Tuesday Talks | My Favorite Authors and Why

Tuesday Talks is a weekly discussion created by Janie and Janelle. You can find the goodreads group here and join in the discussions. I'm really excited about this weeks topic and hope that my post doesn't become an impossible to follow ramble about how much I love certain authors and their works, but it may just do that. So here goes.

My Favorite Authors

I've read books by many authors in my life, but only a few of those have become absolute favorites. So let me tell you about those select few and why I love their work as much as I do.

• Dean Koontz

I first started reading Koontz in 2011 when I was taking a semester off from school. I hadn't done much reading for the previous two years since starting college and really wanted to get back into it. I picked up Life Expectancy, one of Koontz's books that my mom owned and absolutely loved it. Soon after that I started reading as many of his books as I could get. I've only read 24 of his novels, but I've enjoyed every single one of them.

Koontz was a break from anything I had read before, so I was not entirely sure what I would think when I picked up that first book. Up to that point I had mostly read young adult novels or classics. This was my first real step into the world of thrillers. Even now I don't read many other thriller authors. I just haven't found any that compare to Koontz.

One of the things I love most about reading Koontz's novels is his writing. His writing is simply beautiful. His descriptions are vivid and imaginative. His characters are flawed and human. And he is just so funny. People think I'm crazy when I start talking about all of the horrible things that happen in these novels and how much they made me laugh. Then I have to explain that it's not the horror that makes me laugh, but how the characters present a bleak situation. No matter how dark, there is always some humor in there. And I absolutely love that. There is just a beauty in his writing that always leaves me wanting more.

If you have never read a Koontz novel and are interested, these are some of my favorites: Life Expectancy, Odd Thomas (the entire seven novel series), Relentless, The Face, From The Corner of His Eye, The Good Guy, and The Husband. All of these are excellent and Life Expectancy is the perfect place to start.

• Brandon Sanderson

I love fantasy novels and one of my best friends from school recommended Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy to me. I am rather ashamed to admit that I did not pick these books up for a few months. Once I did though, I was hooked. I've now read 18 of Sanderson's novels and novellas and will soon be completing a few more. And he's only been publishing since 2006, so I'm excited to see if I can keep up with all of his releases in the coming years.

So why, you may ask, do I love Sanderson so much? Well, part of that is the genre. I love fantasy. But mainly it's his writing. His style is beautiful, but not overly done. His characters are always so well developed that I cannot keep myself from feeling what they feel. And his world building is phenomenal. I've yet to read anyone that I think compares.

Sanderson was another break from the norm for me. Although I already loved fantasy and had taken my steps into the realms of novels catered to adult readers, my experience with fantasy was mostly limited to the young adult age range. Aside from The Lord of the Rings, which I guess would be classified as more of an adult fantasy series. Since then I've found several other authors that I enjoy, but none quite live up to what I experience when reading a Sanderson novel. I just feel so much while reading his books. I laugh, cry, scream, and cheer when reading his stories. They really are brilliant. Sanderson has the ability to pull me into any world he creates and once I'm there I rarely want to return.

Some of my favorite Sanderson novels include: the Mistborn trilogy, The Rithmatist, The Way of Kings, Warbreaker, and Steelheart. I've never read a Sanderson novel that I did not love, however, so if you enjoy fantasy you can start anywhere. They do tend to be rather long, so prepare for that if you decide to check him out.

• Eoin Colfer

Colfer writes mainly middle grade novels, but I've loved all those I've read. The Artemis Fowl series is one of my favorite series of all time. I started reading them when I was around twelve or thirteen I think, so it was fitting. Who doesn't want to get lost in the world of a twelve year old criminal mastermind?

His stories are always so much fun to read. Although they are focused toward a younger audience, I never find them too simple. And his writing style is so much fun and easy to follow. His characters are great as well. I continue to read his books when they come out and will continue to do so. I also recommend them to my nieces and nephews.

Although I have many other favorites, these are the main ones I want to mention. Koontz and Sanderson are my absolute favorites and Colfer is one that I've loved for a long time. As I'm writing and thinking about this I realize that character development is one of the biggest things that makes or breaks a story for me. There has to be a character that I feel I'm connecting with.

I want to mention a few other authors that I've read and reviewed for recently. I have not yet read many novels by these authors, but I can see them quickly becoming favorites.

• Stacy Green- The author of the Lucy Kendall series. I reviewed the first two in the series a few months ago and am really excited to see where the next book leads. These are thriller novels with deep and thought provoking subject matter. I loved both the books so far. She also has another series that I will be reading very soon. 
• Shelby K Morrison- I received an ARC of her young adult fantasy novel From The Ashes and absolutely loved it. I could definitely see her being a favorite if her novels continue to impress me as they have thus far. 
• P D Kalnay- I recently reviewed his novel The Spiders of Halros and am a beta reader for the sequel The High Priestess. This is the main one that doesn't meet the norm. These are character driven, but the characters are not extremely developed. In some cases that can work and I actually really enjoyed both of these novels. If they continue to improve as they have, I believe this will be a new favorite.

I'm sure there are many other authors that I could mention, but this list will do for now. I'm sure I will continue to write about the authors that I love. And I will continue to write reviews for their novels, so you're sure to see more about these authors in the future.

So who are your favorite authors and why? Is there something that all of your authors have in common? Are all of your favorites generally known for the same genre? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!