Booking Through Thursday

What is today's question? May I Introduce...

1. How did you come across your favorite author(s)? Recommended by a friend? Stumbled across at a bookstore? A book given to you as a gift?
2. Was it love at first sight? Or did the love affair evolve over a long acquantance?

Hmmm. Well, first I have to decide which authors are my favorites. It seems that I am at a bit of a loss here. Once upon a time, my favorite authors were Louis L'Amour and Robert Heinlein. I discovered Louis out of necessity. Most of the books that were available to me as a teen were Westerns and I devoured every one. Louis gave me hour upon hour of pleasant diversion and escape. I discovered Heinlein in high school. As his books became wilder, longer, and with ever less satisfying ends, I continued to read more for morbid curiousity than for love. In one terrible year, I lost both of my favorite authors and was left to fend for myself.

I now flit from author to author and can no longer name one or a few who are favorites. I very much enjoy Jane Austen and count her as a favorite. Even though she did not write many volumes, I still have not read them all. That hardly casts a strong ballot for her. One of my favorite books is The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer, by Neal Stephenson, but I cannot seem to finish many of his other titles even though several are on my bookshelf. Again, no ballot cast here. Probably the strongest case can be made for Cornelia Funke. I found her by previewing books for Young Man and was quickly pulled into Inkheart. Yes, she may be my current favorite.

So, I am definitely not a love at first sight woman. Let the courtship continue!