Finding a new favorite author

It's not often for me but i recently found a new favorite writer - Veronica Roth.

I've been reading a lot of novels by Lisa Gardner.

Right now she's my favorite.

I am typically not a hard reader to please, thus I find new favorites often--it just depends on what I'm in the mood to read. Some days I devour light n fun romances (lately, that's Bella Andre's Sullivans series), some days I re-read eternal favorites (Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series), and still other days I'm all about nonfiction reads on a current passion or travel. (Many more 'genres', but you get the idea!)
All to say, my criteria is just that--what I'm in the mood to read and what crosses my path that fits at the time.

My list of favorite authors has changed over time, and I can't remember exactly when I initiated any of those changes. I do know, however, that I added Cormac McCarthy to my list of All-Time Favorite Novelists a couple of years ago. I read The Road and thought it was good, so I decided to try some more of his work. I ended up reading all three parts of "The Border Trilogy" (All the Pretty Horses, The Crossing, and Cities of the Plain) and was completely blown away. I had no choice but to add Cormac to my list of all-time favorites, which also includes Jack (London), Ernest (Hemingway), and a few others.

I also seriously dig spy novels and international thrillers. My favorite author in this category, hands down, is the late great Adam Hall. I'm slowly working my way through his series of "Quiller" books. On my to-read list in this genre are Gerald Seymour's four novels about Northern Ireland, and maybe a few others. If I'm impressed, I'll definitely add Gerald to the list.

My nonfiction reading tastes are sort of narrow; mostly it's just U.S. history and foreign affairs. Mostly I'm into authors who present a "big picture" of international history, and a few of my favorites are Andrew Bacevich, Niall Ferguson, and Walter LaFeber. Of course I'm always on the lookout for more authors who write these kinds of books, so I recently added "three more that I want to explore": Amy Chua, E.J. Hobsbawm, and Walter McDougall.

Dean Koontz
There can only be one.

I usually find new favorites through the recommendations of friends. I found Neil Gaimann this way. I discovered Tom Perrotta by hearing him speak at a book fair, and Bill Bryson when there were signs all over town for A Walk in the Woods. I still find a new one now and then by taking a chance on a bargain bin book at the supermarket. That's how I got turn on to Niall Ferguson's history books.

Chris P said:

I still find a new one now and then by taking a chance on a bargain bin book at the supermarket. That's how I got turn on to Niall Ferguson's history books.

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Yeah, I bought Andrew Bacevich's The Limits of Power at Dollar Tree. I'd read a few of his articles in the Los Angeles Times before that, but I gotta thank Dollar Tree for introducing me to his books!

I'll tell you what does NOT make an author my favorite.

Story/plot.

:-O

Right now I'm rereading all my old favorites. Just finished 11/23/63, and NeverWhere.

Elias Graves said:

How often do you find a new "favorite?" What criteria do you use in judging whether a writer has what it takes to challenge you?

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I'm a very simple creature. If a story entertains me, and I (think I) understand it, then I like it. If it puts me in another world, and gives my mind nice and shiny new playthings (ideas, twists, characters), I really like it. If the same author pulls that off more than once, I tend to like the author.

It's not literary or profound, but it works for me.

The last new favorite authors I "found" would probably be Brandon Sanderson and Jonathan Stroud. I've only read one work of Catheryne M. Valente (the first of her Fairyland series), but I'm chomping at the bit to try more. (Lately, my budget hasn't been very kind to buying hard-copy books; I tried pre-ordering one on Kindle, but it was cancelled. I really need to reserve them at the library.)

I will get recommendations both from friends and Amazon. I like that Amazon does give me suggestions...I scroll through and see if any sound interesting. I do the equivalent of standing in a bookstore and checking the backs of covers in the sections I like to see if anything jumps out at me. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I also find new authors at conventions. If I like what they have to say, I go read their stuff. Found my last favorite that way, Gini Koch and I love her stuff. I want to be entertained so not looking for terribly complicated, brainy work either.

Bret Easton Ellis since American Psycho came out and i doubt that will ever change.

It doesn't happen very often for me, but I've just picked up some books (on my Kindle) by Jeremy Robinson and really getting into them.

I think it depends on the books, I don't try to look for better authors but rather better books/storylines