Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly linkup of book bloggers hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl! This week we’re featuring bookish discoveries we made last year, and for me, I’ve always enjoyed chronicling the authors even I can’t believe I’d never read before each year. So here are ten authors I read for the first time in 2019!
Antonia Fraser: Her biography Marie Antoinette: The Journey was outstanding and I’ve been seeking out her other books because she did such a great job taking me into the world just before the French Revolution and giving me the context to understand what was happening.
Salman Rushdie: I feel like Midnight’s Children, in all of its richness, is something that will only improve on re-read, and it definitely has me interested in reading more of his work besides!
Patricia Highsmith: I’m not always big into thrillers, but even though I knew how The Talented Mr. Ripley ends, having seen the movie, I got super invested in it. Definitely will be looking to read more in this series, and her books!
Taylor Jenkins Reid: Her contemporary, romance-forward books have been recommended enough that I had a couple on my list already, but I was lucky enough to get an advance copy of Daisy Jones and The Six and holy smokes I loved it so much, I’m really looking forward to reading her again!
James Baldwin: I’d had one of his other books on my shelf for a while, but my book club chose If Beale Street Could Talk and I was so happy I got a chance to move him up my list. What a way with words he has.
Albert Camus: I’d technically read parts of his essay about Sisyphus in high school, but I don’t think that really counts as having read him before. And I don’t know how much I will again: I hated The Stranger.
Bret Easton Ellis: I actually ended up reading two of his books this year: The Rules of Attraction and American Psycho. I often don’t care for satire, but his are very well-executed in a way I admired but didn’t connect with much. I could read him again but won’t seek him out, most likely.
Ottessa Moshfegh: Another case where an author was already on my list with one book but my book club picked a different title that I read first! I found My Year of Rest and Relaxation to be compelling almost despite itself. It’s not the sort of thing I usually enjoy and I don’t even know if I actually “enjoyed” it per se, but I will probably pick up her other books.
Haruki Murakami: He’s one of those authors that seem to have almost a cult following, and I did find The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle engaging. But it was weird, and a little too heavy on the magical realism for me, and I’d try him again but I’m not sure I’m 100% on-board.
Junot Diaz: He has been credibly accused of sexual harassment, and the misogyny wasn’t hard to see in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. But it’s also a really great book. He’s a super talented writer.