Yes, boys and squirrels, it’s time for another top ten list of books. As always, this fun little meme is brought to you by the fine folks over at The Broke and the Bookish! This week’s list is a fun one, a true example of wishful thinking and hypothetical awesomeness.
The Top Ten Authors I Wish Would Write Another Book
1. Charlotte Brontë—Jane Eyre is my favorite book of all time, and I would love to have another strong female character like Jane to admire and read about. It wouldn’t hurt to have another Rochester in my life either if you know what I’m saying. I know she published Villette, The Professor, and Shirley, but from what I’ve gathered, none of them come close to Jane. However, to satisfy the itch, I can add three more books to my reading list.
2. Jane Austen–With six complete novels, you think I’d be satisfied. No, cracker. No. I’m not. Austen had a wit and an acerbic humor that has just never been matched by another author. Anyone who tries to write like her or take up her mantle and write another “Pemberly” book or something of the sort is begging for trouble. Reading a knock-off Austen book is like eating generic cereal from a bag when you really want Froot Loops.
3. J.K. Rowling–Seven Harry Potter books later, and I could still read her stuff. Granted, she’s put out some shorter things to do with the HP universe of wizards and muggles, but I’d love to see something totally new from her. Something that has nothing to do with the boy who lived. She’s still got some words in her noggin left to share. However, I do admit that if I was an author with seven best selling books and a billion dollars in my pocket, my appetite for wordsmithing would be somewhat curbed as well. 🙂
4. Baroness Emma Magdolna Rozália Mária Jozefa Borbála “Emmuska” Orczy de Orczi–I’m sure she just got tired writing her name a few times! I wonder what her autograph looked like on a book jacket…..Seriously, this fine, foxy lady is responsible for The Scarlet Pimpernel and a list of other books as long as my arm. There’s tons of her stuff out there, but none of it aside from the first adventure of Sir Percy is readily available. (I’ve been told Project Guttenberg has many of them uploaded however.) She could write another dozen SP stories, and I think they’d do some awesome business in this day and age.
5. Harper Lee–I fell in love with To Kill a Mockingbird and always wanted to read something else by this wonderful author, but there is quite literally nothing else. I know she and Truman Capote were good friends and that it galled him when she won the Pulitzer for it. A book that good deserves a sibling. I’d love to see what she’d write now regarding race—considering what’s changed (and what hasn’t). Also, to see Atticus Finch in action again would simply make my decade. Seriously, is there any more wonderful or admirable a character than that gentlemanly Southern lawyer who was a crack shot but wouldn’t play football for the Methodists?
6. Stieg Larsson–They were incredibly dark and, at times, a little morally ambiguous, but I enjoyed the Millennium series very much. It was an interesting look into the day-to-day life of another culture as well as its history and politics. At times, I glazed over words with an abundance of vowels, dots, and dashes in them, but the translators did a great job of transforming Swedish into other languages in a way in which little was lost. The three we have were all published posthumously, and he apparently he had planned on writing several more books (for fun!) before a heart attack took him at age fifty. It’s a shame he’ll never get the chance.
7. J.R.R. Tolkien–I’m re-re-re-re-re-reading The Hobbit right now, and I’m falling in love with it all over again. This was the book that captivated me when I was a kid and made me want to write stories of my own. I often got in trouble for reading his work when I should have been learning practical things…like math. He has a large body of work for me to enjoy–both creative and academic–but I’d love to see what he’d do with all the advances in literary research! I also wonder what he’d make of the LOTR films and how wildly popular they were with lifelong fans like me and newbies who might have never read his work but have fallen in love with Aragorn, Frodo, and the rest of the world he created.
8. Elizabeth Kostova–I loved The Historian. I “read it” on unabridged audiobook when I was teaching on three different college campuses and down time/drive time to deal with. I was late for my own class on more than one occasion because I was desperate to get through the end of a chapter. Twenty-two discs, and I was dying for more. I know she wrote The Swan Thieves a year or two ago, but I haven’t gotten around to reading it. However, she has a great grasp of description and of history, so I don’t doubt anything she writes would be interesting. A book like The Historian that focused on the Frankenstein would be super.
9. George R.R. Martin–I know, I know. He just released Dance With Dragons this year, and I should be happy about that. However, like Oliver, I have audacity to ask for more. Why? Because if he doesn’t get the remaining members of the Stark family back together soon, I think I shall scream. It’s almost like his story has turned into the possessed broom from Fantasia, and the more he tries to tie up loose ends, the more they fray into other plot lines. Seriously, I don’t think this book is ever going to end… which is both a good and a bad thing.
10. The Apostle Paul–If I could meet anyone (besides Jesus, of course) and share a meal with him in order to pick his brain about all things biblical, it would have to be Paul. I know he’s the most “popular” of all the New Testament writers, but I feel a certain kinship with him because of my illness. (In fact, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 is my testimony/life verse. Go check my About Me section if you’re curious as to why.) He was so honest about his struggles and imperfections that it is hard not to admire him and identify with him. Yes, John was amazing for the Book of Revelation alone, and Luke wrote my favorite of all the Gospels. But Paul’s letters to the churches! The Book of Romans!! Oh my goodness, there’s a wealth of great material in the Bible, all of it by this amazing man who had the ultimate conversion experience on the Damascus Road. I can’t wait to meet him in heaven one day.