04-05-2010, 04:06 AM
I find this question so difficult to answer because I have had so many favourites, even within any one genre. To say which is the best overall is nearly impossible.
Personally, I find the writing of older masters much more appealing than authors of today. When I heard people complain of Dickens in my teens, I listened to them and avoided his works. We did not read any of his works in high school so I had no idea. I was very pleasantly surprised when I started his tomes in adulthood. He is definitely one of my favourite authors and I would recommend his works to anyone. Back in high school, I would have said Thomas Hardy was my favourite. I still consider him a great writer.
Mysteries and romances, amongst which Gothics would belong (IMO), are harder to classify and more difficult to choose one or two. You can break them down into smaller subgenres, then you might get somewhere, but then you'd have a big list. Mysteries can be divided into cozies, detective, crime, true crime, romantic, gothic; romances can be historical, modern, gothic, etc. I've loved too many in each of those to point out anyone as my top favourite.
Then there are children's books that would rank as some of my favourites. Even as an adult, I can still look back to Narnia, The Secret Garden and such like, with a degree of sentimentality.
Personally, I find the writing of older masters much more appealing than authors of today. When I heard people complain of Dickens in my teens, I listened to them and avoided his works. We did not read any of his works in high school so I had no idea. I was very pleasantly surprised when I started his tomes in adulthood. He is definitely one of my favourite authors and I would recommend his works to anyone. Back in high school, I would have said Thomas Hardy was my favourite. I still consider him a great writer.
Mysteries and romances, amongst which Gothics would belong (IMO), are harder to classify and more difficult to choose one or two. You can break them down into smaller subgenres, then you might get somewhere, but then you'd have a big list. Mysteries can be divided into cozies, detective, crime, true crime, romantic, gothic; romances can be historical, modern, gothic, etc. I've loved too many in each of those to point out anyone as my top favourite.
Then there are children's books that would rank as some of my favourites. Even as an adult, I can still look back to Narnia, The Secret Garden and such like, with a degree of sentimentality.