Friday, July 9, 2010

Let's Go to the Hop

The Book Blogger Hop at Crazy-for-Books is asking us this week to Tell us about some of your favorite authors and why they are your favorites.

It's really hard for someone who loves books and reading as much as I do to narrow it down (I assume Crazy-for-Books doesn't want me to go on for pages and pages)....but I'll try for a top five:

1. Dorothy L Sayers. The most literate mystery writer of all time. I read her books not only because they're classy mysteries (they are) and not only because I have a literary crush on Lord Peter (I do--he could talk piffle to me all day), but also because they are so well-written. Full of literary allusions and quotations and all kinds of interesting tidbits to dig up and examine (or if you're lazy--use the Lord Peter Wimsey Companion to look up). I have re-read her books more times than I could count and I am quite sure that I will read them again. She's also good for theological non-fiction as well. And her The Man Born to Be King is a wonderful play about the life of Christ.

2. David Lodge. Cannot beat this man for academic satire. Best British wit ever.

3. Jane Austen. Wonderful social commentary for her time. The comedy of manners school at its best. I would love her if the only book she had written was Persuasion.

4. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Sherlock Holmes. Need a mystery lover say anything more? Nancy Drew & Sherlock Holmes are responsible for my on-going mystery addiction. Not that I'm complaining. I can't imagine having never read The Hound of the Baskervilles (my all-time favorite).

5. John Dickson Carr (aka Carter Dickson). No one can beat Carr at the locked-room mystery game. The man was incredibly prolific and to my knowledge never repeated a trick. Who knew there could be so many ways to commit what appears to be the impossible crime? I love almost everything he wrote....if only he'd stayed away from those historical mysteries. They just were not his thing. Everything else? Pure gold.

If you're Hopping by, please leave a comment so I can visit your blog too.


7 comments:

Morgan said...

I have found your blog through this meme and am happy to be a new follower. I hope you have a wonderful weekend and I look forward to reading your future posts

Lady Scribbles said...

Hi stopping by via the hop! I absolutely love mysteries, and will look forward to reading through your blog.

Kristin said...

Hi...thanks for stopping by my blog. I love Jane Austen, too and am trying to make my way through all her books.

Have a great weekend!

Karen & Gerard said...

Hopped over from the book blogger hop to meet you and check out your favorite authors. We have read none of these!

Buriedbybooks said...

Hi! Thanks for stopping by my blog! Hope your weekend is going well. I love Sherlock Holmes. Hard to imagine where mysteries would be without Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Unknown said...

Hi! Thanks for stopping by my blog on the Hop! I've never read anything by Dorothy Sayers but I love a classy mystery so will have to check her out :-) I'm a new follower!

Bev Hankins said...

Welcome to my new followers! Hope you enjoy the posts as much as I enjoy reading the books!