Ani's Summer Friday Faves: Most Read Adult Genre Authors

Below are my most read adult genre authors. I’ll read anything they put out and buy all I can find to add to my collection (usually hunting for them at second hand stores). They share fiction as their genre but overall their similarities end there. Some are magical realism, fantasy, animal rights fiction, romance, gothic, and dystopia. There is something about each of these storytellers that have me hooked.

Ben Okri – magical realism. A couple of Okri's books are beyond my understanding but I try each and every book he releases. I especially loved The Famished Road Series and have read it several times. The main character is Azaro, a spirit child who lives between life and death. It weaves the spiritual world into reality in a poor community in Nigeria.

Haruki Murakami – magical realism. I love how Haruki can twist reality to a place where I can believe that the wonders he creates are real, not fantasy. I especially loved The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle + 1Q84. I have to take breaks from Murakami now and then because he has so many books and the main characters are often very similar. I'm amazed every time I pick one up at the magical adventure he creates in seemingly normal human lives.

Juliet Marillier – fantasy - I have written posts on Marillier in previous musings but wanted to mention her here too because I really do read everything she releases. Her stories are not highly imaginative but the characters are easy to get behind and root for, even the oddballs. Marillier's style is all her own, more fairytale than deep fantasy. My favourite of her series is the Sevenwaters series and have reread it a couple times because the heroes are always women and they often are physically flawed but have great strength of character. They are also Celtic fantasies which I am drawn to.

Farley Mowat – fiction - Mowat feeds my teen angst that I've carried throughout adulthood. When I want to kick it to the government or feel exhausted by society I grab one of his books because he disliked everyone. Everyone disappointed him and he wrote about the wrongs done to nature, First Nations people, and animals. I know they are written through his lens so I still read them as fiction but I know he experienced and witnessed a lot of terrible things and needed to share his thoughts.

Jane Austin – romance - High school was a big reading time for me. I was introduced to so much literature and drank it all up. I read every Jane Austin book during that time and have reread most of them a couple times. I've also watched and rewatched all the movies and miniseries. Austin is fairly popular still so I don't believe I need to explain the stories. I like how the lens Austin used was very small and very character and dialogue driven. Her books are romance but not in a mushy annoying way. They are witty and I laugh along with the flaws of her characters and love them for their flaws.

The Bronte Sisters – gothic romance - If Austin and Poe had children it would be the Bronte Sisters. They are kind of romances but dark and extremely dysfunctional. My mom loved Wuthering Heights but I could not get past how Catherine and Healthcliff were such terrible people. My fave is Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. I read it every few years and have seen all the miniseries and movies. There is something about it that I crave and need to settle into every couple of years to get it out of my system.

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - Satirical and some Dystopian - I wrote about Mr.Vonnegut Jr in past musings but want to share why I reread his work regularly. Vonnegut's stories are frightening and unsettling. Could he see the future and every sin of the world in his crystal ball? I've read all his books and short story collections. A writing friend recently told me that he has been reading Vonnegut's "how to write" advice. I will need to look into that. Although I do write for middle school aged kids so I'm not sure his writing style would carry well to my young readers. Haha!

JRR Tolkien - High Fantasy - Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series is the greatest set of books I have read. As I stated above, I started my love of books with literature...not fantasy. My middle school science teacher raved about LOTR but I couldn't understand how an adult could love elves and dwarves and everything else in between. Dragons were for little kids to dream about not for teachers with university degrees. I tried The Hobbit and thought it was just okay. I put it away and didn't think about fantasy at all during high school. Then I got the emo boyfriend...you know the type. He looked and dressed like Kurt Cobain and only read fantasy. I started reading the couple series his liked and thought they were fine but nothing to rave about. Then, one day I was alone at the lake (no one could see how low I had fallen in my reading choices) and I opened my dad's copy of The Fellowship of the Ring. I read the entire series that summer twice because I could not imagine life without it. Tolkien did not just create the most amazing fantasy world, he created characters who I got so attached to, I couldn't live without them. My son read through the series in grade 2-3 and we have rewatched the movies over and over. Tolkien is a true genius and inventor. If I wasn't a godly woman, I would bow down and worship his brain.