Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. For the rules see her blog.
The topic this week is Authors I’d Love a New Book From (These could be authors that have passed away, who have retired from writing, who have inexplicably gone quiet, or who might jut not be able to keep up with how quickly you read their books!)
These are just some of the authors who immediately came to my mind, and who sadly are no longer with us. Apart from the first and last authors I’m lucky that I don’t have to wish for a new book from them because I still have books of theirs to read.
I’ve listed them as I thought of them:
C J Sansom 1952 – 2024 I love his books and was so sorry to hear he had died recently (27 April). I can’t remember how I heard of his books, but I read his first book, Dissolution in March 2006 (before I’d started writing this blog). It was first published in 2003. Ever since then I’ve read each of his historical mystery novels featuring barrister Matthew Shardlake, set in Tudor England. There are seven in all – he was working on the eighth, Ratcliff when he died. He also wrote two standalone novels, Winter in Madrid and Dominion, which I have also read.
Hilary Mantel 1952 – 1922 The first of her books I read was Beyond Black, which I also read in 2006. Since then I’ve read quite a lot of her books, including the wonderful Wolf Hall trilogy. She wrote seventeen books, including the memoir Giving Up the Ghost, and she was awarded the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, the Walter Scott Prize, the Costa Book Award, the Hawthornden Prize, and many other accolades. In 2014, Mantel was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. But there are still more books by her for me to read.
Agatha Christie 1890 – 1976 I have been reading her crime fiction for years – first from the library, as a teenager. Since starting this blog I’ve read all her crime fiction books and her Autobiography. As well as being a record of her life as she remembered it and wanted to relate it, it’s also full of her thoughts on life and writing. I still have a lot of her short stories to read. She is most probably the author that has given me the most enjoyment over the longest period of time.
Daphne du Maurier 1907 – 1989, another author whose books I began reading as a teenager, thanks to my mother. The first was Rebecca, which I have read many times over the years, followed by Jamaica Inn and Frenchman’s Creek. A prolific author, I haven’t read all of her books.
Elizabeth Jane Howard 1923 – 2014 I can’t remember when I first read her books – but they are definitely pre-blog. I loved her historical fiction novels, the five Cazalet Chronicles, a series of books telling the story of the family from 1937 to 1958. I still have some of her standalone novels to read.
Reginald Hill 1936 – 2012 crime fiction author – Dalziel and Pascoe series, Joe Sixsmith, plus standalone novels and short stories. I’ve watched practically all the Dalziel and Pascoe episodes on TV before I knew they were based on books and I’ve still got quite a lot of them still to read.
Beryl Bainbridge 1932 – 2010 An Awfully Big Adventure is semi-autobiographical based on her own experience as an assistant stage manager in a Liverpool theatre. She wrote dark novels with an undercurrent of psychological suspense. They are disturbing, unsettling, chilling stories, with flashes of humour and farce. She also wrote historical fiction – my favourite is The Birthday Boys, a novel about Captain Scott’s last Antarctic Expedition. Another prolific author there are plenty of her books I haven’t read.
Ruth Rendell 1930 – 2015 – another crime fiction author I first came across on TV in the Chief Inspector Wexford series and then read the books. She also wrote under the pseudonym Barbara Vine. A most prolific author she wrote numerous books and won many awards, so I still have plenty of her books to read.
Peter Robinson 1950 – 2022 Peter Robinson was a British-born Canadian crime writer who was best known for his crime novels set in Yorkshire featuring Inspector Alan Banks. He also published a number of other novels and short stories, as well as some poems and two articles on writing. Beginning with Gallows View in 1987, Robinson delivered a novel in the series, or short story collection, almost every year until his death. He won a CWA Dagger in the Library (2002); Anthony Awards 2000; Barry Award 1999. I still have some of his Inspector Banks books left to read.
And last but not least, Jane Austen, 1775 – 1817, one of my longtime favourite authors ever since I read my mother’s copy of Pride and Prejudice – it’s the brown book shown in the photo. Wouldn’t it be great to have another novel to add to her six completed books and three volumes of juvenile writings in manuscript, the short epistolary novel Lady Susan, and the unfinished novel The Watsons?
BooksPlease 