John Irvings books!
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He is amazing, isn’t he? Well, most of the time, everyone has a few duds (I’m thinking of The Fourth Hand).
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I wouldn’t be worried about a male-dominated list. I feel that we’ve really stepped beyond gender typing when we can speak and compare honestly without worrying about the genders of our subjects. Great list, by the way 🙂
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Thanks! I mostly just find it interesting that every single author I identify with (well, their characters anyway) is male. It makes me wonder, as I’ve never done a comparison, if there is a stylistic difference in the way people write…
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Great list! I adore John Irving. Feel free to checkout My TTT
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There’s a topic coming up in a few weeks for TTT that is ‘authors that were new to me in 2012’… it might be the first week that our TTT lists don’t include John Irving 😉
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That’ll be a fun one to do, half the time I feel like my top ten lists are repeats. First one on the list that I can think of – Ernest Cline (I loved Ready Player One).
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Ian McEwan also made my list this week, his work is just amazing, I love his prose. Great list!
Here’s my TTT this week =)
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Love George R. Martin as well!
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You make a very good point w/ #11. Thanks for the reminder and thanks for visiting Jorie’s Reads!
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stephen King is a great pick! great list! Check out our TTT ~ Katie @ Inkk
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I haven’t read John Irving in ages! I must read something else by him. His stories are quite fascinating. And I love Jeffrey Eugenides though I haven’t read his latest. Where does the time go…
What a great group of authors you picked for your list this week! It’s awesome there are just so many different writers to be thankful for. 🙂
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Judy Blume is da bomb, yo.
I literally, figuratively and metaphorically can’t believe that Dan Brown hasn’t made your list. Also, 50 Shades of Grey, where is it? Shocking, frankly. I mean yeah, Stephen King fine, and Elmore Leonard, ok, but did either of them come up with anachronistic (and plain stoopid) interpretations of Da Vinci’s Last Supper? No they didn’t. Did Elmore turn Twilight into badly written erotica? No.
Exactly. You should think about what you’ve done.
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Okay, I’ve reconsidered. Dan Brown gets included for his use of realism.
On a totally separate note, I think I’ve spent the last two days making those around me nervous. I keep laughing, a bit hysterically, every time I think of Dan Brown as a safe word.
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Ha! Thanks, glad it was good for you…
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