Favorite Authors...

It's not always easy for me to narrow down the list of books that I love to just a few favorites, but oddly enough, I find it a lot easier to choose my favorite authors. Although even that list always ends up being a lot longer than ten. So, here's my "short list" of favorite authors--those authors who I love enough to want to read every single book they've ever written, and still wish for more:

Jane Austen

I know, this seems like the too-obvious first choice,

but I can't help it. I've read her books many times

and I love them all.

Patricia A. McKillip

I love this author for her lyrical prose

and her magical stories. 

Henry James

I know he's not for everyone, but I have been an unabashed

Henry James fan ever since I first read Portrait of a Lady.

Mary Stewart

...who first introduced me to romantic suspense 

the way it should be done.

Barbara Michaels

...who added a thread of the supernatural to her suspense novels,

which I completely love.

Rosamunde Pilcher

The opposite of dark and eerie, I love Pilcher's

quietly romantic novels. Especially when they're set

in Cornwall or Scotland.

James Rollins

...whose every book is a fun and exciting adventure!

Simone St. James

...who writes the kind of Gothic ghost stories I love.

Agatha Christie

...who never disappoints.

Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
...who always keep me reading late into the night!








And the other authors who I couldn't bear to leave off my list:

Susanna Kearsley

Sharon Bolton

Edith Wharton

Kay Hooper

Katie Fforde

Ray Bradbury

Barbara Pym

Dawn Powell

Simon R. Green
Benedict Jacka
C.S.Harris
Patricia Briggs
Victoria Thompson
Arturo Perez-Reverte
Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Daniel Silva
Lois Duncan

And many, many more!

Happy Reading!

A Bookish Wit...

Resume

Razors pain you;
Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you;
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live.


Inventory

Four be the things I am wiser to know:
Idleness, sorrow, a friend, and a foe.

Four be the things I'd been better without:
Love, curiosity, freckles, and doubt.

Three be the things I shall never attain:
Envy, content, and sufficient champagne.

Three be the things I shall have till I die:
Laughter and hope and a sock in the eye.

Dorothy Parker's wit is biting, observant, funny, acerbic, and timeless. Not just in her poems, but in her short stories, too. A Telephone Call and The Standard of Living are two of her funniest. (You can find them, her other stories, and all her poems in The Portable Dorothy Parker.) No matter how many times I read them they always make me smile. But then, time spent with Dorothy is never wasted. So here's to one of my favorite writers...and wits.

Happy 120th Birthday, Dorothy Parker!