If I could only take books by thirteen authors to a desert island ... chosen in part for variety and with a leaning to more prolific writers (I wouldn't want to run out of books, now, would I?).
1. J. R. R. Tolkien
2. C. S. Lewis
3. Elizabeth Goudge
4. Peter Kreeft
5. George Weigel
6. Charlotte Mason
7. Winston Churchill
8. Bill Bryson
9. Michael Palin
10. Ellis Peters
11. Geoffrey Trease
12. J. K. Rowling
13. Elinor M. Brent Dyer
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Thursday Thirteen #21: Favourite Authors
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6 comments:
Elzabeth Goudge and Ellis Peters are favorites of mine too. In fact, I got to your blog by searching for E. Goudge. I am now reading or rereading all of the Brother Cadfael books in sequence. Great relief from my troubles.
When stressed I tend to use the Chalet School books as comfort reading - there are 60 of them, which can see me through quite a lot!
I'd love your recommendations for Elizabeth Goudge and Geoffrey Trease -- I've never read anything by them and would be interested to get your opinion on where to start!
Hello Elizabeth :). For Elizabeth Goudge I would start with either the Damerosehay trilogy - The Bird in the Tree, The Herb of Grace and The Heart of the Family - or A City of Bells (a personal favourite). Geoffrey Trease wrote a lot of historical fiction aimed at older children, most of which is long out of print - someone is missing a reprint opportunity there! A good starting point is Cue for Treason, which is still in print - an adventure story set in Elizabeth I's reign, with a bit part for Shakespeare. Others I like are Follow My Black Plume, set during Garibaldi's campaign for Italian independence in the 19th century - an unusual back drop for children's fiction - and The Red Towers of Granada, in which the hero travels from Edward I's England to Moorish Spain. Both these are out of print, but you may be able to get them from the library. Bedfordshire has a load of Trease's books in their Reserve Store where they have a good selection of out-of-date children's classics.
That collection would keep you going for quite a while!
Jack is reading Cue for treason right now.
I used to regularly reread the Chalet School books when I had exams... the _best_ comfort reading I had:-)
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