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My Favourites

My Favourite Authors

I have given a lot of thoughts about the definition of a favourite author and I wonder if my favourite author:

  • Is an author of a one-trick pony, who published that one book that I really really like but I didn’t like the rest of his or her novels?
  • Is it an author who writes good books but whose ideology I don’t buy?
  • Is it an author who wins critically acclaimed prizes?
  • Is it an author who writes a series of book which I devour?

So here’s my definition:

  1. It must be an author whom I have read and like more than two of his or her books. (So Audrey Niffenegger who wrote my favourite novel The Time Traveler’s Wife but I didn’t like Her Fifth Symmetry, doesn’t count).
  2. It must be an author who inspires me to read all of his or her backlist.
  3. He or She doesn’t have to be prize winners.
  4. He or She doesn’t have to be the author of a series of books I have read (So Stephenie Meyer and J.K. Rowling don’t count)
  5. If I were to write or publish a book, I want to write like him or her.
  6. My favourite author’s views and beliefs can be different from mine (So Yes, I don’t believe in suicide and dying for honour, I don’t believe in Laissez faire relationship or marriage, I don’t buy into his / her love philosophy but I still love their books anyway!)
  7. My favourite authors write (and wrote) books that blown me away and made me take a good hard look at myself, on rare occasion change the way I think.
  8. Is it a travesty if he or she is included because of his or her good look too?

So, these are my favourite authors:

In no particular order (so that you could play a little game of who’s who?), Haruki Murakami, Herman Hesse, Lionel Shriver, Xinran, J.M. Coetzee, Daphne Du Maurier, Graham Greene, Tahir Shah, Yukio Mishima, Milan Kundera, Albert Camus, Margaret Atwood, Xiaolu Guo, Jhumpa Lahiri, David Mitchell.

Favourite Author 2

In no particular order: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Hisham Matar, Mourid Barghouti, George Orwell, Jeanette Winterson, Banana Yoshimoto, Linda Grant, Håkan Nesser, Tan Twang Eng, Ian McEwan, Kate Atkinson, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Elif Shafak.

I am sure a few more potential favourites from Middle East, India and English / American authors would make the list, I just haven’t got around to read a few more of their novels yet. When that happens, that will decide it for me. As they say, true love (even infatuation) doesn’t happen all the time.

So watch this space, this will be subjected to change. 🙂

Discussion

13 thoughts on “My Favourites”

  1. Wow. I can’t agree with you more! But I can’t identify all the authors here though :-(.

    Posted by SoulMuser | October 2, 2010, 9:05 am
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  2. You had me at Albert Camus and David Mitchell!

    Posted by Stephan J. Harper | June 29, 2011, 3:46 pm
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  3. I agree with some of your greatest authors! And will have to find out more about the others. I must get reading!

    Posted by bundleofbooks | July 22, 2012, 1:44 pm
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  4. you really inspire me!.. See, I’m a bookworm too. And I hate myself today that I cant read books for a long hours just like before because of my work..

    Posted by ninesiri | August 23, 2012, 2:06 am
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  5. You can probably tell I have just come across your site and it’s good to find another book addict in no want of a cure! Interestingly you say you really enjoyed The Time Traveller’s Wife but didn’t like Her Fearful Symmetry, with me it was the other way round. However Her Fearful Symmetry was set in the part of London I grew up in and this was a big part of why I liked it. Will visit your site again 🙂

    Posted by AnotherJo | October 28, 2012, 6:32 pm
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  6. That’s a very interesting list. I love your definition of favorite author, and it’s inspiring me to create a post of my own as well with my list. Would you mind if I borrowed your definition list and linked to your post?

    Posted by Nish | June 23, 2013, 8:35 am
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Ratings Defined

0 = Abandon the book after first chapter

1 = Waste of paper, we will see what the environmentalist say about this!

2 = Skip it, read the book if you have got nothing better to do

2.5 = An average book, easily forgettable.

3 = A good read.

3.5 = A good entertaining read, a page-turner

4 = So glad that I read the book, a book with substance and invaluable for future reference

4.5 = So glad that I read the book, would pester everyone to read it, invaluable, I would want to own it and wouldn't mind a second read (something that I seldom do)

5 = The book is so good that I feel like I am on scale 4 and 4.5, and more, it blew me away and lingers on my head for weeks!

Books Read

JoV's bookshelf: read
Hold Tight
The Fault in Our Stars
The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon
The Thief
Mockingjay
Catching Fire
A Tale for the Time Being
Into the Darkest Corner
The Liars' Gospel
Goat Mountain
Strange Weather In Tokyo
Strange Shores
And the Mountains Echoed
Ten White Geese
One Step Too Far
The Innocents
The General: The ordinary man who became one of the bravest prisoners in Guantanamo
White Dog Fell from the Sky
A Virtual Love
The Fall of the Stone City


JoV's favorite books »
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Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking. - Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)