Top Ten Authors on My Autoread List

September 15, 2015 Uncategorized 21

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature/meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is free choice.

 

I missed the “Authors on my auto-buy list” topic when it came around a month ago. I was away from home and very busy, and it just didn’t get out of the draft stage. So I’m taking advantage of this week’s TTT freebie category to post it anyway… with a twist.

You see, I don’t really have many auto-buy authors anymore. For one thing, my shelves are really packed; I’m actually trying to shed books. I’m also trying to limit the physical books I purchase to those I will want to keep and read over and over. So I’ve been making more use of my local libraries and of NetGalley and Edelweiss. When I fall in love with a book, then I buy a copy. Sometimes I’ll still buy or preorder a book before I can get the book from the library, but usually because the waiting list is just too darned long – or because I’ve already started collecting the series!

So this is a list not of auto-buy authors, but of the ones I auto-read, just because their name is on the cover. I’ve put them in alphabetical order within the genres, because rating them was just too hard.

Oh, and there are a lot more than ten authors here.

 

Fantasy & Science Fiction

  • Deborah Harkness
  • Katherine Kurtz – the Deryni series, mainly
  • Mercedes Lackey – The Valdemar, 500 Kingdoms, Bardic Voices, and Elemental Magic series are all auto-read, even though they’ve each slipped a bit in quality as the series goes on.  All others are on a read-the-blurb-then-decide basis.
  • Robin McKinley
  • Naomi Novik
  • Tamora Pierce
  • Patrick Rothfuss

Gail Carriger, Rachel Hartman, Jim C. Hines, Marissa Meyer, and Bee Ridgway are all headed for autoread status with their current series. And if J. K. Rowling ever writes any more fantasy, she will be back on this list.

Madeleine L’Engle was an auto-read author for me before she died. So were David Eddings and Anne McCaffrey – at least for her Pern and Talent series.

 

Mystery

  • Catherine Aird
  • Nancy Atherton – a sentimental favorite; I still like her books but the first three were the best.
  • Deborah Crombie – I’m still trying to catch up with her series.
  • Carola Dunn
  • Charles Finch – I’m trying to catch up with his as well.
  • Laurie R. King – for her Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series; I haven’t gotten into the others yet.

Before their deaths, Ngaio Marsh, Dick Francis, Dorothy Gilman, and Ellis Peters were on my auto-read list.

 

Romance and Romantic Suspense

  • Mary Balogh
  • Robyn Carr – her romances but not always her women’s fiction
  • Lisa Kleypas – her historical romance, not always her contemporaries
  • Jayne Ann Krentz/Amanda Quick/Jayne Castle
  • Susan Mallery
  • Emily March – the Eternity Springs series.
  • Mary Jo Putney – historical and paranormal historical romances only
  • Julia Quinn
  • Nora Roberts – but I haven’t tried J.D. Robb yet. And I will skip a book if it is too serial-killer heavy.
  • RaeAnne Thayne 
  • Susan Wiggs
  • Sherryl Woods 

Stephanie Laurens is starting to slip off the auto-read list, as I haven’t been thrilled with her books in the last few years. At this point, I read mostly to keep up with characters from earlier novels.

Before she died, Mary Stewart was on this list.

 

Children’s and MG

  • Jan Brett – charming picture books!
  • Jessica Day George
  • Rick Riordan

 

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21 Responses to “Top Ten Authors on My Autoread List”

  1. Lianne @ eclectictales.com

    Great list this week! I like your approach re: auto-buy authors; I’m also running out of shelf space really fast and while I’m using my eReader more these days for books that I’d like or like to read but not necessarily want a physical copy, your approach is another good way to keep the collection under control.

    I think Bee Ridgby will officially be on my auto-buy list…as soon as her sequel comes out 😛 Also I believe Julia Quinn has officially made it on my auto-buy list recently, haha 😀

    My TTT
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    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I’m using my ereader a lot more these days, too, partly as a way of keeping the collection under control. I’ve switched to buying most of my romances as e-books, and I’m slowly trying to replace my existing paperback romances so I can let go of them. I’m thinking of doing the same for some of my mysteries – not the hardcovers necessarily, but the paperbacks. I tend to wear paperbacks out if I reread them frequently, which is another benefit of ebooks.

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      Tessa Dare just jumped on my auto-read list recently, but Julia Quinn has been on it for at least 10 years, ever since I fell in love with the whole Bridgerton clan!

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I think that’s often how we find an auto-read author: one book tempts us to try another, and before long we are hooked. Like you, I have my share of auto-read authors who are no longer with us, and it’s always bittersweet when I finally read the last unread book.

  4. R_Hunt @ View From My Home

    Oooh, (rubs hands together in delight)! I love when folks share their auto-buy or auto-read list..this sounds more practical and is the same for me, though I don’t buy books after I read them as you do.

    I’ve read at least one book from about 5-6 listed above, but now want to check the others out further. Thanks for sharing this–the freebie weeks can be fun!
    R_Hunt @ View From My Home recently posted…TTT- 10 recommended titles that I can’t wait to readMy Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I’m glad I’ve pointed you in the direction of some authors to try! I used to do quite a bit more re-reading, before I was a blogger, so when I really fall in love with a book, I figure I’ll want to read it again someday. Sometimes “someday” is within a year, especially if the next book in the series is coming out.

  5. Katherine @ I Wish I Lived in a Library

    I’m making a note of your MG authors and my auto-buy list of mystery authors would be basically identical to yours though mine would have a few more cozy authors. I agree about Stephanie Laurens slipping off. The first romance author I ever read was the first book in the Cynster series and I followed her loyally for years but she’s definitely started to lose me. The only one on your romance list that I don’t know much about is Putney though I know of her. Any recommendations of one to start with? I have the first of Carr’s latest series and I’m hoping to get to it really soon. Story of my life!
    Katherine @ I Wish I Lived in a Library recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Signs You’re the Main Character in a Historical RomanceMy Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      A good place to start with Putney is with the Fallen Angel series. I don’t love all of them but some of them are wonderful. Thunder and Roses is the first one; that one, Angel Rogue, Shattered Rainbows, and One Perfect Rose are probably favorites in that series. Also try The China Bride. Then there’s the Lost Lords series, which comes across as a little lighter in the first book, Loving a Lost Lord, but gets deeper and more serious in Never Less Than a Lady.

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      With me it’s the other way ’round – I haven’t tried the Robb books yet, but I will read almost any of her (new) Nora Roberts titles, though I do tend to shy away from serial-killer plotlines. But Krentz/Quick/Castle – yes, absolutely.

  10. Lindsay

    Like you, I rarely buy books anymore. In fact, I think the last time I bought a full-price book was when I ordered the Harry Potter box set with the new artwork a couple years ago! (But since I work at a library, it just seems silly to buy books when I can get them all for free!) We share a few of the same auto-read authors, but I’m definitely going to be checking out the authors you included in the mystery section. My TTT this week is about mystery series I want to start — and I could always add a few more to the list! 😉
    Lindsay recently posted…Perfect Fall Reading: 12 Mystery Series I Want To StartMy Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I don’t work at a library, but I get a lot of books from the library – or I used to, before I got so swamped with ARCs. I read so much that I can’t afford to buy all the books I want to read at new-book prices, and anyway, I’m pretty much out of shelf space unless I can get a lot of purging done. So I only buy the ones I want to keep!

  11. Literary Feline

    Auto-read is a better way to describe my own habits too, nowadays. But even then, I’m not always quick to read a book by a favorite or must read author of mine. It depends on what I have going on.

    I really enjoyed your list! At one time, Mercedes Lackey would have been on my list too. Not so much anymore. I’m not quite sure why, exactly. I just don’t read her as much as I used to.

    I am eager to read J.K. Rowling’s mystery series, but I have no interest in her adult fiction novel that is already out. Otherwise, she’d probably be on my list.

    You list quite a few authors who I haven’t tried yet, but want to at some point. Robin McKinley, Noami Novik, and Patrick Rothfuss for starters. I’ve only read one book by Crombie and loved it. I definitely see myself reading more of her work.
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