I have a hard time settling on favourite authors in the same way that I have a hard time settling on favourite musical artists. My taste is both eclectic and vaguely specific, meaning I like a little bit of a lot of things but I’m always looking for That Certain Something that I can’t quite define. Some of my absolute favourite books were written by authors whose other works I haven’t enjoyed, and some authors whose writing style I absolutely love have written books I hate. There’s really no predicting what I’ll like and what I won’t!
However, there are several authors who have impressed me and spoken to me enough in the books of theirs that I’ve read that I want to collect and read all of their works, whether I like them all or not. I have a definite top 5, a subject-to-change 6-10, and a few honourable mentions. Let’s start with the latter.
Honourable Mentions
The Bronte Sisters: Jane Eyre has consistently been in my top 3 favourite books for most of my life, and I have read all the published novels from Charlotte, Anne, and Emily Bronte at least once. I’ve always thought of them collectively as being among my favourite authors, but when I split them up, none of them quite makes the list as an individual. I wasn’t fond of Charlotte’s Shirley or The Professor, and Wuthering Heights by Emily has grown on me in recent years but isn’t among my favourite books. As for Anne, even though I think of her as the most talented of the sisters, she only lived long enough to publish 2 novels, and they weren’t entirely 5-star reads for me. So as much as I love them, the sisters didn’t quite crack my top 10.
Mona Awad – I read Bunny last year and couldn’t believe how much I loved it. I still can’t! Then more recently I read All’s Well and related way too much to the main character. Awad’s novels are uncomfortable to read but impossible for me to put down, and from what I’ve heard about the ones I haven’t read yet, I have a feeling I’ll love them all, so she deserves honourable mention here for sure. I’m hopeful that one day she’ll break into my top 10.
Victor Hugo – It seems weird that he isn’t in my top 10, since Les Miserables is one of my favourite novels of all time, but the rest of what I’ve read from him has never quite lived up to it. I hated The Hunchback of Notre Dame the first time I read it, though upon a more recent re-read I warmed up to it. The only other novel of his that I’ve read is Ninety-Three, which I enjoyed but didn’t consider great. Nonetheless, I’m determined to be a Hugo completionist! Preferably in French, which is part of the reason I took French as my minor in university. Maybe one day I’ll discover another Hugo gem to add to my favourite books of all time.
#10 – Gabrielle Roy
Books I’ve read: The Tin Flute; Children of My Heart; Un jardin au bout du monde
One of Canada’s greatest authors, and one of the newest additions to my top 10. Gabrielle Roy was first published in 1945, and her books offered a realistic portrait of French-Canadian urban life. The Canadian Encyclopedia calls her “one of the great contemporary writers on the human condition.” I really enjoyed The Tin Flute and Children of My Heart, and I’ve also read Un jardin au bout du monde in French, at a time when my French wasn’t quite strong enough to fully understand it. I love Roy’s writing style and the empathy with which she tells her characters’ stories. She might not be a permanent fixture in my top 10, but I’m hopeful that I will continue to love her works as I slowly collect them.
#9 – Erik Larson
Books I’ve read: The Devil in the White City; In the Garden of Beasts; Dead Wake; Isaac’s Storm; Thunderstruck
I’ve always read a few nonfiction books here and there, since I’m always eager to learn new things and see the world from different perspectives, but no other nonfiction author has brought history to life for me as elegantly and as thrillingly as Erik Larson does. He can take a story that you think you know, come at it from an angle you don’t expect, and leave you with spine-tingling cliffhangers that keep you feverishly turning pages. I don’t know how he does it, but I’m glad he does. I really need to catch up on his most recent releases.
#8 – George Orwell
Books I’ve read: 1984; Animal Farm; Burmese Days; Keep the Aspidistra Flying
I don’t often give his works 5 stars, but there’s something about George Orwell’s writing that keeps me coming back for more. 1984 and Animal Farm are impressive accomplishments that showcase his boundless imagination, but I think his more grounded works like Keep the Aspidistra Flying deserve readership and recognition today, too. I own a couple of his books that I hadn’t heard of until I saw them on sale at BookOutlet, so I hope to read those this year and get a clearer picture of where he belongs on this list.
#7 – Ray Bradbury
Books I’ve read: Fahrenheit 451; The Martian Chronicles; Something Wicked This Way Comes; The Illustrated Man; Dandelion Wine
The only word I have to describe Ray Bradbury’s writing is “magical.” He’s one of those authors who transport the reader directly into their imagination, offer a nice warm beverage and a comfy blanket, and play out a beautiful story for us. I can’t get enough of it! Science fiction, fantasy, coming-of-age… whatever he writes, sign me up, I’ll love it. Expect some Bradbury re-reads from me this year, because I’m way overdue. I hope I also discover some new gems of his to fall in love with.
#6 – Fyodor Dostoevsky
Books I’ve read: Crime and Punishment; The Brothers Karamazov; White Nights; The Idiot; Notes from Underground; The Gambler; Demons; The Double; The House of the Dead; Poor Folk…
I’ll be completely honest with you here – I don’t remember a lot of the Dostoevsky I’ve read. I went through a period where I DEVOURED his work, raided the library for every last book of his they had, and read them way too quickly to be left with a lasting impression. I really only remember Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov, The Idiot, and Poor Folk, so I’m due for a re-read of everything else (and those, too, because it’s been a while). But hey, it just goes to show how much I loved his writing! Has anyone ever understood the human psyche as deeply as Dostoevsky? It’s hard to imagine how.
#5 – Joseph Conrad
Books I’ve read: Lord Jim; Heart of Darkness; The Secret Sharer; Nostromo; The Secret Agent; The Shadow-Line; Under Western Eyes; Almayer’s Folly; Typhoon and Other Tales; Chance; The Mirror of the Sea; Tales of Unrest; The Rescue; The N*gger of the Narcissus; The Arrow of Gold…
I can’t get enough of Joseph Conrad. There’s something about his writing style that makes my brain happy, like it’s eaten a full-course meal. He had a heart for humanity, all of humanity, and even though a lot of his writing reflected the times in which he lived, he was pretty forward-thinking and more open-minded than most of his contemporaries. I’m close to completing his published works, but I almost don’t want to, because I love having more Conrad to look forward to.
#4 – John Steinbeck
Books I’ve read: Of Mice and Men; East of Eden; The Grapes of Wrath; The Pearl; Travels with Charley; Tortilla Flat; The Winter of Our Discontent; The Red Pony; The Moon Is Down; Once There Was a War…
I’m in love with John Steinbeck. As a rule, I’m not a fan of American literature, but John Steinbeck isn’t a typical American writer. He breaks the American “blunt is best” rule at every turn, crafting beautiful sentences and telling his characters’ stories with non-judgmental compassion. There’s a humility to Steinbeck that permeates his work and resonates deeply with me. Even though I’ve read his most famous novels, I feel as though I’ve barely scratched the surface of his body of work, and I couldn’t be happier than when I get to crack open another book of his that I’ve heard next to nothing about.
#3 – L.M. Montgomery
Books I’ve read: Anne of Green Gables; Anne of Avonlea; Anne of the Island; Anne of Windy Poplars; Anne’s House of Dreams; Anne of Ingleside; Rainbow Valley; Rilla of Ingleside; Kilmeny of the Orchard; The Story Girl; The Golden Road; Emily of New Moon; Emily Climbs; Emily’s Quest; The Blue Castle; Magic for Marigold; A Tangled Web; Pat of Silver Bush; Mistress Pat; Jane of Lantern Hill; The Blythes Are Quoted; Chronicles of Avonlea; Further Chronicles of Avonlea; The Road to Yesterday; The Selected Journals…
Lucy Maud Montgomery is often dismissed as “the author of Anne of Green Gables,” which is further dismissed as a “middle-grade novel,” and that has always made me sad. She wrote 20 full-length novels and many short stories, and any age group can read and enjoy them all. I certainly have, many times over. I discovered Montgomery’s novels when I was 9 or 10, immediately devoured as many of them as I could find, re-read my favourites countless times throughout my tweens and teens, and have revisited them with just as much pleasure as an adult. These books made me who I am and gave me hope through some of the worst times of my life. I’ll always owe her a great debt for that.
#2 – Stephen Graham Jones
Books I’ve read: The Only Good Indians; My Heart Is a Chainsaw; Don’t Fear the Reaper; The Angel of Indian Lake; Mapping the Interior; The Babysitter Lives; I Was a Teenage Slasher
The newest addition to my top 10, and he’s already broken into my top 2! I read The Only Good Indians in 2023, and I’ve never been the same since. I didn’t know horror could be this literary, I didn’t know gory violence could be emotionally moving, and I certainly didn’t know an actual living author could break into the top 5 of this classics-loving girl’s favourite authors list. But here we are! I’m eternally thankful that Stephen Graham Jones writes like the devil’s on his heels, because I have about a million novels to catch up on from his backlist while he’s still pumping out new ones faster than I can keep up. I hope that means I’ll never run out of new SGJ to read!
#1 – Charles Dickens
Books I’ve read: All of them. Just… all of them.
Hi, my name is Faye, and I’m a Dickens-aholic. I wish I could tell you when I first read one of his books, or even which book it was, but I started absorbing his characters, his words, and his world as a wee’un incessantly watching the musical Oliver!, and by 12 I was squealing over finding a battered copy of Our Mutual Friend at a garage sale (the guy selling it told me I couldn’t possibly read it… ha!). I don’t remember life without Charles Dickens, and I’m glad, because it would suck. A Tale of Two Cities is my favourite book of all time, A Christmas Carol is the greatest Christmas story ever told aside from the actual Nativity, and I’m always ready to throw hands with anyone who sneers and says he was too long-winded. Every single word he ever wrote was brilliant, and I live for the experience of reading them. And there’s also the fact that his writing and activism was responsible for real change in Western society that left the world a much better place than it was when he entered it. I’ll always love you, Mr. Dickens.
So those are my favourite writers of all time! If you’d like to share, I’d love to hear who your favourite authors are. Are any of mine on your list? Please let me know. Thanks for reading!