Top Ten Tuesday: Authors I Haven’t Read but Want to

Top Ten Tuesday is a fun weekly meme, hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Everyone is welcome to join in the fun. 

The wording of this week’s prompt stopped me for a little, as it’s about the authors not the books. It made me wonder if I should be focusing more on the reasons I might want to read books by a certain author, rather than these are the books I want to read and here are the authors. In the end, I went for a mixture (and guess what, there might be some familiar books on this list… I’ve tried to keep it as empty of “here are the books I still haven’t read” but some are present.)

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1. Ursula Le Guin

Ursula Le Guin is a massive figure in Sci-Fi and Fantasy, considered one of the greats, with an extensive catalogue. It’s probably long past time I read her work, and I do have THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS on my shelves.

I have, technically, tried to read her before – the start of the first Earthsea book when I was in my tweens. I don’t think I got more than a few pages in – at most a chapter before deciding I wasn’t interested then – so I’m not really counting that as having read her work.

2. Trudi Caravan

Another adult SFF author with an extensive back catalogue, I’d always see Trudi Caravan’s books in my local library when I worked there – and be rather intimidated by the thickness of those spines. I’m older now, and read a lot of chunky books that it doesn’t intimidate me.

However I’ve never really seen much marketing push for her recent books. And the little marketing I have seen never describes them in a way that grabs me – and there are so many other recent books that do, so they take priority.

3. Sarena and Sasha Nanua

The marketing for this book really intrigued me right from the start. The Prince and the Pauper is a fairy tale premise I love, but I don’t see it as often in fiction as I feel the story demands (instead it’s a lot of Beauty and the Beast.) And also the twins are written by twins?

However, it’s a big and chunky book, and came out right when I was in a YA slump. While I still am reaching for adult more than YA, I am at least voluntarily reaching for YA (rather than feeling pushed to get through review copies) so hopefully I’ll get around to this one soon.

4. Rowenna Miller

I love Rowena Miller’s threads on historical clothing (her one on the Witcher’s trousers is my favourite) and I’ve been eyeing up the World Building for Masochists for a while (now it’s been transcribed, which is much easier for me, I just need to find the time to sit and read it!)

The main reason I haven’t picked up her debut yet is that it is not an easy book to find in the UK, as it wasn’t published here. I don’t know how large it was in the US, but it hasn’t really trickled over here the same way that some US-only books have.

5. Richard Osman

THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB, and its sequel THE MAN WHO DIED TWICE, were massively hyped books that are still being promoted all over the place. I like YA mysteries, and I’ve been wanting to branch into adult – but I’ve always been wary of adult because it has a reputation for being very grim, with jaded alcoholic male detectives who have bad marital situations. I’m not fond of main characters like that.

However, this series is supposedly the more “cosy” side of murder mysteries, so it seems like a good way in to the genre. Now I all need to do is get around to trying the book.

6. Julie C. Dao

The cover for FOREST OF A THOUSAND LANTERNS apparently was loaded onto my blog in 2018. Not sure for what purpose, but clearly I’ve been interested in the author’s books since then. Her newsletter is also usually a very interesting read about process and the industry.

And I have tried to find an read her books. She’s another US-only book deal author, so not all that easy to find. I even ordered a copy of the book, which then the shop had to cancel because it couldn’t be ordered by them.

7. Akemi Dawn Bowman

I’ve seen a lot of Akemi Dawn Bowman’s books around over the years, and while the aroacespec nature of several of them have interested me, the contemporary nature of them hasn’t. I just don’t really want to read about our world – I want escapism when I read.

However, THE INFINITY COURTS is her sci-fi debut, which is more my thing, and does look interesting. That is probably the place for me to start. Just need to clear my shelves a bit first, and get into more of a YA mood.

8. Max Adams

If you are interested in Early Medieval Britain (covering roughly the withdrawal of the Romans until the Norman Invasion of 1066), then Max Adams is the non-fiction author to read at the moment. And I am very interested in that period.

He has four books on the period out now, I think, so I’ll probably start on them once I’ve finished my current historical non-fiction. And probably go in order of chronology of period covered, rather than date published (that seems like a more pleasing order!)

9. Rosie Thor

Rosiee Thor’s debut, TARNISHED ARE THE STARS, a YA sci-fi (a rarity, alas) with aroacespec characters, looked very interesting. But it was also a US-only deal, so was too hard (and also expensive vs UK books) to find.

However, her latest, FIRE BECOMES HER, did get a UK deal. It’s a 1920s-inspired book about a girl leveraging the political ambitions of her current partner’s father to get what she wants. Politics and aroacespec characters is a winning combo for me, so I’ very excited to pick this up.

10. Bernard Cornwell

A towering figure in early Medieval British Historical fiction, Bernard Cornwell has many long series, including THE LAST KINGDOM (turned into a BBC series of the same title.) My sister is working her way through that very long series and is loving it.

As someone who like historical fiction and Medieval History, I feel like I should try something by him at least. While the Vikings aren’t my particular interest, but he does have an Arthurian series set not too long after the fall of the Roman Empire.

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What authors have you wanted to read but not got around to?

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