Top 5 Tuesday – Authors: P – Q – R – S – T

Hello!

We’re almost at the end of Shanah’s March themed topic on Top 5 authors (by letter!) Almost… but not quite although we are getting into the tricky letters now.

The rules are that there are no rules so I’ve mixed up mine by first name and last name.

Here we go!

Who is this lady? Oh you definitely know her but let me give you another clue.

Yep, Beatrix Potter is the inventor of one of the world’s most famous rabbits. One of the world’s most famous naughty rabbits but then again, a lot of her characters get into mischief of all kinds.

My favourite of all her characters is actually Mrs. Tiggly-winkle. Apparently when I was a child I was really fond of her. I’ve also always had a soft spot for Tom Kitten and Jemima Puddle-duck.

I went to the Lake District a good couple of years ago and visited what used to be Beatrix Potter’s cottage. There’s such a charming whimsy to the place, either that fueled her books or her books fed into the air.

Confession time: this author is Julia Quinn. I haven’t read a single book of hers. I hadn’t even heard of her before reaching the letter ‘Q’ and panicking. I went searching for Q authors because the Q authors I had were lacking.

After doing my research I decided to include Ms. Quinn on my list because I genuinely would read her books. She is known for writing historical romances and one of her series is due to become a Netflix adaptation by Shonda Rhimes.

First of all – if it’s good enough for Shonda, it’s good enough for Gerry.

Second of all – I actually really enjoy historical romances and that’s something that I never would have admitted when I was trying to be ‘cool’ in my early twenties. It took me until my thirties before I realised there was nothing uncool about enjoying historical romances and everything cool about openly liking stuff.

Look, we all know who J.K Rowling is and what she’s written.

Despite some recent…. interesting backtracks and creative choices I will always love the Harry Potter world. Always. 

Alice Sebold came into our lives and gave us The Lovely Bones and subsequently shattered my heart into little tiny shards. She has also written a memoir detailing her rape at the age of 17 called Lucky and that shattered those shards into splinters.

Unfortunately Alice’s second novel wasn’t so great which is such a shame and I think the resulting negative criticism possibly put her off ever publishing anything again. We’ll always have The Lovely Bones though.

Sir Terry Pratchett is famous for his Discworld series and he should be. I haven’t read all the books and I haven’t loved all the books I’ve read but he has created a charming, dizzying and extensive world and shows what a beautiful thing world building can be when done properly.

You may think that first and foremost the Discworld books are comedies – and they are – hysterically so at times but they also contain some of the most poignant and heartwarming writing I’ve ever read. The tragedy within the books is done with the utmost subtlety which makes it sharper somehow.

I think the most touching thing is that, before he died, Terry had people with terminal illnesses write to him to say that when their time came, they hoped death was like Death. He said that that always made him pause and stare at the wall for a while.

He injected his books with sharp humour but also with that same empathy and that’s what makes them wonderful.

Ready for next week? I am!

Let me know what you think of the above five and tell me what your p’s and q’s were for this week!