The Reading Challenge Group discussion

Canada just had Canada Day, and the US has Independence Day later this week. It's good to take pride in your country!

Who is your favourite author from the country of your birth? (If you have a lot to choose from, you can narrow it down to your state/province/shire or even city. If you've lived in more than one country in your life, feel free to give us an answer for each one!)

My favourite Canadian author is L.M. Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables, Emily of New Moon, etc). I also lived in England for part of my childhood, so I'll give a second answer - my favourite English author (my fave author, period) is Charles Dickens. :)

Tough question. I have to think about this one.

My favorite author is Sherrilyn Kenyon.

Wow, this is tough because I usually don't read italian literature XD My fav authors are all american or english XD But I do like Italo Calvino 'cause I read one book during high school and I also liked this book by Massimo Manfredi Spartan. I have more books of Manfredi at home and sooner or later I'll read them all. :)

Great post Faye! I'm a bad Canadian and will admit that I don't read all that much Canadian content. Howerver, my current favourites are Margaret Atwood and Terry Fallis.

John Steinbeck and Mark Twain for male authors. Elizabeth George is a favorite female, but there are too many to choose from depending on the genre. And of course, British authors are my fave.

Oh! I forgot Vince Flynn is my all-time thriller/action author.

Robert Penn Warren is from Clarksville - my grandmother actually graduated high school with his brother - although he is not my favorite author.

As far as contemporary American authors, I would say that Stephen King and Jim Butcher are my favorite authors.

Classic authors would have to be Mark Twain and Ernest Hemingway

I haven't read that many Indian authors...mostly contemporary and a few classics...anyway, here goes my faves:

Contemporary : Ravinder Singh
Classics : Vikram Seth and Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay for his phenomenal Making a Mango Whistle and of course - Ruskin Bond!

My favourite Indian authors are R.K.Narayan, Rabindranath Tagore, Ruskin Bond and Sudha Murthy. Love their books.

In addition I also love the works of P.L.Deshpande, who wrote in Marathi, which is the regional language of the city and State where I live currently. He specialised in humour.

Oh, I love Tagore! <3

Markus Zusak, I haven't read his books but he is the only Australian Author i know a bit about

Good question, a bit tricky for me. As far as Italian literature is concerned I don't care that much about contemporary authors, but I loved Eco's The Name of the Rose. I also loved Leopardi's poetry and Pirandello's works.

I haven't read a lot of my adopted country's authors, I liked Witi Ihimaera's The Whale Rider and I adore Lynley Dodd's children books (Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy).

That would have to be Diana Gabaldon, my favorite author just happens to be American :)

I have been thinking about this for 2 days now and I have decided that I just love too many authors to say I have a favorite.

I haven't read that many books by Northern Irish authors but the few I've read have been fantastic.
Colin Bateman is so funny. Crime thrillers based in Belfast that I found hysterical.
Stuart Neville is a very talented writer. Crime novels again but very dark and gritty. It turns out he's also my cousin's cousin's cousin! (NI is very small).

All time favorite American authors are Nathaniel Hawthorne and Jack London. New favorite is Willa Cather, whom I read for the first time this summer. She is fabulous!

I'm also inordinately find of the romantic comedies of Jennifer Crusie. Also, she's really generous with advice on writing, which makes her a goddess in my book. Particular favorites are Bet Me, Welcome to Temptation, Faking It, Agnes and the Hitman.

Oh, I love Jack London, too. My fave as a teenager! And for a good laugh, what about Janet Evanovich.

Roseanne wrote: "I have been thinking about this for 2 days now and I have decided that I just love too many authors to say I have a favorite."
I have, too. I'm glad I'm not the only one.

Emily wrote: "Markus Zusak, I haven't read his books but he is the only Australian Author i know a bit about"

You should definitely read 'The Book Thief':)

Difficult question because I was born in Switzerland but I haven't read a lot of Swiss authors. I remember to have read and liked something by Friedrich Dürrenmatt.
But now I live in Italy (I have Italian citizenship) and I have never been very fond of Italian literature though in these last years I was determined to read more by Italian autors. I like a lot the books by Alberto Moravia, Giovanni Verga, Dino Buzzati, Italo Calvino and I love Tiziano Terzani.

My favorite author is almost always the one that wrote the book I'm currently reading.

I'm American, but now live in the UK with my husband, and call myself Anglo-American. Nicola Griffith was born in the UK, but now lives in the US with her wife, so I'll say that makes her Anglo-American too, and thus she gets the title of favourite author from my country.

My favorite Italian authors are Italo Calvino and Andrea Camilleri.

I lived in Luxembourg for a couple of years and I can't say they have many authors there (it's such a tiny country!) but I do like Anise Koltz.

New Zealand writers.

Keri Hulme tops the list for me.

Janet Frame is highly thought of - I don't relate to her stuff, somehow.

Witi Ihimaera is good, you can really get a sense of NZ from his novels.

Elsie Locke - historian and writer

Barry Crump - infamous Kiwi bloke.

Deborah Challinor - contemporary fiction

There are writers who originated in NZ but lived elsewhere as adults. NZ proudly claims them anyway.

Katherine Mansfield - relocated to England. Some NZ based writing.

Dame Ngaio Marsh, one of the 4 original 'queens of crime'. Her writing is all set in England, where she also mostly lived.

Enjoy!

Hmmmm, uh, yeah, Marcus Zusak I guess... I have read the Book Thief so yeah

From Brazil; Jorge Amado. Try Dona Flor and her two husbands. It’s about a woman that becomes a widow but marries again after a while and the ghost of her late husband comes after her jealousy and she end up living with both of them at home. Its hilarious and you’ll learn a lot about Afro-Brazilian religions and typical dishes from the northeast, since the main character is a cooking teacher.

That sounds like a good book, Andre. I haven't read any of his books yet.