This week’s Top Ten Tuesday theme is a tricky one: listing not only your top ten favourite authors, but also choosing your favourite book of theirs! I can’t promise that mine’s a definitive list — I’m certain I’m missing out authors I would smack my forehead about if you reminded me. But it is a list of some of my favourite authors, and my favourites among their books.
- Ursula Le Guin: The Tombs of Atuan.
The problem with picking a favourite among Le Guin’s stories is the sheer number and range of them, but for me it isn’t really in doubt — there’s a magic in The Tombs of Atuan that got under my skin from the start, right from the beginning with Arha’s beginnings as a priestess. I love A Wizard of Earthsea very much too, don’t get me wrong, and that book informs how I try to approach life and dealing with my anxiety… but I’d still say The Tombs of Atuan beats it out as a favourite. - Mo Xiang Tong Xiu: Heaven Official’s Blessing.
This is a really tough pick, because The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System was my introduction to danmei as a whole, and I’ll probably look back at it as formative to my reading tastes. And there are aspects of Heaven Official’s Blessing that are frustrating (the flashbacks). Still, in terms of the depth of the characters, the different arcs and stories that wind through it, and of course the love between Hua Cheng and Xie Lian, I think it’s probably my favourite. - KJ Charles: Band Sinister.
I love a lot of Charles’ work, and I’m not sure Band Sinister would always be my recommendation for a starting point (though it’s not a bad one, it’s more purely a romance than most of her work). But it’s one I have very fond memories of, including the first time I read it while I couldn’t sleep, giggling and curling my toes in glee at it while trying not to wake up my wife! - Marie Brennan: Tropic of Serpents.
It’s hard to pick one book out of this series, really, because they all build up the story to a heck of an ending. Still, Tropic of Serpents is the one that changed my opinion from liking the series well enough to continue and see where it went to being eager for each new book, and deeply invested in Isabella and her adventures — and the different types of dragon she studies and discovers. - E.C.R. Lorac: Death of an Author.
This is a bit atypical among Lorac’s novels and possibly wouldn’t be the one I’d recommend to others — but it’s the one I’ve rated the highest, and it probably counts as my favourite if I had to name a single one. Mostly what I love about her work is the way she sets up characters who feel like people you can root for (or dislike), rather than cyphers, and the sense of deep connection to places… neither of which are so present here, because this is just a really solid mystery that had me on the hop the whole time. Mostly, her Inspector Macdonald books would be where I’d turn for a satisfying mystery I can care about, but this one is pretty dang good. - Dorothy L. Sayers: Strong Poison.
This one has strong competition from several other books in the series, including Have His Carcase (which has a great opening paragraph)… but ultimately I think I love this one best, as Peter puzzles out the murder method, the motive, and the means while racing against the clock because of Harriet’s trial. The banter between the two of them is amazing, as are the moments when it breaks down and Harriet is just human and scared. For me, it finished the work that Clouds of Witness started in making me care deeply about Peter (who spends that book trying to save his brother from hanging), and introduced a heck of a love interest for him, a fascinating character in her own right. - Mary Stewart: Madam, Will You Talk?
I remember reading The Gabriel Hounds while being in Italy, which was just after I finished my first degree (yeesh, so long ago now). She’s just so good at evoking the sense of a place: brightness, dust, old ruins both cared for and not, dark and smoky rooms, a busy market, a cool drink in the shade… Madam, Will You Talk? is probably my favourite, though I couldn’t tell you why, especially because the love interest starts things off very badly and frightens the main character for way too much of a book. Maybe it’s just that Charity is really cool, with her quick thinking and fast driving. - Ann Leckie: Ancillary Mercy.
It’s hard to pick a favourite from this trilogy, because they are all part of the same story, and it’s the whole that I really love. Maybe this should really just be considered picking the whole trilogy. It’s so inventive, and I love the way that Leckie has thought through the world of the story — events outside Breq’s knowledge or interest are going on simultaneously, a whole sprawling empire is living, dying, struggling, and every so often we get little reminders of that. Still, Mercy might be a favourite, due to the way the cultures on Athoek Station are introduced and inform the plot, and the strategic annoying queueing which speaks to my oh-so-British heart. - Cat Sebastian: We Could Be So Good.
It’s a little hard to choose between this and You Should Be So Lucky, both of which are really, really good. The characters and romances just feel so carefully built, until you can’t help but root for them in their messy glory, and hope that things will turn out well for them and that they can find a way to carve out happiness — which they realistically find, even given the period they live in, without it glossing over the dangers and worries they face as well. - Jo Walton: Farthing.
This was the first book I read by Walton, and combines alternative history with a mystery story that nods to Sayers. Sadly, the rising fascism of the story has only become more relevant, even while the book has slipped out of view a bit. I highly recommend the trilogy, though Farthing is my favourite. Walton’s told a lot of different stories, and I could also be very tempted to give the nod to Among Others (which is a book that felt like it saw me) or My Real Children or the Tir Tanagiri books… and Lifelode is so rich and underappreciated too (and sees me as well, in a different way: my lifelode is learning, it’s pretty clear, and reading Lifelode made me think, y’know what, that’s okay). But ultimately, Farthing was where my experiences with Walton’s books started, and it’s terrifyingly and urgently relevant.
Oof, I’ve been super talkative again — I hope my musings have been of interest, and I would definitely love to hear others’ thoughts if you have the time to stop and chat!
