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Have you ever wondered what your favorite author reads does? Like, books, they get inspiration from or influence their kind of genre? Perhaps, reading the same books you have on your bedside table.
There are many famous authors and writers out there, and they have shaped how you write one way or the other. Oy, you are a bookworm sans the writing.
Reading multi-genre is also good because it opens up your consciousness, widens your knowledge, and change your perspective.
Here are 10 famous authors and 3 of their favorite books:
1. JK Rowling
“The Harry Potter” series is one of the all-time favorites of millions of readers worldwide. The author herself has many books she used as a reference for the series, and she loves reading. Over the years, she had mentioned plenty of her favorite titles.
Here are 3 of the books that have a deep impact on her and her writing:
Emma by Jane Austen
“I’ve read all her books so many times I’ve lost count,” Rowling told Amazon. She had read Emma at least 20 times.
The Woman Who Walked Into Doors by Roddy Doyle
“My favorite living author is Roddy Doyle,” She told Amazon. This novel is about the relationship of a woman to a violent man. “I don’t think I’ve ever encountered such a believable, fully rounded female character from any other heterosexual male writer at any age,” She told O, The Oprah Magazine.
Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
The book is about Abraham Lincoln’s political skill, and Goodwin had won a Pulitzer Prize. Rowling was mesmerized by how skillfully Goodwin conjured Lincoln’s America.
“I lived in it the way that you do with truly great books, putting it down with glazed eyes and feeling disconcerted to find yourself in the 21st century,” Rowling told The New York Times. “I met the author at a reception in the American Embassy in London, and I was so excited that I was bobbing up and down on the spot like a 5-year-old.”
Source: Entertainment
2. Khaled Hosseini
Khaled Hosseini is an Afghan-American novelist and physician. After graduating from college, he worked as a physician in California, a predicament which he compared to an "arranged marriage."
He had featured an Afghan as a protagonist in 3 of his published books.
Succeeding the success of The Kite Runner was his retirement from medicine because he decided to write full-time.
The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns, And The Mountains Echoed are 3 of the most moving books I have read. I have missed some books by this author, but surely I will look for them.
What are his influences? Let's see from his top 3 favorite books:
Nutshell by Ian McEwan
Seven Brief Lessons on Physics by Carlo Rovelli
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
No explanations, but I guess it's up to you to find out; I have the titles written down too, adding to my reading list.
Source: GoodReads
3. Veronica Roth
Veronica Roth is an American novelist and short-story writer.
She is famous for her YA series Divergent.
She writes Young Adult genre fiction, and it's not surprising to know that she also loves the same genre to read. Despite being discouraged and advised to shift to adult fiction, she stuck to her YA loves.
Roth has fought for the YA genre despite the buzz of her professors around her before. Defiantly she read her favorite YA, and she cited her influences for her bestselling series.
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
In one of the interviews, Roth disclosed that she has a bit of a literary crush on Laini Taylor; she calls her "a beautiful writer." Daughter of Smoke and Bone's covered angels and demons and star-crossed love, it takes you into a dark world painted by magic, love, and tragedy.
The Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling
The same with everybody else, Roth also is a total fangirl of this series. Harry Potter gave her the idea of sorting people into groups. "Harry Potter is the best thing." She told USA Today
The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins
The adventure in the YA series with the dark and adult plot of Divergent has been compared to The Hunger Games of Suzanne Collins. There is no competition, and Roth doesn't mind the comparison; in fact, she is a big fan of Collins herself.
From Bustle
4. Suzanne Collins
Suzanne Collins is an American television writer and author. She was the head writer for Scholastica Entertainment's Clifford's Puppy Days.
Before The Hunger Games series, she was already known for her The Underland Chronicles. The protagonist was a 12-year-old boy, when oh, boy! Oh boy! The series glued me like a sloth on the couch.
Here are the 3 from the books she loves:
The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
When she was in 10th grade, Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge was one of the reading materials, and she couldn't get into it, but seven years later, she came across the book again consumed four of the novel in one sitting. Katniss Everdeen got her last name from Bathsheba Everdene, the Far From the madding crowd. She said the two characters are the exact opposite, and the only similarity was, both struggled with knowing their hearts.
Myths and Enchantment Tales by Margaret Evans Price
"I've had a lifelong love of mythology, so I'd have to top the list with Myths and Enchantment Tales by Margaret Evans Price." She told the Entertainment Weekly.
Lastly. she had read Lord of the Flies by William Golding several times.
*source Entertainment Weekly
5. Stephen King
Stephen King is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science fiction, and fantasy novels. Many of his books have been adapted into films, television series, and comic books.
King has written more than 60 books and sold more than 350 million copies in his career, and it seems he will be writing another 60 or more novels. Despite his busy schedule, he still manages to read; he is an avid reader himself. As mentioned in his memoir On Writing, "If you don't have time to read, you do not have time to write. Simple as that."
The King of Horror recommends these books. I will just be sharing the top 3 from the 50 must-read books he shared.
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
Included in his reading list for On Writing.
The Blind Man's Garden by Nadeem Aslam
"This is an eye-opening, heartbreaking novel of the war in Afghanistan." He said.
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Also included in his reading list for On Writing.
Source Book Riot
6. Paulo Coelho
Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist. He is best known for his 1988's International Bestseller, The Alchemist.
Here are 3 of his most recommended reads:
Tropic Cancer by Henry Miller
"Miller is the writer who gave me the initial stimulus to write. When I read Miller, I said to myself, 'Okay, this is literature.' He was a rebellious writer whose books were censored for years. And that in itself is meaningful for me." Coelho said.
Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges
"I read one of Borges' short stories in a science fiction magazine when I was 20, and I immediately fell in love with his style and universe. Later on, I discovered that the short story 'The babel Library' was part of this short story collection. Borges is the only South American writer all of whose books I have read and reread."
Gabriela, Clove, and Cinnamon by Jorge Amado
"Amado is the best Brazilian writer. He portrayed the Brazilian spirit to the world."
Source: Radical Reads
7. J.R.R Tolkien
J.R.R Tolkien was an English writer and scholar known for the famous novels, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
Tolkien's list of favorite books includes the 3:
The Book of Wonders by Lord Dunsany
Tolkien had mentioned Dunsany's works several times in his collected letters. In one letter he had, he talked about the author's fantasy character-naming abilities. Later, he wrote fondly about the "Chu-Bu and Sheemish" story, all from his favorite writer's works.
Source: GallyCat
Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
Published in 1862, Victorian genre fiction. Tolkien had borrowed some of the ideas for The Hobbits from this book.
Same with:
The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald. Published in 1872.
The characters and plot building of The Hobbit and its sequel, The Lord of the Rings, have been influenced by these books.
Source: Independent
8. Sidney Sheldon
Sidney Sheldon was an American writer. He was one of the world's best-selling fiction writers and the most translated and was a Guinness Book of Records Holder for the latter. He died in 2007 at the age of 89.
"I try to write books so the reader can't put them down." He explains in a 1982 interview. "I try to construct them so when the reader gets to the end of it, he or she has to read just one more chapter. It's the technique of the old Saturday afternoon serial: leave the guy hanging on the edge of the cliff at the end of the chapter."
I read The Other Side of Midnight when I was a freshman in college, and I, since then, have been a big fan of his works. Before the YA genre, I was a super fan of a fast-paced crime and thriller novels. Books that are sleep-depriving worthy.
But what could be his influence? It took me a while before I got the answers, but instead of book titles, he broadly gave the names of the authors who are his influences because they were great storytellers:
Sinclair Lewis
Thomas Wolfe
Charles Dickens
source: CNN 2000
9. Isabel Allende
Isabel Allende is a Chilean writer whose works transcend from magical realism. Her best-known novels are The House of the Spirits and City of the Beasts, which both have been a success commercially. Allende has been called "the world's most widely read Spanish-language author."
Here are 3 of her favorite books:
The Arabian Nights by Sir Richard Burton
She was just 14, a solitary girl in Lebanon; it was the 1950s when she was exposed to read these luscious stories with a flashlight inside a cramped closet to avoid parental censorship. She relives all the magic, eroticism, adventure, and mischievous characters when she writes.
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The most important Latin American novel of the 20th century. Allende related to the characters in the novel because they reminded her of her family. "I realized that with the family like mine, I didn't have to invent anything to write fiction." She said.
The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer
"As a young woman, I was desperately angry with machismo until I read this 1970 book -- revolutionary at the time --and discovered that there was an articulate, smart and humorous way to tackle the patriarchy. I channeled my fury into action and became a feminist journalist." Allende stated.
source: the week
10. Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, and inventor.
Since 1961, she has published books of poetry, novels, non-fiction, short fiction, and children's books. She won various awards and honors for her writing.
Her notable works include The Handmaid's Tale, Oryx and Crake, and The Testament.
Atwood has something to say about a dystopian society, and being locked-down is not a big issue for her.
She has book recommendations, especially during this pandemic, intended for those bookworms who are so suddenly confined in a 4-corner of their homes instead of hustling and bustling the busy streets, transits, and cafes.
Here are the top 3 from the books she shared to read while self-isolating:
Rats, Lice, and History by Hans Zinsser
She was asked what plague book she would recommend. This is about how America was like before (and during) the wipe-out caused by European microbes.
In the Lateness of World by Carolyn Forche
This is a poetry book in a time of crisis.
Miss Marple Tells a Story by Agatha Christie
The story is very soothing that you'll calm right down, she said.
source: ew
Oftentimes, what you read is what you write or just an influence on how your protagonist or antagonist behaves in your story.
It’s just so exciting to note that your favorite author is just like you. They read because it’s one of the ways to keep the fire burning and produce bestselling novels.
Fundamentally, we only write as well as we read.
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