25 March 2011

List #2: Authors

Authors I adore (in no particular order, and not so much a list, really):

1.  Brad Meltzer (I believe I've prattled on about him enough that you've got the idea by now, yes?)

2.  Lisa Scottline: Let's hear it for Philly authors!  She's got a wicked sense of humour, and while got her law degree from that OTHER law school in Philly (I'm a Temple Law School drop-out and her J.D. is from Penn; Drexel's law school wasn't yet started when I started law school, so it was a two-way rivalry in my day), I still love her.  Her characters are multi-dimensional, and she writes strong, intelligent, sassy, female characters.  No wussy, co-dependent, needy women here!  These aren't the typical legal thrillers, either.  If you're looking for John Grisham in a skirt, keep going.

3.  Jennifer Weiner: Let's keep the Philly-author love going.  She tends to get pigeon-holed as a "chick-lit" author, which just isn't fair.  Why can't women write about relationships without it being "chick lit"?  I dare say she could write the exact same thing, you could slap a male's name on the book and no one would call it "chick lit."  Her books are thoughtful, moving, witty, and insightful.

4.  Marian Keyes: I honestly couldn't tell you which Keyes book I read first, but I was instantly hooked, and I've read all of her books since.  Anyone who can make a hysterically funny book about a young woman's stint in drug rehab is a winner with me (Rachel's Holiday - the title alone tells you how deep the denial goes).  Some of her books are part of a series (she has books on almost every sister in the Walsh family), and some are stand-alones.  But anyone who likes either fun, funny books about Irish families or just a serving of light lit to get you through should check these out.

5.  Jane Green: Brit chick lit at it's finest.  Although Ms. Green lives in Connecticut now, I started reading her when she lived across the pond, and a great deal of her characters either live in England or are British imports (of some kind).  Mostly I adore her narrative style.  She has a tendency to write as if just the two of you are huddled together in a corner spying on the characters in the novel and she's doing the play-by-play.  "Now we observe so-and-so.  See how confident she seems?  That's because..."  I love it.

6.  Michael Connelly:  I LOVE this man.  Before I was laid off last year, I used to be able to say I owned all of his books.  Thanks to the library, I can at least still say that I've read all of his books.  Most of his books are from the Hieronymous (Harry) Bosch series.  Harry is an LAPD detective, and what I love about his is that he's completely flawed.  Connelly has masterfully created an entire world throughout his series within which Bosch has made mistakes, conquered demons, and discovered much about himself in the process (including solving of his own mother's murder).

7.  John Lescroart:  This is another author whose books I used to own all of before my lay-off.  Most of his books involve attorney Hardy Dismas and, to a lesser degree, police lieutenant Abe Glitsky.  At the beginning of the series, Dismas is a bartender, who then goes back to practising law.  He and his friend Glitsky are often on the opposite sides of the same case, until one of them convinces the other he's wrong.  Since the two are friends and call on each other for advice, this doesn't require as much suspension of disbelief as it seems.  Lescroart writes the court scenes and manoeuvres the legal intricacies quite well for someone without a legal background.  Also, my sister got to meet him once (in her work at Barnes & Noble and said he was extremely nice and down-to-earth).

1 comment:

  1. I haven't read any of those authors, but I'm not into the legal thriller/crime genre.

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