My Top 5 Favourite Authors!

[@sailormiu]

your love for literature bursts out of you in your videos! watching u made me feel so refreshed and happy after the heaviness of today :]

[@WillowTalksBooks]

That is so sweet! But sorry your day was rough 💜

[@rachel1021]

T. Kingfisher is so good at what she does 🖤

[@Ann_T_Social]

Willow, thank you. You're so delightful and earnest and lovely, and watching your videos makes me feel better about the world because people like you are in it. Anyway, now that I've fan-girled a bit...I've been in an Adrian Tchaikovsky phase for the better part of a year, but I just ordered a book I haven't yet read by Olga Tokarczuk (I love her), "Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead"; also, "Babel" by R.F. Kuang, and "The Memory Police" by Yoko Agawa. Here's to a new phase ~ Willow Recommended. Much love to you, deary 🙂

[@Gen-yh1jz]

Please do a top 20. That would be a fun reading list to work on for the upcoming year. ❤

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Fun idea!

[@ads2903]

Great video! I always enjoy top 5 lists. It would be very cool if you could breakdown your fave books by genre!

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Fun idea! Thanks!

[@bookvirago]

The way most of them are women 😭 I get really angry whenever I have to study Shakespeare or Milton, wondering what we missed by women not being allowed to write back then.

[@user-ny1wo1vp9r]

While I agree with you, I'd like to point out there were women back in the day who wrote. There were a lot fewer of them, yes, but the ones who did write are worth checking out if you are interested in women's writing. Marie De France and Aphra Behn come to my mind.

[@bookvirago]

@@user-ny1wo1vp9r I have read Aphra Behn, and some other women writers. Will check out Marie de France. But yes, what I meant was if women had had the same opportunities to write as men, the canon would've been so different!

[@rebecca.reader]

Gosh Willow, every time I watch one of your videos, you make me want to read ALL of the books that you talk about. You are a fantastic and very eloquent ( and persuasive) booktuber . And I have to agree about Ishaguro. He is one of my favourites too. Off now to purchase a book by each of these others 😂

[@RachaelsLibrary]

It's a fun video. R.F. Kuang, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Sayaka Murata are my fave authors.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Fantastic choices 🖤

[@inkladizzable]

Sweet Daria shirt! I want one.

[@RachaelsLibrary]

So cute. I want one too.

[@gladouhills9039]

Babel is also one of my favorite book of all time 😃. It's such an amazing novel !

[@alices.9186]

Just love this video and your Daria's tshirt 😍

[@badfaith4u]

I love RF Kuang. 📚📚📚 Babel and Yellowface has been enjoyed while The Poppy War series is on my TBR list.

[@lacamila666]

Mariana and kazuo are certainly up there for me too :)

[@LilMorphineAnnie]

A brilliant video as per usual. I wouldn't even know where to start if I attempted this! Also DARIA TEE hell yeah. Pre-teen me was obsessed with Daria!

[@chrisreadingcorner3816]

Hi Willow, this is a great video. I have read the dangers of smoking in bed which I really enjoyed. I still need to read the Memory Police, as I think I will enjoy it. I have unfortunately haven't read T Kingfisher or R F Kuang. Kazuo Ishiguro I have only read come rain or come shine although I do have three novels of his.

[@badger-1984]

I was really expecting Mieko Kawakami and Selva Almada to be on this list but the authors you picked instead are just as deserving. There's so many incredible authors out there that narrowing it down to just five is incredibly difficult

[@shannonfairywalker2466]

Loved the list! I always love coming to you for your recommendations. One gothic I finished recently and really enjoyed was the Hacienda by Isabel Cañas if you haven't read that yet 💗💗

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Ooh I’ll check that out!

[@Darksilviah]

Loved this video!! Thank you Willow! (LOVE your Daria t-shirt!!) 😘

[@danielaweberdani]

wonderful selection, as hard as it may be to choose, your preferences (especially from translated literature) set the colors in this beautiful channel. 🎨

[@SophiaRavenna]

T. Kingfisher is one of my favorite authors, too! I love how even when her books have a strong element of horror, they also feel cozy because they're anchored by such loveable characters and you know that at least some of them will be OK in the end. My spouse and I just picked up Our Share of Night last night. It was recommended by a local bookseller and I seemed to recall seeing you rec it, so that was enough to overcome our usual rule of only getting fiction as ebooks from the library (otherwise we'd be buried under novels).

[@jaimee-kate]

Love Ishuguro so much ❤ fantastic list!

[@kimw9008]

Your passion is catching!

[@elizabethgriffith8684]

A great list! You’ve inspired me to finally pick up The Remains of the Day which has been sitting on my shelf forever. I have read Klara and the Sun and Never Let Me Go, I’m not sure why I haven’t kept going with his work. My favourite authors might be Daphne DuMaurier, Shirley Jackson, Toni Morrison, Susanna Clarke, Julia Armfield and Margaret Atwood?? but that is a hard question

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Your faves are amazing choices :)

[@Rotwood]

I tried to do choose 5 and it is difficult! Settled on those I've read the most of their works and would instantly buy if there is something new from them: T. Kingfisher, Martha Wells, Andrew Joseph White, KJ Charles and Cat Sebastian. That list hurt to make. I've just started reading The Remains of the Day thanks to your promotion of Kazuo Ishiguro.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

I’ve never heard of your last two but I love the others so I should probably read them, too!

[@Rotwood]

@@WillowTalksBooks I'm a historical queer romance junkie, so I had to include the last two considering how much of their recent books I've devoured. 😅

[@xfayiel2690]

The struggle 🤭🤭 Update: Great choice for no 1 🤩

[@bobbykeniston7240]

Top 5 authors is a difficult task. I know Ishiguro would be on my list, too. I've said in the past that he writes only two kinds of books--- masterpieces and great. In terms of other living authors, I am pretty sure I would have a place for Jesmyn Ward--- I love "Salvage the Bones" and, especially "Sing, Unburied, Sing" so very much, as well as her nonfiction book, "Men We Have Reaped". I would need to read more Percival Everett before deciding, but what I have read (particularly "James") has blown me away. I do think Sayaka Murata would have to be on my list... I love "Earthlings", "Convenience Store Woman" and "Life Ceremonies" so much. Ah, but who else, there are so many??? Emily St. John Mandel keeps jumping up in my mind, as well as Claire Keegan. These last few years, I have loved everything I've read by Sarah Gailey. I was thrilled Han Kang won the Nobel Prize. So many to choose from!

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Mandel is a fantastic shout! And I love Gailey as well :)

[@jstamps9578]

Why do you torture yourself thusly dear Willow? You love books and writers from all over the world. So many writers and books that you truly treasure and can't wait to share critiques of. You have me reading books I never would've known existed but am so grateful to know now.

[@gamewrit0058]

If you're interested, you could do a periodic "5 faves," ep. 01 - x, whenever you're in the mood. I really appreciate that you structured this video to mention others and the criteria you used. No need to put yourself through that kind of painful decision making unless you want to, though. 💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜🌈♾️

[@gamewrit0058]

"As in 5 of my favorites" - no need for a strict hierarchy.

[@gamewrit0058]

T. Kingfisher, under the name Ursula Vernon, wrote Hamster Princess: Harriet the Invincible, the first in a series, and my favorite of that series. Loved it! It's a novel/illustrated novel/comic hybrid that's listed for readers ages 4-10. This book is a spinoff of T. Kingfisher's Thornhedge novel, which is how I found it.

[@tirarosaurioreads]

If I ever get to do this kind of video for my channel my answers are going to be so similar that it will look like I'm copying you lol Ogawa, Ishiguro and Enriquez are personal favorites of mine.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Amazing!

[@tirarosaurioreads]

@@WillowTalksBooks They're the best

[@RoxyWrites-l3t]

I'm so happy I found your channel. I'm having a face of not reading, mostly because it seems there is nothing more than comercial horny books for teens in the bookshops. I hope one of these dives me into reading again.

[@Calcprof]

In no particular order: China Melville, Jorge Luis Borges, Charles Dickens, Philip K Dick, Ursula LeGuin, Thomas Pynchon, Haruki Murakami, and a few others. Like Gene Wolfe, Thomas DIsch, Alice Sheldon (usually writing as James Tiptree), Cordwainder Smith, and more.... Oops, more than 5.

[@gamewrit0058]

A Sorceress Comes to Call is one of T. Kingfisher's 2024 releases. So far, I've read the first 5 pages, perhaps the most terrifying thing I've ever read. Huge trigger warning for anyone with controlling or abusive parents who look like they're doing nothing wrong on the outside. And complete loss of bodily autonomy and privacy. First scene involves a fly (the insect) and sitting in church. Really, really well written, amazingly written. And chilling in a way most modern horror and no slasher film could ever be.

[@shuwei9420]

Can you please tell me how you do your hair because I am jealous! I am also so happy to see RF Kuang and T Kingfisher on your very exclusive list 😍 I am also convinced that based on how Sayaka Murata can throw you into a spiralling daze, we will be best friends if we ever meet (why do I live in Australia!).

[@WillowTalksBooks]

I honestly just wash it and brush it 😅

[@nl3064]

J.G. Ballard, H.P. Lovecraft, Vladimir Nabokov, Cormac McCarthy, and Hunter Thompson or Thomas Pynchon. Honorable mentions to Philip Roth and John Fowles and Flanerry O'Connor and Yukio Mishima and Bret Easton Ellis and Chuck Palahniuk. That's who I like.

[@KymriDaniels]

More difficult choices for a list (& more book recommendations, bloody hell Willow will it ever end!) Heres my picks: 1) Kelley Armstrong 2) Trudi Canavan 3) Kate Mosse 4) Kameron Hurley 5) Karen Miller Also can't wait to (slowly!) check out the comments for more books.

[@neorich59]

Absolutely _love_ your passion and enthusiasm. I've never read any Kazuo Ishiguro, but would like to try one. Could you please give a recommendation as to which book would be a good "starter?" Cheers! 📚😉😉

[@WillowTalksBooks]

I want to recommend The Remains of the Day but I actually think Never Let Me Go is him at the height of his power :)

[@neorich59]

@@WillowTalksBooks Hi there, thanks for the quick response and the suggestions. I'll give Never Let Me Go a shot!

[@boodahlah]

It would be interesting if you do a top list of authors by genre.

[@Yourgirlmiu]

Mariana ❤

[@LasaraBoles-hr6wj]

Daria ❤

[@Dashen666]

Daria 😍

[@GiuseppeSole-i3t]

Do you read authors from the islamic cultures? Do you know Pasolini?

[@tiananesbitt7156]

Daria🤎🖤💚💜

[@craigstewart6073]

Just watched your video re Wuthering heights, which is the first video of yours i watched this, what the hell happened to your voice? No only has it gone up a few octaves but you now sound antipodean too!

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Ngl I had to Google antipodean

[@Gen-yh1jz]

Willow your voice is beautiful ❤

[@craigstewart6073]

@@WillowTalksBooks I'm not saying it's bad btw I was just curious because that's a hell of a change in 2 years.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

It was actually three months. I paid a lot of money for voice training. I did a video on it if you’re interested 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@WillowTalksBooks]

A weird side effect of voice training! 🏳️‍⚧️🎤 #trans #voice