Okay, so today we are going to be talking about my favorite authors. Every year in December i update
my favorites list. We talk about my favorite authors, favorite series, favorite standalones;
that's what we're going to be doing, that's what we're going to be starting today;
with authors. Every year i give you my top five authors list. This year it's top six because...
i don't know. I make the rules. If you've been here for a while pause the video, place your bets,
go ahead and make your guess of my top six in the comments. If you get all the names
and the order correct, you get a cookie. Not provided by me, but someone out there will
give you a cookie. My number one favorite author of all time because we're starting at the top,
you may know if you know my shelves well... is Fredrik Backman. I've not read all of his books
yet. I still haven't read A Man Called Ove i think it's how you say it, which is probably
his most popular book and the one that people yell at me to read the most, but someone spoiled the
ending for me and i'm trying to forget it before i read it, but i failed this far so i'm probably
just gonna read it. Anyway, Fredrik Backman; he writes literary fiction. He writes stories that
the purpose, the point of his books is to have a discussion. He wants to talk to you about humanity
and about people and about the depths of looking a little bit deeper and what wires us.
He digs into a lot of his own insecurities in his books which, oh do they hit me right in my
insecurities too. Always make me think, always make me view the world a little bit differently.
I love his stories, even the ones that i have that i don't love as hard because i haven't given
every single one of his books five stars, but even the ones that i don't love is hard i always
come out of them with a lot of stuff to think about and a lot of stuff to... i'm just... i'm
always happy i read them. Let's order them shall we? Because why not? Starting from my favorite
down to my least favorite, but not in a negative way. The one that i favorite the least. And Every
Morning The Way Home Gets Longer And Longer. A little novella about a grandpa, a son and a
grandson, and their stories as grandpa is losing himself to dementia. This is a very personal
subject to me and i appreciate it a lot. Beartown and Us Against You which is going to be a trilogy.
There are two books out so far. A hockey town in Sweden. This town is very focused around hockey.
A girl in the story (our main character) gets raped and all the discussions and reactions and
things around that. Very difficult to read, but so good. Things My Son Needs To Know About The World.
This is a nonfiction that he wrote to his son that made me cry a lot. Deal of A Lifetime. Actually
just finished reading this and uh it was really good as well. These are all five stars, now we're
down to the fours and three point fives. A man who has dedicated his life to accomplishments instead
of to family and things that he wishes he had cared more about and now he has um a life-changing
decision to make. My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry. A little girl... oh,
how do you describe this one without spoiling? A little girl and her grandma and some things.
Anxious People. A bank robbery and a lot of conversations.
His books are hard to describe because it's really about the discussions more than it's
about the story. Anyway, i love this author. He uh... is a Swedish author. I read his translated
books and the fact that his story still hit me this hard... props go out to the translator as
well. I forgot to mention this at the beginning of the video, i have a rule with these favorite
author lists that i do. I can't mention an author that uh isn't that i haven't read more than
one of their work. So Scott Lynch wouldn't count because i've only read one series by him,
so i have to read more than one series or more than one standalone for them to be able to fit.
Next on the list is Joe Abercrombie and he counts because i finally finished Best Served Cold! I
have never read an author write characters the way Joe Abercrombie writes characters. He can write
complex... i mean i guess i guess Backman should count for that, but anyway we're talking about
Joe now. He he writes complex, deep, incredible characters that are so dark, but so human and i
want to follow them and i want to root for them even though i don't agree with anything they're
doing and his ability to write complex and deep characters on this level is astounding to me. His
prose is gorgeous, his worlds are cool! And his plot lines are very interesting even if
sometimes they take a while to get going. Daphne Du Maurier. I love gothic horror/gothic thrillers
and she... again, characters. Wow. She writes characters in these complex and twisted ways
that again, i don't want to be like them, but i do need to know more about them. And her slow
unveiling of their characters... everybody seems fine until you get to know them a little bit
more a little bit more and a little bit more and then you're constantly wondering in her stories;
who is the... where, where are we going? Who do, who do i trust? And with each chapter as you
unveil more and more you change your mind and it doesn't feel cheap and it doesn't feel unearned.
It feels so perfect the way she does it and i love that! Gosh, i love her writing. Also, she writes
these creepy, unsettling stories and her prose is just as creepy and unsettling and i love that!
Oh i love it when prose match match the story, match the tone. Also just her ability to weave
these complex stories together and then end the story right before i really want it to be ended
so that there's so much speculation about what really happened. Ah... that's brilliant. That's so
hard to accomplish so well and it's brilliant and i've bought several more of her books and will be
continuing to be a student of her for a while. Brandon Sanderson. I'm not going to get all his
books out because the man, the man writes. Brandon Sanderson is one of those authors where by the
time you get to the end of what he's written you realize how much he's written into that story.
He puts so many details into his stories that come together in such a satisfying way at the end and i
love it. I also really love his character work. He takes a lot of a lot of types of characters
that you think you know them and then he goes deeper and he goes deeper and he goes deeper and
he spends a lot of time going deeper internally. You don't see as much of characters externally,
but you see so much of their brains and what they're thinking in their internal life that
it's very it's very easy to connect with his characters. Plus his magic systems are always
complex and fascinating and so fun to discover. My son's home so i'm now trying to speed things up,
but Sanderson can write these epic, massive stories in very digestible ways that
i... very satisfying. Very satisfying epic stories and the way they come together;
incredible. Jane Austen. This is my... that's my kid. This is my Jane Austen set. Um,
oh my goodness! I love Jane Austen. So she obviously writes romance, but she also does
a societal study with her stories where she takes these societal expectations and rules
and makes fun of them. She characterizes things where she turns types of people
and expectations of society, she turns them into caricatures so that she's essentially making fun
of her society in these most, in the most silly, hilarious and brilliant ways. She also again,
writes her characters very very flawed and her... actually let me link you a video that i did where
i kind of break down all of the main novels that she wrote and what genre they're really
supposed to fit in. They kind of all get put into romance, which every one of her main novels has
a romance at the forefront, but um... they're different genres. Some of them are meant to be
a romance. Some of them are meant to be a comedy. Some of them are meant to be a parody and um... i
break down what each one is and why they would be a good place to start for different people,
so if you're looking to get into Jane Austen, that's a good video to begin on. Again there's
just so much hidden depth in her stories and so many discussions to be had within these stories,
plus she writes romances really really well. Okay, i can't find all my Neil Gaiman books
because they're scattered all over my bookshelves in my room, but the last author on the list is
Neil Gaiman. Neil Gaiman writes a lot of different types of stories,
but the way i would describe the majority of them is he has this way of taking the world as we know
it and adding magic and doing it in a way that is really complex and um... oh how do i describe?
I don't know how to describe his work as a whole because he writes so many different types of
stories. Sometimes he writes urban fantasy where it's our world with magic in there and it's
fascinating and confusing and so cool. And then other times he takes actual fairy tales,
but he does something so unique with them that i love exploring. He writes a lot of short books. He
also writes some longer books, but every single one of his books i find that he's one of those
authors where every single word he writes matters and by the time you get to the end of his story
you realize how woven together it is and how these little tiny details that seemed insignificant
mattered to the whole thing. And i love that! Man i love that kind of intentional writing!
He also has these prose that is so gorgeous and he's one of the few authors that i
feel like it doesn't really matter if i'm enjoying the story because the way he's telling it
(kind of like Backman) the way he's telling it is enough for me to feel like i've connected with him
on a deeper level. Feels like he puts a lot into his stories. Oh! also, Neil Gaiman... one of the
only two situations in my life that i've read a scene and actually genuinely started to panic from
something i was reading. He just has the ability to write things in such a tangible and realistic
way. Like, i feel like i'm breathing the air of the stories that he tells. It's so immersive.
He's such an immersive author and i just love, i love where he takes his stories. Oh, i should have
grabbed Sandman as well. I love where he takes his stories he has so many different types of
stories and i feel like i'm entering a whole new world each time and i love it. I love it so much.
No!!! Ahh!! So there you go. That's a list of my favorite authors this year.
Hopefully next year that list will change again. Hopefully i can just keep building on this list
every year. These are balancing on my knee. They're not levitating. Anyway,
i would love to continue chatting with you about this in the comments. What are your
favorite authors... WHO are your favorite authors and have you read any of mine and who do you
plan on reading next? I post videos every Tuesday through Friday. I'll see you guys again soon. Bye.