This is definitely my favorite meme. Lists are addictive anyway; I am a compulsive list-maker, and listing my ten favorite authors--difficult as that is--is easier than trying to pick my ten favorite books (now that I cannot do). Here they are:
My Top Ten Favorite Authors
1. William Shakespeare. I know, this is all desert-islandish. The stock answer. But if we had only the works of William Shakespeare, what would we have? Comedy, Tragedy, Poetry, Cross-Dressing, and all of human nature--plus a bit of the beast. Even if he had written only the sonnets and nothing else, Will would be at the top of my list.
2. I hereby confess my love for John Keats--one whose name was writ in water.
3. George Eliot--aka Marian Evans, author of Middlemarch (favorite book if I have to have one).
4. Fyodor Dostoyevsky, mystic and madman, gambler, bankrupt, genius.
5. Anthony Trollope: I have a fondness for the Victorians.
6. William Faulkner. I fell for the lush verbosity of The Sound and the Fury way back in college.
7. Toni Morrison. Every single book she writes speaks to me.
8. Zora Neale Hurston. Would follow this woman anywhere.
9. Richard Wright. Still trying to get Zora and Richard together.
10. Alice Munro. She is my comfort read, my pick her up and feel better writer.
11. Anton Chekhov. Sorry, I have to break the rules. Maybe he would be my desert island read.
That was fun. I had one of those head down on the desk at the end of the day why am I doing this kind of days today. This list was a welcome respite. I always have books. Sigh.
15 comments:
I loved As I Lay Dying and Their Eyes Were Watching God. I need to read more Faulkner and Hurston.
Shakespeare, nice :) I need to give Toni Morrison another chance. I read a lot of her stuff for a class and got a bit burned out.
Very interesting list. One of these days I'm going to grab Middlemarch off of my TBR pile and actually read it. It's been staring at me for years.
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From your list I like Shakespeare and I simply love Zora Neale Hurston!! I read only one book by Toni Morrisson: Jazz - and I liked it very much.
Dostoyevsky is on my shelf and maybe I should give Keats a try.. ;")
Great list!
Ooh, so many writers that I love and/or plan to love soon. Middlemarch is next on my reading list!
Lisa, I love your list too! You have actually stimulated me to sit down and puzzle on it too. I also approached it like you--i.e., in that I couldn't begin to identify my ten favorite novels, but could take a stab at defining my top-ten authors. I even gave your blog a plug too. Have a wonderful day! Cheers! Chris
I just heard a great piece on all of the words that Shakespeare made up that we still us and all of the phrases that he coined that we take for granted. Definitely the works of Shakespeare on a deserted island would keep the mind well oiled for a long stint.
Great list! Munro, Morrison, and Faulkner all on my Top 10 list. Have you read Wallace Stegner? Judging by the names on your list, you might like him - he's definitely one of my favorites!
Nice list of favorites.
Shakespeare will always top the list for his genius. Loved Merchant of Venice, could read that one again and again.
Hey what about Steinbeck?? No love for Steinbeck?? That's ok, I'll love him enough for both of us.
I enjoy Tolstoy and you have to read Roald Dahl's collected short stories (adult- not his typical children stories). My copy is being torn to shreds from over-reading.
@Loni--I would love to read Faulkner novels one after the other again like I did in college...
@Red--One of my favorite Morrison novels is Paradise-have you tried that one?
@Bev--please do read Middlemarch!
@Frl.Irene-thanks for stopping by!
@Christopher-I loved your post-heavy on the classics~!
@Lisa-Shakespeare really was a genius!
@2manybooks-another Munro fan-I love it...
@PK-I can't believe I left Steinbeck off my list. I do love both East of Eden and The Grapes of Wrath.
Fantastic list! I agree on Shakespeare and Keats as well.
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