Who's your favorite author? [pick just ONE]?

[Joss]

Sure, this question is probably asked several times a week.

You can ONLY mention ONE author - no ties, no favorite authorS, PICK JUST ONE.

Now, on to the question I really wanted to ask:

How do you choose/decide if an author is now your favorite, be it current favorite or favorite of all time?

For example, right now I don't have a favorite author. For an author to be my favorite, i'd have to want to read her books just because her name is on the cover, and no one fits that criteria right now, so I have no favorite author.


BQ: What's your favorite book you've read this year? [title and author]

BQ2: Have you read any first-time authors this year? If so, who?

BQ3: How do you get information about the books you add to your to-read list? For example, do you hear about them from ads, from friends/family, social media, etc? How do you come to know these books exist - the ones that you add to your to-read list?

BQ4: Who was the last music artist and song you listened to?
-- mine was Adel - someone like you (I think that's the title)

BQ5: If you love paranormal romance like me, tell me what's your all-time favorite pararom book? [It can ONLY be ONE title and you can't include the whole series or all the author's books.]

BQ6: what genre do you read most?

BQ7: Is there an author who's books you've read the most? This is a bit confusing. What I'm looking for is the author who's books you've read more than any other author. For example, I rarely read more than one book per author, but I've read 6 books by J K Rowling, so Rowling would be my answer to this question. If this makes sense.

[кιтту кмℓ]

J.R.R. Tolkien

That was surprisingly difficult. :<

Tolkien's the sort of author that makes you go "what on earth is happening inside your brain?!!", which hits a good note for me. An author earns me as a fan if they can pull things out of thin air that really just *work* - if that makes sense. I mean, there are good ideas, and then there are good ideas that WORK. If that makes sense. It doesn't. Moving on. George R.R. Martin is another author that's very good at this.

BQ: Nicholas Nickleby. First I've tried of Dickens' work, and I love it!

BQ2: As in, people who just got published? I don't think so :<

BQ3: I'm . . . not sure, actually. Probably word of mouth. If I hear it's good, I check it out.

BQ4: FUN - Some Nights. My God, I am obsessed with this song.

BQ5: I don't really :<

BQ6: Much as I want to say "fantasy", being a fantasy writer, I should probably be honest and say historical fiction. But that's only because lately I've been fiddling around with authors like George Eliot and Jane Austen and Dickens and, as of this month, attempting Victor Hugo. If I had to name a FAVOURITE genre, it'd be fantasy. But I've been reading historical fiction.
^ Way more than you asked for. Keep the change. ^

BQ7: I might be with you on Rowling. Oh wait, no. If we need to be honest here, probably Enid Blyton. I LOVED those books as a kid!

[Just A Girl]

I'd say Diana Wynne Jones is my favorite authors. The biggest I reason I chose her instead of, say, Rowling or Tolkien is that I can read all of her books without pause and never be frustrated with them. Sometimes I get frustrated with the way Rowling and Tolkien write. As for Jones, her writing is beautiful. It's descriptive, without being boring. The dialogue is interesting, without overwhelming the details. In her series', she doesn't repeat a lot of details like Rowling does. (Her first four books have similar, repetitive paragraphs in them with background information on Harry, which is really frustrating because obviously we should know that if we're on the fourth book.) I get bored by the poems and random lore stories in Tolkien's books and especially hate the way Aragorn and Eowyn talk. The worlds that Jones create are expansive and original and fascinating, even more expansive than Rowling's universe.

BQ: This year, wow, I can't remember many of the ones I read at the beginning, but I'd say my favorite is Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien.

BQ2: I have not...

BQ3: I usually look up a subject on library databases or look up authors that I like and then try to search by similar authors. Or, if not that, I'll look up a subject that I'm currently interested in (i.e., people, time periods, etc.) and if the summary sounds compelling, I'll decide to go from there. Also, I used to work at a library so I would occasionally skim through a book or read the back of the book and then I'd check it out or go buy it.

BQ4: "Mystical Mist" by Steven Cravis

BQ5: I'm not huge on paranormal romance myself.

BQ6: I read fictional novels the most, especially historical novels.

BQ7: Diana Wynne Jones. I've read sixteen of her books, all of them that I loved.

[Lynn]

Paul of Tarsus. I picked him, because he's my go-to guy. I've read his books often, and whenever I'm in the mood to just pick one book in the Bible, chances are good, it will end up being The Book of Romans. Now, if I want to feel better about myself (like I'm not as bad a goof up as I feel at times), then I might hit 1 Cor. I don't know why I'm not keen on 2 Cor. Just seems repetitive, I guess.

BQ1: The years not done, and I plan at least 4 more books by the end of the year, so...for now - http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Your-Voice...849&sr=1-2

BQ2: Nancy Lamb (Had to find out if I missed anything about how to write a middle grade novel, because I kept studying how to write novels in general. Ends up, I'm halfway through that book now and just came across something new about that specifically, but learned loads more about writing in general.) Whoops, misread that and thought you asked which author I've read for the first time. I've read first time authors, but they haven't published yet, so I have to keep mum. (I critique with other writers. lol)

BQ3: I'm trying to learn how to write, so I hit Writer's Digest to find stuff I don't know, and then I get books about that stuff. Then other books are chosen because other writers suggest them to me. And then, of course, I choose novels just because they look good.

BQ4: We just watched the second half of the 25th Anniversary concert of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, so the last song I listened to was a Motown song sung by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Billy Joel, Sam Moore (from Sam and Dave), Darling Love, Sting, John Folgerty, and Jackson Browne with back-up by a cast of dozens. lol (Can't remember the song, because my mind is stuck on "Born to Run" sung by Bruce and Billy right before that.)

BQ5: I don't like paranormal or romance, sorry.

BQ6: How-to books, but, assuming you're asking what novels, I'm rereading the beginning of a series to get to the next book that hubby gave me for Christmas. (Three 800+ pages per book and one more to go, before getting to the new book. lol) It's The Earth Children's Series by Jean Auel, which you might like, despite the obvious oddities here. It's about a cave woman, however, she has a few oddball paranormal abilities and fell in love with a young caveman. It may sound like one of those dumb Me Man, You Woman, corny movies from the 60s and 70s, but it's like they're survivalists in this century - kinda. Very up to date for the odd subject matter, and Jean Auel took 7 years to write each book to keep up to date on everything new in the field of paleontology for the Cro-Magon people (and the Neanderthal.)

BQ7: Yes, but you're talking ages ago. I've read everything ever written by Louisa Mae Alcott, Henry David Thoreau (yeah, he wrote more than Walden lol), Laura Ingel Wilder, Beatrix Potter, and Mark Twain, minus his autobiography. Still deciding if I want to read that this many decades later. (Can you tell what I did when I was young, although I admit, I read Laura Ingel Wilder when I was in my 40s, and I still pull out Beatrix Potter, just because she was my childhood imagination. lol)

[DIANE]

stephanie meyers

breaking dawn by stephanie meyers

no

search on the internet/library

miley cyrus/fly on the wall

eclipse

young adult/fiction

stephanie meyers (read the host books, twilight series, plus the graphic novels)

[Many Interests]

Stuart Wood
BQ2 No
BQ3 Barnes & Noble upcoming books; magazines ads or articles where a snippet might be printed (People magazine has a section on books & will sometimes ask celebs what they are reading); friends; NY Times best seller list; references from other articles; reviews online bookstores (Amazon, Barnes & Noble)
BQ4 artist: Celtic Thunder
BQ5 can't answer -- I tend to read these but in series and then get rest of authors books
BQ6 Anything except harlequin romances or westerns
BQ7 Stuart Woods; Jeffrey Archer; Dixie Cash; Sandra Hill; Rick Riordin are the standards that I will read anything they've written.

[★☆ L⁴☆★]

Lauren DeStefano. Her plots are not the most coherent, but her writing is stunning. It's simple and beautiful, but not overly flowery. Her characters are interestingly flawed; no Mary Sues here.

BQ: So far, Insurgent by Veronica Roth.

BQ2: Yes, Jodi Meadows, author of Incarnate, and Tahereh Mafi, author of Shatter Me.

BQ3: From Goodreads or random writing websites.

BQ4: No idea. I don't listen to music that often.

BQ5: I can't stand paranormal romance. Sorry.

BQ6: Young Adult (any sub genre)

BQ7: J,K. Rowling

[Taylor M.]

J.D. Salinger. I choose him because he wrote one of my current favorite books ever and my favorite short story.

BQ: A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess.

BQ2: I don't think so. I don't keep track of those sort of things.

BQ3: Currently, I'm reading my way through a 100 Books To Read Before You Die List--namely, the classics. Otherwise, I have a few friends whose opinion on books I trust. I don't trust the media, because the last time I did that I ended up reading The Hunger Games.

BQ4: Mushaboom by Feist. I was listening to the (500) Days of Summer soundtrack.

BQ5: Sorry, I haven't read any paranormal romance that I can think of. Romance isn't my thing (but paranormal probably is, so I might like to check out the paranormal romance genre and see which side of it wins for me).

BQ6: Realistic fiction. I like to read for the emotional value, and you're more likely to get that when the story can't essentially hide behind the fanfare of magic and fantasy (that's not to say there aren't some great fantasy stories with emotional value, though!).

BQ7: Probably J.K. Rowling*, because I read and reread all seven books (plus The Tales of Beedle the Bard), and I'll get The Casual Vacancy when it comes out. However, I seem to own many Stephen King books that I haven't read, so he might challenge Rowling for the title, as well as Shakespeare and Sir Aruthur Conan Doyle (though many Holmes stories were short stories...).

*Oh, damn, I can't say Rowling. In technicality, I'd have to say Lemony Snicket, because I read all thirteen A Series of Unfortunate Events books (plus a bonus book) when I was younger. I would still prefer to say Rowling, though, because although I enjoyed Snicket's series back then, Harry Potter is dear to my heart even today.

[pomme]

1. We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver.
2. Jostein Gaarder.
3. I look into the 100 top reads from BBC etc and books you should read in a lifetime!
4. Safe and Sound by Taylor Swift
5. Stardust by Neil Gaiman
6. Fantasy, and books questioning human nature
7. Well, JK Rowling would also be my answer to this question then. Because all the other books I read don't usually come in series. But other than that, I love reading books from Elie Wiesel, Mitch Albom, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

[VisualMaster719]

Hi

I judge an author on whether they're my favourite by how well I enjoyed their book(s). I'm going through a process of elimination right now in my head. I'm pretty sure that my current favourite author is James Dashner. Although, it changes all the time. Yeah, that's right, I'm an unloyal gal. (Gal? Did I just call myself a gal? Ugh... Quick, think of another word... Nope, nothing... Gonna have to stick with gal. Dammit).
I picked James Dashner because he writes in the genre I love and the world just seemed so *real* to me. I was emmersed in his story, I cared passionately about the characters, and I didn't want it to end.
Of course, there are other books I've felt this way about: You Against Me by Jenny Downham, Blood Ties by Sophie McKenzie, When I Was Joe by Keren David.
But The Maze Runner trilogy trumps them all so far.

BQ - ...What month are we in, again? Oh, yeah. August. Erm... When I Was Joe. Definitely. I love Ty, his narrative is really funny but it has an enthralling and thrilling plot, too.

BQ2 (also - man, you have a lot of BQs!) - Erm... I think so, Stolen by Lucy Christopher. I don't remember if I read it this year or last year. It was alright, it was good. I wouldn't re-read it, but I did (mildly) enjoy it while I was reading it.

BQ3 - I ususally go on Amazon, or, haha, the backs of other books. You know the pages at the back that advertise other books similar to the one you've got in your hands. Yeah, those.

BQ4 - Pretty sure it was My Chemical Romance - Na na na (how many na's are there? I don't know!)
I'm not really into them much, but I stumbled upon this song a few days ago. And, yeah it is Someone Like You. I love Adele, she's such a good singer. Not like those autotuned artists.

BQ5 - Hmm... paranormal, not really for me... Sorry

BQ6 - Dystopian novels. Or any with adventure that seems to have a realistic, relateable protagonist.

BQ7 - It would be J.K Rowling. I've read all seven of the HP series. However, if I enjoy a book by a particular author, then I'll occassionally check to see if they've released anything new.

Right, well these BQs have made me forget the original question.