Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Classic Authors

Posted October 16, 2012 by Whitney in Top Ten Tuesday / 8 Comments

This week’s topic: your favorite authors in a specific genre,  The only obvious answer to me is listing my favorite classic authors.
In no particular order:
1.  Jane Austen is three syllables A-Maz-Ing!  I love her character’s quick wit and leading men.
2. Margaret Mitchell: Her chunkster, Gone with the Wind is worth braking every bone in your wrist while holding up the spine, not to mention her detailed telling of the “Old South” and people with gumption.
3. Charlotte Bronte: Crazy lady in the attic and brooding Mr. Rochester.  Enough said.
4. Daphne du Maurier: I have only read one book of hers, Rebecca, but I was blown away by the subtlety and suspense of her writing.
5. Edith Wharton: Again, a novelist who I have only read one of her novels but I adored The Age of Innocence and found her ability to tell a simple story with ease and gentleness of a school mouse.
6. Truman Capote: Yes, Yes, he is not an 18th century author but his elegant way with words and vividness with description put him on the list.  Plus In Cold Blood is one of my all-time favorite books.
7. Elizabeth Gaskell: She is a hidden gem and whose writing has also been compared to Jane Austen (bonus!) I read her novel Cranford, a few years back and found it to be ingenious.  
8. Emily Bronte:  Only last night a friend told me that authors who only write one novel put a lot of work into making it outstanding and saw this to be the case with Wuthering Heights.  Everyone is so unlikeable but the plot line and storytelling of the novel have you sauntering on to see Heathcliff’s demise. 
On a side note a feel guilty leaving the third Bronte sister, Anne of this list but I’m sure that will change once I read Agnes Grey.
9. Harper Lee:  The same friend above also commented that what makes To Kill A Mockingbird so good is that it wasn’t written by a professional novelist but a reporter who wrote about people.  Writing about an idyllic childhood tainted with discrimination in a childlike way should make this a must read for people of all ages.  
10.  J.R.R. Tolkien: Okay, so he is probably a classic fantasy writer, but this is my list.  Tolkien has a gift for creating fantastical worlds and races that are almost as possessive as The One Ring itself and his creativity is what lands him on this list.

8 responses to “Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Classic Authors

  1. I would have picked the exact same authors except for one. I have not read anything by Truman Capote yet, I am going to have to read something by him soon!

  2. New follower! I love your list. Jane Austen made my list. I've started both Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, but I haven't dedicated a lot of time to either right now.

    Check out my TTT.

    Sandy @ Somewhere Only We Know

  3. Fantabulous list! Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Rebecca are three of my all-time favourite books, and I've loved the other three du Mauriers I've read so far too. I read In Cold Blood this year and I was absolutely blown away! I don't know why, but I'd been kind of intimidated by it, thinking it'd be dry and inaccessible – as it happened, it had me glued to the pages, completely got under my skin, sailed its way onto my favourites list, and is up there as one of the outstanding books of the year. I LOVE IT WHEN THAT HAPPENS! 😀

  4. Aside from Truman Capote, my list would be the same, right down to Elizabeth Gaskell. I've written about her awesomeness on my blog before. I especially love Wives and Daughters. -http://miathereader.com

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