Who are my favorite writers? I’ve already confessed to being a huge Stephen King fan, though I don’t read much “horror” as a rule. He’s a consummate storyteller, and I am constantly arguing with people who turn up their noses just because of what they think he writes without ever actually reading his work. (And I admit I used to be one of those people. Then I read a borrowed copy of The Shining one winter quarter when nearly everyone had already left for Spring Break. I woke up in the middle of the night, went down the deserted hall to the bathroom, and found the doors mysteriously closed. The bathroom doors were never closed. When I finally got up the nerve to go in, I had to check all the stalls and the bathtubs before I could relieve my aching bladder. When I got back to my room, I checked under the bed, flipped the light switch by the door and ran — literally ran — toward the bed, trying to dive under the covers before something got me. I hadn’t done that since I was eight years old. So don’t tell me Stephen King is a hack; the man is a genius at making the fantastic utterly believable.)

I adore Toni Morrison, Anne Tyler, Barbara Kingsolver, Margaret Atwood (whom I had the honor of meeting at Agnes Scott), Kurt Vonnegut, Alice Hoffman, Joyce Carol Oates, Robert Heinlein, John Irving, Tabitha King and Mary Doria Russell. I’m a very eclectic reader. Lately, I've become a huge fan of Bill Bryson, David Sedaris and Elizabeth George's Inspector Lyndley series. Romance novels are about the only thing you will not find me reading.

Below are some of my very favorites, but by no means all. Many are books that helped form the person I am. You are what you read.
Gone With The Wind
by Margaret Mitchell

This is the book that made me want to be a writer. While the passage of years has caused me to view elements of this book with a more critical eye (namely, the one-dimensional stereotypes regarding people of color, the sugar-coated view of slavery), I still believe this is one of the greatest examples of pure storytelling magic ever. From a sociological point of view, GWTW is also a blueprint for understanding the Southern psyche and its myths, as well as its truths. Then again, I’m probably biased, since Sherman did burn my great-grandmother’s house.
Beloved
by Toni Morrison

Beloved is one of the rare occasions where lyrical writing and compelling storytelling combine. This book had a profound impact on me and epitomizes the power of writing to communicate basic truths about the human condition. Good writing is as close as we can get to living inside another skin and looking through other eyes, enabling us to understand with our hearts as well as our minds.

Beloved, as all of Morrison’s books, is not an easy read, but well worth the time and effort. One of the things I most admire about Morrison’s writing is the way she reveals her stories a piece at a time until finally all the elements come together with heart-rending beauty.
The Poisonwood Bible
by Barbara Kingsolver

I had read and enjoyed Kingsolver’s previous books Pigs in Heaven and The Bean Trees, but Poisonwood absolutely blew me away. I’m sure my Southern Baptist upbringing (and my general distrust of organized religion as an adult) is one of the reasons that I love this book, but it succeeds on so many levels. The characters are so real and their voices so distinct and compelling. The story of a family of missionaries swept into the Congo, this book explores not only the worldwide implications of religion and colonial politics, but also the complex intricacies of family relations.
The Sparrow
by Mary Doria Russell

When I try to describe this book to friends, I sometimes refer to it jokingly as "Jesuits in Space." The Sparrow is one of those genre-defying books that people seem hard put to describe. Call it science fiction with a heart and soul, or philosophy with one hell of a plot. The premise: earth has received radio transmissions from space full of beautiful music and the Catholic Church sends a group of scholars, scientists and priests to find the source. Years later, Father Emilio Sandoz emerges as the sole survivor, returned to earth like the ancient mariner to tell a tale full of wonder and horror and unspeakable tragedy.

This book expressed so powerfully and poignantly many of my own conflicted emotions about God and the role of that deity in human lives. And I confess: I fell in love with Father Sandoz.

The Handmaid's Tale
by Margaret Atwood

Call this one 1984 for feminists: in the not-too-distant future, the United States falls to pieces after terrorists attack Congress. This is the story of one woman trapped in the new Republic of Gilead, a theocracy where wombs are more valuable than women’s rights as human beings. Women may not own property or even read the signs on the street. A truly fascinating story.

A Prayer for Owen Meany
by John Irving

This is easily my favorite John Irving book. Why? Because it's the funniest, without a doubt, and the most heart-breaking. Owen Meany accidentally kills his best friend's mother (whom he worships with all his odd little heart) with a baseball, for God's sake.. how's that for a twisted reflection of that warped comedy that we call life? When Owen, dwarfishly small, is tapped to play the baby Jesus in the annual Christmas pageant, I laughed out loud till tears ran down my face. There's something exceptionally warm and human in this book.... and it's probably due to the character of Owen Meany, one of the most unique and yet vividly real of all Irving's creations.

The Bell Jar
by Sylvia Plath

This was possibly the first "modern" fiction I ever read, during my senior year in high school. It affected me profoundly -- far beyond any "schoolgirl angst romanticising suicide," as a college professor of mine once dismissed anything and everything related to Sylvia Plath. It was the first time I ever read anyone expressing the inner workings of mind and heart, and showed me a whole other world that writing could explore. To a teenage girl trying to find her place in a changing world, I found a lot of comfort in Plath's semi-autobiographical honesty.

And to the idiotic professor who said Plath was nothing but "hysterical ranting about wanting to die," I submit that there is nothing hysterical about Plath's work. She chose words with a surgical precision, honing each phrase until it was sharp enough to draw blood. This book -- and her poetry -- is stark and almost chillingly restrained.
The Stand
by Stephen King

I could put just about any book by King here; I go through phases where a different book becomes my "favorite." I have a profound affection and gratitude for King's work, because I discovered him at a very low point in my life, where books literally became my only pleasure and escape. Luckily, he's so prolific that I had a huge backlog of books to keep me hanging on. He is also the first author that anticipated so eagerly, I began buying hardcovers. (I have, on the day a new King book arrives, called in sick so I can stay home and read.)

I suspect I particularly like this book because there are cynical days when I begin to think this screwy world deserves a good dose of Super Flu.
Hannibal
by Thomas Harris

Aside from Stephen King, I do not read "horror" as a genre… except for Thomas Harris. And while I liked his other books, this is my favorite because I simply adore Hannibal Lector. Go ahead, call me macabre and twisted, but I’d have dinner with the doctor any day. It seems to me that Harris has a rare grasp of perversity, for what other best-selling author in his right mind would dare to write a sequel in which the "monster" not only gets away with his misdeeds, but gets the girl as well? And why not? Dr. Lector’s charming, brilliant, well-educated, has impeccable manners and taste, gives lavish and exquisite gifts, and he can cook. Okay, so he’s a cannibal, big deal.

Many readers and critics howled at Starling’s seduction to the "dark side," but I found it perfectly credible. The relationship between Clarice and the doctor is one of the most fascinating things I’ve ever read, an amazing "love" story of two extraordinary minds.

But please, don’t get me started on the movie…. especially what they did to the ending. Harris must have laughed himself silly all the way to the bank.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
by John Berendt

I would have loved this book even if I wasn’t a native of Savannah. So wonderfully gossipy, so delightfully goofy and packed with an oddball assortment of characters… plus a true murder mystery… who could ask for more? The only trouble is I have rereading this book is that it makes me powerfully hungry for Mrs. Wilkes’ fried chicken.

The movie was so-so, but Savannah, my home town, looked fabulous. If you're ever in Savannah, make sure you take a walk around Bonaventure Cemetary, featured in the book. It is one of my favorite places.
A Game of Thrones (First Volume in A Song of Fire and Ice)
by George R. R. Martin

I am so hooked on this series, I just can't wait for the next one. I love big, sprawling books like this. This series is considered fantasy, but I think it's more historical fiction that just happens to be set in a make-believe land. The fantasy elements are low key and carefully used, while plot twists and characters drive the story relentlessly forward. A kingdom threatened by political intrigue, family squabbles, icy zombies from the North and a dragon-riding princess from the East.... murder, incest, rape, torture, bloody combat, secrets and betrayals... this book has it all. I can't recommend it highly enough.