Literature Month II: My Top 10 Authors of All Time

Greetings, reader!

Literature Month II continues, and today's post is a big one: the ranking of my 10 favorite authors of all time. These storytellers have shaped my taste in books, taken me to different worlds with their writing, and helped me grow as a person and find new perspectives in life.

Also, as a rule of thumb: no matter how big of an impact a certain author-who-must-not-be-named might have had on my childhood, she can f**k right off from any top 10 of mine until she apologizes for her tirades against trans people. I guess I sorted out my priorities, as Ron Weasley famously told Hermione to do.

Here are my honorable mentions: Arthur Conan Doyle, Frank Herbert, Jack London, Kurt Vonnegut, Mary Shelley, Rick Riordan.

10. C.S. Lewis

During my original years of being a major bookworm, in my childhood, fantasy books were the shit. I consumed instalments of various fantasy series, devouring their fictional universes and jumping to the next one while coming back to re-read the favorites every now and then. And one of the most beloved collections was The Chronicles of Narnia, the 7-part epic that filled my head with magic and inspiration with its compelling world, lovable heroes and fascinating storytelling.

I love the fact that Lewis was friends with J.R.R. Tolkien, as I can only imagine the wild conversations that the two fantasy masterminds must have had during pub evenings in Oxford. While Lewis is no Tolkien, he might very well be the next best thing, as his works have stood the test of time and and continue to impress and hook readers.

9. George Orwell

Orwell is a deeply divisive figure, as a writer who pours politics into his fiction is bound to become especially as time passes - voices on both the left and the right have presented their own reasons for why actually Orwell was wrong about everything and his books shouldn't be praised and taught about. Having read many of these arguments, I always find them to be a tad over-thought - naturally there will be individual parts in books from a different time that wouldn't quite work the same way in today's society, and Orwell's philosophies certainly don't fit into any one black-and-white mold of opinions that people might hope for as he had such a complex viewpoint on things (as you're bound to do, when being a British socialist in World War II while also gaining a unique perspective on how the Soviet Union's system didn't work despite his left-wing views).

When not over-thinking or hoping that everything Orwell writes will fit 100% perfectly into your own political compass, the fact remains that the biggest takeaways from his writings - criqitue of totalitarism and propaganda, cries for equality and freedoms of individuals - are extremely relevant to this day. As a history buff I loved Animal Farm for what a perfect analogy it was for the USSR, and as an activist-spirited civil rights enthusiast, I was shocked how much of modern phenomena, from Cambridge Analytica to Fox News, had been more or less predicted and warned about in 1984. These are important books, and people need to keep reading them, as one extra step in keeping the populists and liars from winning.

8. George R. R. Martin

From one George to another, here's a writer who revitalized the fantasy literature craze of my childhood in my teenage years, but with a new twist. Martin writes fantasy just as epic in scope and poetic in prose as Tolkien or Lewis, but his fantasy replaces clichés and black-and-white heroics with fleshed-out antiheroes, dark realities of the middle ages, and morally grey storytelling. The Song of Ice and Fire series, on which the hit series Game of Thrones (2011-2019) is based, contains the biggest positives of conventional fantasy literature, but it goes far and beyond being typical with its brutal kick spiced into the world of Westeros and its stories and characters.

But if there's one thing even more impressive about Martin than his use of dark and realistic themes, its his intricacy. The worldbuilding in his works is insanely off the charts, with the intricate details of Westeros' history and lore, from the different religions and customs to the vast family histories and complex geopolitics, seeming to be his life's work (or rather, more than one man's life's work, as at this point I've lost all hope that the 74-year-old will live to finish The Winds of Winter, let alone the "upcoming" seventh and final instalment). The mastermind created a fantasy world so vast and large-in-scope that even his own mind hasn't been able to wrap it up, but if it's any consolation, the world of fantasy fans has gotten a great deal of joy and fulfilment (as well as heartbreak and trauma) from the inner workings of his incredible imagination.

7. Mark Manson

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is a provocative book title, especially if you're a middle-aged woman who cares a great deal of many things, yet there was something that made my mother pick this particular book from the airport bookstore and bring it as a souvenir to her then-18-year-old son. And I sure am glad that she did - that book had an effect on me, to such a degree that I honestly consider myself to be a better person thanks to it. Through blunt language, filled to the brim with profanity and wild humor, the blogger-turned-writer Mark Manson finds some ultimate truths about life and the human experience, with valuable lessons we could all learn from.

His follow-up book, Everything Is F**ked: A Book About Hope is a more existential one, and one that also had a tremendous effect on me, albeit in a slightly different way. As a big fan of living life, I've always had a bit of a hard time coming to terms with the facts of mortality, but this book really spoke to me and helped find some truly helpful viewpoints, with Manson channelling his own take on Nietzche's philosophy while shedding some light on the human need for a legacy and "eternity projects".

6. Agatha Christie

The unbridled and iconic queen of detective mysteries, Agatha Christie truly defined the genre with her beloved mix of humor, intrigue and plot twists. Her style of storytelling is simultaneously "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", as a vast majority of her books follow a similar structure with many tropes re-appearing, yet also "always find a new twist to keep things fresh", as hardly any of the stories go in as straight-forward of a manner as you'd expect.

My problem with conventional whodunit-stories often is that it's always anti-climactic when the killer is revealed to be just one of the few main suspects, yet Christie books almost always one-up the reader's expectations by going the extra mile for an out-of-the-box extra twist - the better-known and most groundbreaking twist endings can be found from The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and Murder on the Orient Express, but other severely underrated iterations can be found from Evil Under the Sun, The Mystery of the Blue Train and The Mysterious Affair at Styles, to name a few.

Her books also have a specific vibe and nostalgic value to them, as the bookshelves in the attic room of our family cabin are filled with her books, and I strongly associate her mysteries to that place - nothing like going to the cabin in the summer, picking up a dusty Christie classic from there and delving into its story for the next day or two.

5. John Steinbeck

As I mentioned in my Great American Novels post a few weeks back, Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath was about as life-changing of a book to me as can be. This was thanks to a combination of elements - the social criticism and progressive-for-its-time values really spoke to my activist spirit, Steinbeck's writing style and word choices painted such a picture-perfect portrait of Great Depression -era America that I felt as if I was there myself when reading his words, and his creative narrative style (with every other chapter being a longer one where the main story progresses, and every other chapter being a short interlude describing a specific phenomenon in order to create atmosphere and context) was downright addictive - not to mention hellishly inspiring to me as a writer.

And while The Grapes of Wrath cannot be beaten, Steinbeck's other material is very much worth one's time as well, whether it's the gripping character dynamics of Of Mice and Men or the grim yet funky atmosphere of The Wayward Bus. Like many old-time writers, Steinbeck certainly has his instances of word choices and attitudes that haven't aged well, but I see them more as a reflection of the overall dominant racism and sexism of the society of the time, than as Steinbeck himself being a particularly rotten individual. If you're willing to get through those unfortunate parts, there's a treasure trove of amazing literature awaiting you if you ever feel like getting acquainted with his works.

4. Ernest Hemingway

"And when the old man died; Jack Hemingway cried

And the birds flew high; up into the night sky

And the stars stood still; they all refused to yield

The only real sound; a shotgun wound"

 - Squealers, Jack Hemingway Cried

The all-American writer, whose experiences as an ambulance driver in World War I Italy and a journalist in the Spanish Civil War inspired some world class literature while his chaotic lifestyle further solidified his larger-than-life character status, truly embodied the iconic quote "In order to write about life, first you must live it". The quote, by the way, is attributed to Hemingway himself, because of course it is.

His writing style always was gritty and and concise, yet he dealt with such themes that the mental images rising from his no-extra-roses vocabulary are large in scale. Hemingway's words feel like dry whiskey, bringing you much enjoyment once you get acquainted with the initially strong and bleak taste. Hemingway's works, from the brutality of For Whom the Bell Tolls and the intrigue of To Have and Have Not to the Pulitzer-winning writing of The Old Man and the Sea and the ultimately moving A Farewell to Arms, are certainly worth diving into.

3. William Shakespeare

You know how we all have a massive Shakespeare phase when we're 19 years old? Oh, just me? Well, then, let me fill you in.

You know how cool it is to watch The Godfather (1972) and just feel how influential the movie is, noticing all sorts of elements that Hollywood has tried to copy ever since and the origin of many famous character archetypes and lines of dialogue? Reading Shakespeare is like that, but for all western fiction - his plays are so full of tropes, narratives and character types that have become the absolute basis for stories both tragic and comedic ever since, that it truly feels like peeking into history in the making.

Also, the plays are just awesome. The comedies range from actually much more hystercially funny than one might expect for the 1600's (The Comedy of Errors, The Merchant of Venice) to delightfully atmospheric with beautiful and colorful dialogue (A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest), while his tragedies range from gripping, dramatic character dynamics (Othello, Julius Caesar) to heavy and hard-hitting themes exploring the very core of humanity (King Lear, Macbeth).

Shakespeare's language is addictive once thou starteth to get a hang of ye olde English, and his storytelling and character writing is quite unmatched. Hamlet is up there with Mozart's compositions and the Mona Lisa in the category of works of art that define the human race.

2. Stephen King

The biggest challenge of today's list, by far, was deciding where exactly to rank the author who I am currently obsessed with. Some would say "careful not to rank him too highly just because you're currently going through a King phase, try to stay unbiased", but honestly, there's an argument to be made for him at #1 because I know I've never been this thoroughly swept away by one author's works for a period of time (not a short period, either - every full book I've read in 2023 so far has been by King, because I just keep wanting more and more). I made the decision to put him at #2, as only time will tell if he truly deserves to be ahead of the writer I've considered my all-time favorite for well over ten years, and whose #1 spot is only now being remotely challenged. King still makes it ahead of the likes of Christie, Hemingway and even The Bard himself, because what his books have caused in me is just something else.

It's not even about the horror for me - sure, horror is his primary genre and God knows the man does it well, as Pet Sematary and It are most definitely the two scariest books I've ever read and far creepier than any horror film. But my love (addiction, really) for his writing goes so much deeper than that. It's many little things - his balance of gritty cynicism and idealistic hope, his awe-inspiring word choices and ability to always find the best possible adjectives and synonyms to paint a picture with his words, his admittedly cocaine-fueled high-stakes adrenaline-pumping brand of storytelling, and the way he weaves tough themes into his books and leaves things open for interpretation (depending on the reader, The Shining is either a supernatural tale of a haunted hotel where Jack Torrance's alcoholism is just a side narrative, or it's purely a story about a family father's struggles with alcoholism as it takes over his life, with the fantasy elements being a subplot or even mere symbolism).

But more than anything, it's his imagination. I've always had a big imagination, and as my love for consuming stories is pretty much equal to my love for creating them, I've always appreciated storytellers with good imaginations - and no one imagines quite as wildly King. It can be seen in how he fills a story - Misery is hundreds of pages of two people talking in a cabin, yet not one sentence of it is boring. It can be seen in his worldbuilding - The Stand is over 1200 pages long not because the story takes place over a long period of time or because everything is described in detail, but because the story has the largest scope I've ever come across.

And it can be seen in his narrative structures - I was blown away by the interlude chapters in Carrie, where fictional scientific studies and newspaper headlines about the book's events written in the future are interspersed between the actual story, not to mention the structure of It, where we flash between the 1958 timeline and the 1985 timeline in a creative fashion while having lore-deepening interlude chapters in between, and eventually a chapter from the perspective of It itself, which is just about the most mind-bending writing I've witnessed. Basically, everything King does he does with a massively creative mind, and for a fellow writer, consuming his works with the intense and hyper-focused drive of a main character in a King novel is just about the most addictive and inspiring reading I've ever done. He's still at #2 for now, but ask me again after I've finished the Dark Tower series - he's certainly getting closer to first place every day. But for now...

1. J.R.R. Tolkien

I think the main reason why I'm still letting Tolkien hold his #1 spot for now, in addition to the nostalgic and sentimental value of having been a fan since childhood, is that it would feel wrong to put King ahead of Tolkien while emphatizing the writer's imagination as his biggest strength - after all, let's not forget that John Ronald Reuel Tolkien not only created fictional worlds, but he created peoples with cultures and histories and lores as detailed as many in the real world, down to them having their own languages that Tolkien also created - not as in creating a few words into a made-up language to sound cool, but rather using his linguistic knowledge and endless creativity to build entire language systems, with their own grammar rules and entire vocabularies and all. This man is a legend.

My journey down the Tolkien rabbit hole started off in the usual way - reading The Lord of the Rings, loving it, watching the movies and loving them, and also reading The Hobbit. But unlike most people, I didn't stop there. I was around 12 years old when I read The Silmarillion, which has been called "The Bible of Tolkien's fictional universe" (which is a bit offensive - one is the greatest story ever told, after all, although the Bible is also pretty neat). Then it was The Children of Húrin, then it was The Book of Lost Tales, Beren and Luthien, Kullervo, The Return of the Shadow - the road goes ever on and on...

And through it all, I was constantly amazed at how deep Tolkien's imagination ran, with the fabled beauty of the fictional world he crafted being so intricate and full of life. The stories he told were massively dramatic and heroic as well - truly the kinds of 'stories that really mattered' that Samwise Gamgee talks about in his Two Towers monologue, which feels like Peter Jackson paying tribute to Tolkien through a deeply moving meta lens. The Lord of the Rings trilogy feels so authentically dark and desparate and devoid of hope at times, that it feels like a larger-than-life payoff when...well, I won't spoil anything to any people who haven't read it (although I will recommend that you cancel all your plans for the next few days and read the trilogy f**king immediately).

I also love Tolkien's somewhat polarizing style of writing - I've heard the classic criticism of "Haha, the characters will enter a forest and Tolkien will describe what the trees look like for 10 pages" many times, and seriously - kindly f**k off with that bullshit and go watch the latest Transformers movie if the art of engaging storytelling isn't for you. Tolkien's vast descriptions are breathtakingly beautiful, as reading those pages truly makes you see the glorious waterfalls of Rivendell, the green pastures of the Shire, the apocalyptic fires of Mordor and the mythical shores of Numenor in you mind's eye. I wouldn't be half the writer I am today if it wasn't for the inspiration from Tolkien's books, guiding me through childhood and adulthood like the light of Eärendil itself.

Thank you for reading! Tune in next week for the final post of Literature Month II - I return to what I love to discuss more than anything, with a ranking of the top 10 books I've read (so far) by Stephen King.