favourites.....

Authors




I think everybody loves talking about their favourite things, because everyone has a favourite of something, if not everything, and because people are people, they love letting their opinions be known, for all the world to hear. Not that the whole world is listening, but here is my list of my favourite writers and my pathetically lame attempts at explaining just what exactly has captured my attention about these writers and their styles.







Any list like this would have to begin, for me, with CHARLES DICKENS. Although his stories do not exactly bring joy to one's heart (if you've read Oliver Twist and Great Expectations, you'll know what I mean…….so depressing), I absolutely love his style, his sarcasm, his cynicism! A Tale of Two Cities was my favourite book for a while. It was his only work of historial fiction, or so I read once. It is a beautiful story, although, to be honest, it took me forever to read it. All of his books take forever to get through, actually. (Like working your way through a swamp or something; but a nice swamp, don't get me wrong!) I find reading a Dickens book so rewarding. There is something about just reading the classics. You cannot help but feel good about yourself, if they have even a scrap of goodness in them. Dickens's style counts as a bit more than a scrap, even if the hero's world is falling apart.




Moving right along.... JANE AUSTEN. Yes, I love Jane Austen's writings! Her books are pretty much all the same story (except Persuasion, my favourite), but you can't help but love them anyway! Perfect books for burying yourself into on a rainy day. I will always love her work. Good stuff. And it's not just for girls either!





P.G. WODEHOUSE. Bertram Wilberforce Wooster is one of my favourite characters in the world of fiction. I love his idiotic ways. He makes me laugh out loud.




Where mysteries are concerned, AGATHA CHRISTIE wins in my opinion. Okay, true, so I haven't read more than 6 of her books, but come on, she is the queen of crime. I am currently reading The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Poirot's first case. I love how she keeps you guessing, points out things that could mean something- or nothing- and you try to keep up, but you're utterly lost. And I personally am usually wrong in the end. I love mystery. In fact, when I examine the shows that I spend the most time watching, they are murder mysteries. I don't know why I am drawn to the mysterious. Do I like discovering things and learning and looking for clues? I am just another Nancy Drew at heart.





(Incidentally, I have read almost every single one of the classic Nancy Drew stories. Yes, the love of crime was in me even at a young age. From the Secret of the Old Clock to whichever one is last, they were all the same; the first and second pages, at least, were always exactly the same. Nancy was always 18 --longer than any 18-year-old should be 18-- had strawberry blonde hair, a housekeeper named Hannah who had been with the family ever since Nancy was 3 years old and her mother died- and, incidenatlly, she was practically a mother to Nancy. And then there was Nancy's father Carson Drew, a lawyer, of course, with a successful firm. And "slightly plump" Bess, and her cousin "athletic" George, whose name was actually Gerogia, but she was a tomboy so she had to go by George. Oh yes, I devoured those books. I don't know why I just admitted that.)






As for classics, I must mention LOUISA MAY ALCOTT, whose "pure" stories I absolutely adore. Rose in Bloom would have to be my favourite, and I haven't read too many others. (But I am not one to try new things, really.) I get a certain joy and peace out of reading Louisa May Alcott's stories, and I can't say anything against that. Her characters are always admirably striving toward perfection, though completely flawed, and it is a real challenge to take that on in your own life. To realize that it's okay to make mistakes- we should always be striving for perfection no matter how many mistakes we might make along the way.







C.S. LEWIS was an amazing writer. I have read a few of his non-fiction apologist works, and he was a genius, but I always go back to the Chronicles of Narnia, exciting and adventurous and childish and beautiful, just packed with truth. There's so much to ponder! In these stories, the allegory is immense! You can read these books as a devotional, just on their own, and come away every time with too much to think about. Prince Caspian is my favourite, but I love them all.