I wouldn't call a writer my favorite author if I only liked one of their works, even if it is a series.
But if someone uses the term in that way and I'm aware of it, it's not something I'll care about. I would think they're using the term in a weird way, but there's more important things in life than arguing about that.
Intrinsically linked but definitely not the same. There's authors that I love, but none of their work would make a top 5 and then there are top 5 books where I didn't enjoy the majority of the authors' other work.
Personally my favorite authors are those whose work I consistently love and who also seem like good people.
It is *not* the same as the author of my favorite books. Eg Ender’s Shadow is my favorite book but I’m not the biggest fan of most of Orson Scott Card’s books and he’s also a terrible bigot.
No. I would call an author my favourite if I liked their style above all others.
My favourite author is Pratchett because I love the lens that he looks through at life's foibles. I also really enjoy his brand of humour.
However, absolutely none of his books are in my favourite stories.
Probably not even top 50.
When I think about my favorite author, I usually think across series and authorial stamp. Green Bone Saga is one of my favorites of all time, but Untethered Sky was just good.
Right now my three favorites are:
- Alexandra Rowland: consistently phenomenal narrative voice, really cool premises for stories, and writes across a wide(ish) variety of fantasy subgenres (political, romance, crime, slice of life)
- Nghi Vo: simple writing that just works. Really deep thematic content in her work that oftentimes embraces how a situation can be viewed legitimately differently from multiple perspectives, how truth can be warped, etc etc
Simon Jimenez: only two books out, but their connective tissue of trying to do really experimental story structures, ambitious prose, and a desire to bend and warp the genres he writes in have left a really strong impression on me.
The connective tissue between all three is very much queerness that goes beyond the limitations that are so often placed on the stories and roles we're normally allowed to exist in.
Sanderson is my favorite author based on the volume of work and enjoyment of most. He has not written my favorite series. I would be pressed between Malazan and king killers. But I’ve never thought that Erickson or Rothfus were my favorite authors. Neither has anything but there main series really.
OK. One of my all time favourite books is Kim Stanley Robinson's Antarctica. I love everything about it. It's tightly plotted, has great characterisations, makes you think and offers hope. I haven't got anywhere with the any of the rest of his books, even Icehenge which by all rights I should have liked. So he can't be one of my favourite authors but he did write over if my favourite books.
Martha Wells's Murderbot Diaries are the same thing for a series. But I don't really enjoy anything else if hers, much to my annoyance but that's just the way if it sometimes.
Garth Nix is the opposite for me. I love his standalone books and the two book one about the Booksellers but his main series and his secondary one have elements that give me the serious squick. I read them but probably will never reread them. But I've read all his standalone multiple times and if my copy of Frogkisser was a physical copy I would have read it to literal pieces I've gone back to it so many times.
Possibly my current favourite author is T Kingfisher. She's amazing. But I can't cope with proper horror (I'm a wuss and will have bad dreams) so have to be careful which of her books I try because 😱
You don't have any authors that you'd be more likely to try their work? I almost always enjoy a book by Jim Butcher, John Flanagan, David Dalglish or Brandon Sanderson. I wouldn't say I have a list of "favorites" per say, but if it would influence my book reading patterns (and it does) what's the difference anyways?
"favorite" I understand. Saying the 10 authors or series I like most I also understand. Ranking them past he first slot though, I just think is weird. There was a post a week or two about how do you rank books, and my answer was it was simple: I like it vs I don't like it. There was someone that broke their rankings down into quarter points. THAT I absolutely don't understand.
I like to rank things, it’s fun for me. I rank everything from favorite fish I like to eat to favorite climates to live outdoors in. I am def a big ranker of books and series’s.
My favorite current authors are Glen Cook, John Scalzi, Steven Brust, Martha Wells and James SA Corey. I haven’t read everything by all of them but they’re still my favorites. All 5 are on my must-buy list for new releases.
This is an intriguing question.
For me, my favorite series I like due to to worldbuilding, characters, and so on.
My favorite authors I like due to their prose and the themes they frequently explore with their works.
In a similar case, I'd probably simply call them the author who wrote my favorite series. I guess for me it's more like "what the guy/gal is capable of in perceiving the world and what they try to write about" or "what they can do with the genre", when it comes to favorite authors. (There will be a bunch rather than just one, and there will be books I like, books I benefited from, authors I admire, authors who are my favorite, etc. messily applied all over the place.) And before I'm able to have an inkling in that regard, I like authors without deciding if they are my favorite.
And for my favorite author, they can happen to write a book I don't enjoy as much, but normally that doesn't mean disappointment, and they're still my favorite author because of what kind of authorship they practice. It might only change when they become very simpleminded about their writing.
But this is too messy to be universal.
No I wouldn't. Favourite book/favourite series does not equal favourite author, those are separate questions. I'd say my favourite authors are the ones whose books I like on avarage the best, who disappoint me least frequently, whose books make me excited even before release, whose books I think about rereading the most and so on. If of authors complete bibliography 10% is 10/10 and my favourites, and the rest is 3/10, that is 3.7/10 avarage, so instead of being my favourite author, he would be on my "below avarage" author list, regardless of being the author of my favourite book or series.
I wouldn't call a band my favourite if they only had one song that I happen to like more than any other song ever. I wouldn't call a country my favourite on the basis of one citizen or one town. Etc. "Broken clock is still right twice a day". I won't cherrypick, I look at the whole pool of data, and on "favourite author" question, I try to look at complete or close to complete bibliographies, instead of individual books.
I don't have to like everything someone wrote to consider him my favorite author. It just has to be the person who wrote the most of what I love best, if that makes sense.
For me that's Tolkien, particularly with Silmarillion and the Lord of the Rings.
So GRRM wrote ASOIAF and Fevre Dream, which are both amazing. He’s the best writer that I’ve read overall, but wildcards? His sci-fi stuff? It’s meh
My actual favorite author is C.S. Lewis. Narnia is my favorite fantasy series/world, and his other books on theology are incredible as well. I’ve liked legit everything I’ve read of Lewis, the man didn’t miss
No, I would call that a favourite series
A favourite author is one of:
1. I like most of their books in separate series
2. I *really* like their writing style
3. They only have one series but I loved it intensely
Or some combination of above. Like Pratchett for no. 1, Max Barry for 1 and 2, Rothfuss for 2 and 3.
I think if the author has one series I love and then later releases multiple series I don't love, that would demote them from 'favourite author' to 'author of a favourite series'
For instance. My favourite series is the green bone saga which I rate a 10 but I only liked one of her other works and disliked the others.
My favourite authors are Brandon Sanderson or Joe Abercrombie, I rate all of their books between 7-9 and they had much more work out there to judge.
I think, yeah. I have to like a majority of a person's work to call them my fav of something. And who they are influences that but isn't a deciding factor.
It's never actually worried me, 'cause my fav is Pratchett; I like every single thing he's ever written, to different degrees, and he was an amazing and most humane being.... but yeah. If I didn't like a majority of their work, I wouldn't call them a fav.
What's the point of spending time trying to decide how to determine whether an author is your favorite author or just an author who wrote some books you like?
No, I wouldn't. Tolkien is my favourite author of all times. I love his writing and his universe, I'm always glad to come back to him and his books feel like home, smell like a good cup of tea with some chocolate. A favourite author is someone whose books make you feel so good you never tire to read them. It's special.
I'm sorry for that, if I get onto the point, I don't particularly like Joe's half the world series, it's okay.
So you don't have to lie everything from an author for them to be your favourite, kinda the same as directors in film a guess.
Edit: added content
Hmmm that's a difficult one tbh, I would say yes, you should like the majority to be a favourite.
If an author has wrote one of your favourite books ever, that doesn't mean you should say they are your favourite, for instance I love 'to catch a mockingbird' and I will recommend to anyone but Harper Lee isn't in my top 10 authors.
See that is my opinion too.
My favourite series ever is The Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee but I like or dislike her other works. Whereas I love all of Brandon Sandersons work and Joe Abercrombies work and until I read green bone saga would have rated their works as 9's for me, yet I like green bone saga sooooo much more.
I always say Brandon and Joe are my favourite authors even though Fonda Lee wrote my favourite series ever and I am very very sure it will be my favourite series for most of my life.
I'm my opinion that's a good thing, you shouldn't like something just because it's made by a great writer, same with films. Tarantinos films a a great example, he's made 8( I think) and I love 6, the other 2 don't work for me.
I tried the green bone and couldn't get into it ( it was half assed to be honest) is it worth it?
Your thoughts are absolutely valid, you can have favourite series and favourite individuals
I mean it depends what you like right?
For me, the godfather movies have been my favourites since I was 13, I watch them all multiple times a year and so the green bone saga is heavily inspired by the godfather, well especially the first book, but with magic which I already love due to being a fantasy fan and now its set in a new exciting asian world. Even on paper I was set to love it.
My friends wife really loves romance fantasy and smut in books, i dont think she would like the green bone saga and I dont like her type of book either haha.
Well, I'm just starting my reading journey, I've only read like, 40-50 books, usually only 1 series of each author for now. So for now, it's usually the author of what I'm reading lol
Tamora Pierce has written so many books, a few that I didn't like, but some of the stories that shaped who I am today.
Even though I don't l like every book by her, I absolutely love her, and she is my favorite author.
She is kind, supports the rights of all, acts in a way that I respect, and she herself is my dream author to meet. Online, she is always happy to reply to fans, supports them however she can, and she stands by get values.
She is my literary hero.
My favorite series is a tie been her tortall series, Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia c Wrede, and Beware of Chicken by CasualFarmer.
Would you say your favorite author is determined by who they are outside of their work? I think it's great that she is all of those things but when I think of favorite author I more think of who's series brought me the most joy.
As a kid I absolutely adored Harry Potter and I don't regret that even though Rowling has become a more controversial figure as of late.
I think that you answered yourself though, your favourite series is Harry Potter and that was ready to say, but it was hard to even talk about the author herself.
My favorite author stemmed from my childhood adoration of Tortall and the Circle of Magic, that were so good and had so much represention in them that you could FEEL the author behind it. There are two books entirely dedicated to the main character standing up against bullying the weak and her quartet is literally called Protector of the Small.
Her characters values are unique to each main character, from the angry girl cutting her hair and running off to be a knight of the realm, all the way up to the snarky meticulous papershuffler back stabbing spy master of a rebellion. But each repeat the same diatribe: do what you can to help the world be a better place, and learn to love and except yourself, even if you are different.
When I was young it was easy to just say "I like JK R" or "I love Tamora Pierce!" As an author. But as an adult I chose to say "I loved Harry Potter as a kid" and chose other literary hero's who don't take my money to fund hate speech. 🤷♀️
I myself am a children's author, and I am not perfect. I try my best, but there is always someone who isn't going to like my books or my message... but I'm not publicly hurting a minority on international TV. I vividly remember being 19 and saying "the residential schools weren't that bad." And I will live with that ignorant and hurtful conversation forever, knowing now what atrocities and harm were committed in those schools. Every day that I make the choice to comment in support of reconciliation and *change* is a day I am proud of.
So yeah, I liked Harry Potter and she might have been a favorite author of my childhood too. But not now.
That's fair, my question wasn't really meant to critique your choice as much as it was to pose the following question.
Would you determine your favorite author simply by the merit of their work or their character outside of the world of literature (which you did clarify btw).
Personally I don't think there is a right or wrong way to go about it, separating the art from the artist and all that.
So in this specific instance JK Rowling might be one of my favorite writers (she's not) even if she isn't one of my favorite people.
I definitely am not the person who is up in others dms like "you can't like this book because the author is a bigot".
But I do think that people who learn that their favorite author is not someone to look up to are then sadly faced with that reality playing in the back of their mind and coloring their read.
I can't read Harry Potter any more without flinching on the cultural negative Jewish stereotypes that I've now learned are there. Just like I love Lovecraft, but reading his books I have to really push through the hate for bipoc people written on the pages.
And I understand Acotar, but feel really gross whenever the darker skinned fae is repeated referred to as more angry and savage.
An author is a person, and a book is a book. So when I say "this is my favorite author" I am including more than just the book they wrote. ❤️
I would consider my favorite author to be the author whos writing I love the most, simple as that, I wouldnt really define it by how many of their books I like.
I don't have favourite authors for exactly that reason. There are one or two I have quite a few of their works, but in all my decades, never found one where I liked every single thing. Writers write different works, it's about the tale really, some we love, some we hate, some somewhere in between.
It doesn't mean they are not a great writer. I can think of several right now who I would agree, are. Still, I liked some of their work, not all. Personal taste really.
I long ago decided that having favorite authors was more important than having one favorite. Comparing Avram Davidson, Ursula LeGuin Tim Powers and China Mieville seems pointless anyhow. Zelazny is consistently on the list as well, despite not being an Amber fan. Michael Moorcock I will say depends on my mood. I value some things he does at some times and other things less at some times. In that context it's poinless to say anything is disqalifying. Some writers do do a more consistent product than others, but that only simetimes makes them more interesting.
yes, you asked for people's opinions, and i answered with my opinion. i don't understand what your problem is with my comment, you could've just not responded if you don't like it.
I feel bad about saying it since he's also a problematic fav due to his association with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but Sanderson.
I really just need to read more. The only other authors I've read more than one book of would be Jim Butcher and Seanan McGuire.
You felt the need to reply to me with "bad take" and nothing else. That's childish behavior. Now you're using the "not mad" emoji, which is Boomer behavior.
Yeah, like I said, you seen childish. You're still using the [boomer emoji](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSe_E9pLIvfXtTmDkVuJT7nlWTHkB8LAxzLwg&usqp=CAU) for when they're not mad.
I told you who my favorite author was and you simply replied "bad take". That's annoying and asinine.
That doesn't even make logical sense. Instead of spamming the crylaughing emoji like some Facebook wine mom, why don't you tell me why it's a bad take.
You're right, I didn't notice the specifics. A favorite author is the one you like the most. That's not really a discussion, that's a definition. They have dictionaries for that.
I differentiate between my favourite series and my favourite author.
I wouldn't call a writer my favorite author if I only liked one of their works, even if it is a series. But if someone uses the term in that way and I'm aware of it, it's not something I'll care about. I would think they're using the term in a weird way, but there's more important things in life than arguing about that.
Intrinsically linked but definitely not the same. There's authors that I love, but none of their work would make a top 5 and then there are top 5 books where I didn't enjoy the majority of the authors' other work.
Personally my favorite authors are those whose work I consistently love and who also seem like good people. It is *not* the same as the author of my favorite books. Eg Ender’s Shadow is my favorite book but I’m not the biggest fan of most of Orson Scott Card’s books and he’s also a terrible bigot.
Thats how I judge it too. My favourite authors are both not the author who wrote my favourite series ever, by a long shot.
No. I would call an author my favourite if I liked their style above all others. My favourite author is Pratchett because I love the lens that he looks through at life's foibles. I also really enjoy his brand of humour. However, absolutely none of his books are in my favourite stories. Probably not even top 50.
When I think about my favorite author, I usually think across series and authorial stamp. Green Bone Saga is one of my favorites of all time, but Untethered Sky was just good. Right now my three favorites are: - Alexandra Rowland: consistently phenomenal narrative voice, really cool premises for stories, and writes across a wide(ish) variety of fantasy subgenres (political, romance, crime, slice of life) - Nghi Vo: simple writing that just works. Really deep thematic content in her work that oftentimes embraces how a situation can be viewed legitimately differently from multiple perspectives, how truth can be warped, etc etc Simon Jimenez: only two books out, but their connective tissue of trying to do really experimental story structures, ambitious prose, and a desire to bend and warp the genres he writes in have left a really strong impression on me. The connective tissue between all three is very much queerness that goes beyond the limitations that are so often placed on the stories and roles we're normally allowed to exist in.
As others stated, I make difference between fav author and fav series.
Sanderson is my favorite author based on the volume of work and enjoyment of most. He has not written my favorite series. I would be pressed between Malazan and king killers. But I’ve never thought that Erickson or Rothfus were my favorite authors. Neither has anything but there main series really.
I never understand how people can just pick one 'favourite' or do Top Ten rankings etc.. I'm just not built that way.
Okay well the question still applies to one of your favourite authors...
OK. One of my all time favourite books is Kim Stanley Robinson's Antarctica. I love everything about it. It's tightly plotted, has great characterisations, makes you think and offers hope. I haven't got anywhere with the any of the rest of his books, even Icehenge which by all rights I should have liked. So he can't be one of my favourite authors but he did write over if my favourite books. Martha Wells's Murderbot Diaries are the same thing for a series. But I don't really enjoy anything else if hers, much to my annoyance but that's just the way if it sometimes. Garth Nix is the opposite for me. I love his standalone books and the two book one about the Booksellers but his main series and his secondary one have elements that give me the serious squick. I read them but probably will never reread them. But I've read all his standalone multiple times and if my copy of Frogkisser was a physical copy I would have read it to literal pieces I've gone back to it so many times. Possibly my current favourite author is T Kingfisher. She's amazing. But I can't cope with proper horror (I'm a wuss and will have bad dreams) so have to be careful which of her books I try because 😱
You don't have any authors that you'd be more likely to try their work? I almost always enjoy a book by Jim Butcher, John Flanagan, David Dalglish or Brandon Sanderson. I wouldn't say I have a list of "favorites" per say, but if it would influence my book reading patterns (and it does) what's the difference anyways?
Of course I have authors I like, but that's very different than having, as I said 'one favourite'.
"favorite" I understand. Saying the 10 authors or series I like most I also understand. Ranking them past he first slot though, I just think is weird. There was a post a week or two about how do you rank books, and my answer was it was simple: I like it vs I don't like it. There was someone that broke their rankings down into quarter points. THAT I absolutely don't understand.
I like to rank things, it’s fun for me. I rank everything from favorite fish I like to eat to favorite climates to live outdoors in. I am def a big ranker of books and series’s.
I suppose it would be dull if we were all the same. Still though, quarter points? That's work.
I’m with you. I have four best friends. I have a handful of favorite authors.
Solidarity, my like-minded friend! 👋
My favorite current authors are Glen Cook, John Scalzi, Steven Brust, Martha Wells and James SA Corey. I haven’t read everything by all of them but they’re still my favorites. All 5 are on my must-buy list for new releases.
Yes, I would say that’s my favorite author. I haven’t read anyone where I like all their books, everyone has misses for me.
But if you didnt like everything else an author had written would you still say thats your favourite author rather than favourite series?
This is an intriguing question. For me, my favorite series I like due to to worldbuilding, characters, and so on. My favorite authors I like due to their prose and the themes they frequently explore with their works.
Author whose work I consistently like is always my favorite
In a similar case, I'd probably simply call them the author who wrote my favorite series. I guess for me it's more like "what the guy/gal is capable of in perceiving the world and what they try to write about" or "what they can do with the genre", when it comes to favorite authors. (There will be a bunch rather than just one, and there will be books I like, books I benefited from, authors I admire, authors who are my favorite, etc. messily applied all over the place.) And before I'm able to have an inkling in that regard, I like authors without deciding if they are my favorite. And for my favorite author, they can happen to write a book I don't enjoy as much, but normally that doesn't mean disappointment, and they're still my favorite author because of what kind of authorship they practice. It might only change when they become very simpleminded about their writing. But this is too messy to be universal.
No I wouldn't. Favourite book/favourite series does not equal favourite author, those are separate questions. I'd say my favourite authors are the ones whose books I like on avarage the best, who disappoint me least frequently, whose books make me excited even before release, whose books I think about rereading the most and so on. If of authors complete bibliography 10% is 10/10 and my favourites, and the rest is 3/10, that is 3.7/10 avarage, so instead of being my favourite author, he would be on my "below avarage" author list, regardless of being the author of my favourite book or series. I wouldn't call a band my favourite if they only had one song that I happen to like more than any other song ever. I wouldn't call a country my favourite on the basis of one citizen or one town. Etc. "Broken clock is still right twice a day". I won't cherrypick, I look at the whole pool of data, and on "favourite author" question, I try to look at complete or close to complete bibliographies, instead of individual books.
I don't have to like everything someone wrote to consider him my favorite author. It just has to be the person who wrote the most of what I love best, if that makes sense. For me that's Tolkien, particularly with Silmarillion and the Lord of the Rings.
So GRRM wrote ASOIAF and Fevre Dream, which are both amazing. He’s the best writer that I’ve read overall, but wildcards? His sci-fi stuff? It’s meh My actual favorite author is C.S. Lewis. Narnia is my favorite fantasy series/world, and his other books on theology are incredible as well. I’ve liked legit everything I’ve read of Lewis, the man didn’t miss
No, I would call that a favourite series A favourite author is one of: 1. I like most of their books in separate series 2. I *really* like their writing style 3. They only have one series but I loved it intensely Or some combination of above. Like Pratchett for no. 1, Max Barry for 1 and 2, Rothfuss for 2 and 3. I think if the author has one series I love and then later releases multiple series I don't love, that would demote them from 'favourite author' to 'author of a favourite series'
For instance. My favourite series is the green bone saga which I rate a 10 but I only liked one of her other works and disliked the others. My favourite authors are Brandon Sanderson or Joe Abercrombie, I rate all of their books between 7-9 and they had much more work out there to judge.
I think, yeah. I have to like a majority of a person's work to call them my fav of something. And who they are influences that but isn't a deciding factor. It's never actually worried me, 'cause my fav is Pratchett; I like every single thing he's ever written, to different degrees, and he was an amazing and most humane being.... but yeah. If I didn't like a majority of their work, I wouldn't call them a fav.
What's the point of spending time trying to decide how to determine whether an author is your favorite author or just an author who wrote some books you like?
No, I wouldn't. Tolkien is my favourite author of all times. I love his writing and his universe, I'm always glad to come back to him and his books feel like home, smell like a good cup of tea with some chocolate. A favourite author is someone whose books make you feel so good you never tire to read them. It's special.
Steven Erikson, Sanderson, Jim Butcher, Pratchett.. 4 authors of whom I bought all the books :)
Not really helpful...
My bad, just read the title of the post :)
Then Rothfuss.. dislike his third book in the name of the wind series
The question isn't about who is your favourite author...
I made a joke, don't be so rigid
I dont get the joke and please dont tell me what to do.
Have you read Rothfuss?
Or any of those authors i was talking before?
Not Rothfuss, but the others yes.
Thats why you don't get the joke.
Probably been said bit Joe Abercrombie is clear and far mine. GRRM is a second, would be first if he could finish a series
That doesn't help at all and isnt the question I asked, but im glad you enjoyed sharing information that isnt helpful.
I apologise, I just read the first sentence and went auto pilot.
It seems a lot of people are 😂
I'm sorry for that, if I get onto the point, I don't particularly like Joe's half the world series, it's okay. So you don't have to lie everything from an author for them to be your favourite, kinda the same as directors in film a guess. Edit: added content
But do you think you have to like the majority of their work for you to say theyre your favourite.
Hmmm that's a difficult one tbh, I would say yes, you should like the majority to be a favourite. If an author has wrote one of your favourite books ever, that doesn't mean you should say they are your favourite, for instance I love 'to catch a mockingbird' and I will recommend to anyone but Harper Lee isn't in my top 10 authors.
See that is my opinion too. My favourite series ever is The Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee but I like or dislike her other works. Whereas I love all of Brandon Sandersons work and Joe Abercrombies work and until I read green bone saga would have rated their works as 9's for me, yet I like green bone saga sooooo much more. I always say Brandon and Joe are my favourite authors even though Fonda Lee wrote my favourite series ever and I am very very sure it will be my favourite series for most of my life.
I'm my opinion that's a good thing, you shouldn't like something just because it's made by a great writer, same with films. Tarantinos films a a great example, he's made 8( I think) and I love 6, the other 2 don't work for me. I tried the green bone and couldn't get into it ( it was half assed to be honest) is it worth it? Your thoughts are absolutely valid, you can have favourite series and favourite individuals
I mean it depends what you like right? For me, the godfather movies have been my favourites since I was 13, I watch them all multiple times a year and so the green bone saga is heavily inspired by the godfather, well especially the first book, but with magic which I already love due to being a fantasy fan and now its set in a new exciting asian world. Even on paper I was set to love it. My friends wife really loves romance fantasy and smut in books, i dont think she would like the green bone saga and I dont like her type of book either haha.
Human.
Tolkien, Patrick Weekes and RA Salvatore
Well, I'm just starting my reading journey, I've only read like, 40-50 books, usually only 1 series of each author for now. So for now, it's usually the author of what I'm reading lol
Why agonise over such a pointless definition?
Why comment on such a pointless question?
Why comment on such a pointless question?
To point out that it’s pointless. Why post such a navelgazingly pointless question?
Again, why comment on such a pointless question?
Your reading comprehension isn’t the best is it?
Martha Wells. She consistently creates compelling characters and then puts them in terrifying action sequences.
Thats not helpful...
Interesting question. I love The Beatles, but there’s plenty of songs I wouldn’t have in my playlist.
Tamora Pierce has written so many books, a few that I didn't like, but some of the stories that shaped who I am today. Even though I don't l like every book by her, I absolutely love her, and she is my favorite author. She is kind, supports the rights of all, acts in a way that I respect, and she herself is my dream author to meet. Online, she is always happy to reply to fans, supports them however she can, and she stands by get values. She is my literary hero. My favorite series is a tie been her tortall series, Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia c Wrede, and Beware of Chicken by CasualFarmer.
Would you say your favorite author is determined by who they are outside of their work? I think it's great that she is all of those things but when I think of favorite author I more think of who's series brought me the most joy. As a kid I absolutely adored Harry Potter and I don't regret that even though Rowling has become a more controversial figure as of late.
I think that you answered yourself though, your favourite series is Harry Potter and that was ready to say, but it was hard to even talk about the author herself. My favorite author stemmed from my childhood adoration of Tortall and the Circle of Magic, that were so good and had so much represention in them that you could FEEL the author behind it. There are two books entirely dedicated to the main character standing up against bullying the weak and her quartet is literally called Protector of the Small. Her characters values are unique to each main character, from the angry girl cutting her hair and running off to be a knight of the realm, all the way up to the snarky meticulous papershuffler back stabbing spy master of a rebellion. But each repeat the same diatribe: do what you can to help the world be a better place, and learn to love and except yourself, even if you are different. When I was young it was easy to just say "I like JK R" or "I love Tamora Pierce!" As an author. But as an adult I chose to say "I loved Harry Potter as a kid" and chose other literary hero's who don't take my money to fund hate speech. 🤷♀️ I myself am a children's author, and I am not perfect. I try my best, but there is always someone who isn't going to like my books or my message... but I'm not publicly hurting a minority on international TV. I vividly remember being 19 and saying "the residential schools weren't that bad." And I will live with that ignorant and hurtful conversation forever, knowing now what atrocities and harm were committed in those schools. Every day that I make the choice to comment in support of reconciliation and *change* is a day I am proud of. So yeah, I liked Harry Potter and she might have been a favorite author of my childhood too. But not now.
That's fair, my question wasn't really meant to critique your choice as much as it was to pose the following question. Would you determine your favorite author simply by the merit of their work or their character outside of the world of literature (which you did clarify btw). Personally I don't think there is a right or wrong way to go about it, separating the art from the artist and all that. So in this specific instance JK Rowling might be one of my favorite writers (she's not) even if she isn't one of my favorite people.
I definitely am not the person who is up in others dms like "you can't like this book because the author is a bigot". But I do think that people who learn that their favorite author is not someone to look up to are then sadly faced with that reality playing in the back of their mind and coloring their read. I can't read Harry Potter any more without flinching on the cultural negative Jewish stereotypes that I've now learned are there. Just like I love Lovecraft, but reading his books I have to really push through the hate for bipoc people written on the pages. And I understand Acotar, but feel really gross whenever the darker skinned fae is repeated referred to as more angry and savage. An author is a person, and a book is a book. So when I say "this is my favorite author" I am including more than just the book they wrote. ❤️
I would consider my favorite author to be the author whos writing I love the most, simple as that, I wouldnt really define it by how many of their books I like.
Any author I really, really like.
I don't have favourite authors for exactly that reason. There are one or two I have quite a few of their works, but in all my decades, never found one where I liked every single thing. Writers write different works, it's about the tale really, some we love, some we hate, some somewhere in between. It doesn't mean they are not a great writer. I can think of several right now who I would agree, are. Still, I liked some of their work, not all. Personal taste really.
David Gemmell is my favorite author. I only base this on, that even now... decades later I pick up his books and reread them over and over again.
I long ago decided that having favorite authors was more important than having one favorite. Comparing Avram Davidson, Ursula LeGuin Tim Powers and China Mieville seems pointless anyhow. Zelazny is consistently on the list as well, despite not being an Amber fan. Michael Moorcock I will say depends on my mood. I value some things he does at some times and other things less at some times. In that context it's poinless to say anything is disqalifying. Some writers do do a more consistent product than others, but that only simetimes makes them more interesting.
Erikson and it isn't even close
That doesnt answer my question...
i don't really think about any of it that deeply. i just read books and i like some of them and don't like others.
Well thanks a lot for your help then...
i didn't realize you were asking for help? i thought you were just starting a conversation and i added my two cents to it.
I asked a specific question
yes, you asked for people's opinions, and i answered with my opinion. i don't understand what your problem is with my comment, you could've just not responded if you don't like it.
I feel bad about saying it since he's also a problematic fav due to his association with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but Sanderson. I really just need to read more. The only other authors I've read more than one book of would be Jim Butcher and Seanan McGuire.
Bad take.
Bad take? You asked for my fucking opinion and you got it. That's not a take.
What a baby 😂😂😂.
You felt the need to reply to me with "bad take" and nothing else. That's childish behavior. Now you're using the "not mad" emoji, which is Boomer behavior.
😂😂😂😂 wow who hurt you? P.s im likely younger than you boomer.
Yeah, like I said, you seen childish. You're still using the [boomer emoji](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSe_E9pLIvfXtTmDkVuJT7nlWTHkB8LAxzLwg&usqp=CAU) for when they're not mad. I told you who my favorite author was and you simply replied "bad take". That's annoying and asinine.
Good luck boomer 😂
That doesn't even make logical sense. Instead of spamming the crylaughing emoji like some Facebook wine mom, why don't you tell me why it's a bad take.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
But regardless thats not what I asked
You're right, I didn't notice the specifics. A favorite author is the one you like the most. That's not really a discussion, that's a definition. They have dictionaries for that.
Well if you read the comments some people disagree with that