Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Authors I’m Thankful For

A meme from the Broke and the Bookish.

Today’s topic: Top Ten Books/Authors I’m Thankful For

I went for authors because then I feel I am less likely to go redundant on you.

1. Brian Jacques – In the 4th grade I had one of his books sitting on my desk and I made a friend in one of my most awkward stages of life.  A friend that was always there even if we weren’t always close and we even had a laugh about it not that long ago when we ran into each other back home.

2. Tamora Pierce – Her characters were exactly who I needed to them be whenever I needed them.  I got them and I felt like they would get me.  They were who I wanted to be but you could see the effort and the imperfection.  And she continues to be a reliable source for those characters and that sense of comfort.

3. Robin McKinley – Not only has she supplied a wealth of reading material with variety she also provides a glimpse into her mind and her life on her blog: http://robinmckinleysblog.com/  It is a wonderful reminder that the authors we worship are also people.  People who knit and gush over puppies and notice your tweets.

4. Pat Jobe – Shh… I’m trying to squeeze him in the middle so nobody will notice.  His ego will never recover if he sees himself here.  That name sounds familiar you say?  Ah yes, Pat Jobe is a relation of Stephanie Jobe, her uncle to be exact.  He proved to me that no matter how crazy you are there are people who will listen to what you have to say.  Also that authors are filled with secret knowledge about things like poetry.

5. Orson Scott Card – Because there is nothing quite like the feeling of realizing THAT guy, yeah the guy with all the well known titles, lives in your city.  That he put a reference to it in his most well known book.  That writers aren’t just born in NC that some actually stay.

6. Deborah Wiles – I have been a book nerd for a very long time, but I cannot begin to explain how nervous I was waiting in line at NCSLMA to get my first book signed by a REAL author.  I avoided going fan girl, probably only because she was still new to me but I definitely did more than sufficiently babble.

7. Beth Revis – Not only do authors come from NC and live in NC but that they are fantastic down to earth people from very close to home.  There is something about watching her become a household name when she is so close to home that gives me waves of hope.  I hear so much about how sweet she is and yeah…

8. Amelia Atwater-Rhodes – I have spoken to many people who wrote when they were young and then in high school and college they quit and never made it back.  I kept going because her success was my reminder that it wasn’t necessarily a waste of time.  That things were possible.

9. Ellen Potter – She sent me my first ARC and it was such a wonderful book and it was part of the first turn to take my blog more seriously.  I am still not a fanatic for ARCs but it was the beginning of reaching out to the rest of the book world via the internet.

10. Daphne du Maurier – Many of the things I read are in the same styles and veins. What she did with never telling you the name of the girl in Rebecca made me realize that you could do unbelievable things and surprise people with something so seemingly small.

It is an odd assortment I know.