Top Ten Tuesday: Auto-Buying Authors

This week's Top Ten Tuesday is a toughie for me.  It's all about those authors that we have so much confidence in that we would dash out and buy their books with nary a second thought.  Honestly, I'm not a big "author" person.  I love books, but I very rarely get all fan-girly over the authors themselves.  If I'm standing in a line at say...BEA for an autographed copy of some book, it's a good bet that I'm more interested in the future enjoyment of the book than in the meeting of the author.  This is not to say that I don't like authors, I absolutely do.  I follow some on Twitter.  I get all glowy inside on the off chance one might look lovingly on one of my reviews of his or her book and comment or Tweet the link or Facebook it or whatever.  Glowy, very glowy indeed. 

But when it came to the question of what authors whose work I would automatically buy, I came up with a paltry five, and one is still a maybe as of this writing.  Part of the problem might be that when I'm buying new books, I'm usually buying them for other people.  I have a very well-defined list of authors I will auto-buy as Christmas presents for my parents.  In the interests of actually making my Top Ten a top ten, I'll trot out five of my own and five of my parents' and call it day.  Sound good?

See more at The Broke and the Bookish.

1. Ann Patchett - The first one I read was Bel Canto, and I actually didn't love it as much as everyone else seems to love it.  However, I did like it, and I've since loved The Magician's Assistant and Truth and Beauty.  The rest of her oeuvre is waiting patiently on my neglected bookshelves.

2. Maggie O'Farrell - After I was emotionally destroyed (in a good way) by After You'd Gone which also yielded me a fantastic quote for my blog header (see above - obviously!), and also enjoyed The Hand That First Held Mine, Maggie O'Farrell became a no-brainer when it comes to buying her books.  I just found out yesterday she's got another book coming out this summer, and I'm beyond excited!

3. Erica Bauermeister - Okay, she would be an auto-buy, but I've had the good fortune to read all three of her fantastic books via ARC.  Should it become necessary, I would gladly fork over my hard earned dollars for an Erica Bauermeister book.  My favorite?  Still The School of Essential Ingredients.

4. Stephen King - This is my oldest auto-buy pick.  I've been gleefully auto-acquiring Stephen King books since I was in high school.  My favorite thus far?  Insomnia.

5. Gin Phillips...maybe -  I loved (LOVED!) The Well and the Mine.  Now I'm reading her sophomore effort, Come In and Cover Me which I am also highly enjoying.  I haven't finished it yet, but if I love this book half as much as I loved The Well and the Mine, Gin Phillips should be a shoo-in for auto-buy status.

And for gifting purposes...

6. Mary McGarry Morris - My mother has been head over heels for Morris ever since Oprah put Songs In Ordinary Time into the spotlight.  I think she's read every single one of Morris's titles since, so when I see a new one of hers on the shelves that's a gimme of a Christmas present.

7. Dean Koontz -  My dad is nuts for the Odd Thomas books especially.  Sadly, Koontz's new books have been coming out just after Christmas (come on people!), so he hasn't made it under the Christmas tree lately, but I'm sure he'll be seen there again sometime soon.

8. Jan Karon - My mom devoured The Mitford Series, and has been after me ever since to read it.  The Mitfords are over but Father Tim's still going strong, so every so often he gets to be a great Christmas gift.

9. Khaled Hosseini - Both of my parents were crazy for The Kite Runner, and every time I'm not sure what to read next, they bop me over the head with it.  I might just be a big contrarian though, not to mention a rotten daughter, because I, uh, still haven't read it.  Happy news, though, this author's new book is already on my Christmas to-buy list.

10. Tom Clancy -  At least, ahem, the ones where his name is bigger on the cover than the co-writer.  My dad usually tows one of Tom Clancy's tomes along on his fishing trips through the summer and claims to still enjoy them, so I keep buying them.  I think it might be time to switch to the e-versions, though.  Holding Clancy's books up is a major workout.

How about you?  What author's books do you buy without a second thought?

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