Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Top Ten New-To-Me Authors I Read In 2015. What fun! I “met” so many authors this year for the first time. Here are my top 10:
Note: If you want to know more about any of the books mentioned here, click on the links to see my reviews.
1) Cat Winters: I read two Cat Winters books this year — an adult novel, The Uninvited, and a YA novel, The Cure for Dreaming. Both were amazing.
2) Dana Stabenow: On a whim, I started listening to the audiobooks of Dana Stabenow’s Kate Shugak mystery series. I’d always heard good things, and a big plus for me is the Alaska setting. I’m now on my 4th in the series, and it’s so consistently terrific. (Review of book #1, here.)
3) Emily St. John Mandel: I read Station Eleven early in the year, and loved it.
4) Jacqueline Winspear: Another audio discovery! I’d been hearing about the Maisie Dobbs series for a while now, and finally decided to give the first book a try. Well worth it.
5) Benjamin Percy: The Dead Lands was one of the most disturbing things I read all year… and yet, I’m looking forward to reading more by this author.
6) Winston Graham: Thank you, BBC and PBS, for introducing me to the gorgeous world of Poldark. After watching the first couple of episodes, I just knew I had to read the books as well.
7) Chris Pavone: I really enjoyed his sleek spy drama, The Expats, and look forward to reading The Accident in the near future.
8) Elizabeth Gaskell: North and South has been on my to-read list for years, and thanks to my book group, I’ve finally read it!
9) Jack London: Another classic! I can’t believe I never read any of Jack London’s novels before now — but I finally listened to the audiobook of The Call of the Wild, and thought it was great. I’d really like to read more of his books.
10) Felicia Day: Is this cheating? I’ve loved Felicia Day as an actress and nerdy girl hero for a long time, but this year, I can add her to my author list as well! Her memoir, You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) is such fun to read.
I can’t wait to see who I’ll meet in 2016!
Which authors did you discover in 2015?
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Bookshelf Fantasies 
I’ve been wanting to read Station Eleven for a while! Glad to hear you loved it. I’ve never heard of Dana Stabenow but I’m intrigued by your description of the mystery/thrillers so I’m definitely looking those up. Great list!
Thanks! I’m not usually a mystery reader, but I have thing for anything related to Alaska, and I’ve found the Dana Stabenow books to be great to listen to while I drive back and forth to work. 🙂
Great selection! 😀
Thanks! It’s always fun to look back and see all the great books and authors from the past year!
That is just so true! 😀 Sadly, I haven’t done mine!
What an amazing list! I’m looking forward to reading Station Eleven and Felicia Day’s book next year. Speaking of actors who write, I loved David Duchovny’s Holy Cow, can’t wait for his second novel.
It’s great to hear that Holy Cow is good! I tend to be skeptical of actors who write… but I’ll check it out. Thanks!
Oooh, I should have added Cat Winters to my list! I read The Uninvited this year and loved it so much. I need to read some more of her other books! Here is my top ten list: http://bookbinges.blogspot.it/2015/12/top-ten-tuesday-favorite-authors-that-i.html
Cat Winters is so good… I’ve read two so far, and have her first book out from the library right now!
I read North and South this year as well. And I watched the mini series. It’s very good. I recommend you watch it hehe. Happy reading!
Here’s my list https://ireadboooks.wordpress.com/2015/12/08/i-cant-believe-it-took-me-soooo-long-to-discover-these-authors/
I watched the mini-series as soon as I finished the book. So good!
The only author on this list that I have read is Jack London and it has been quite a while. Now I have more to add to my TBR.
Thanks for sharing your list!
Amanda
Thanks! I guess my education was deficient — I never read London in school, even though I think Call of the Wild is something usually on required reading lists. 🙂 I’m glad I finally caught up!
Fabulous picks! I still need to read some Benjamin Percy myself 🙂
I just picked up a copy of his previous novel, Red Moon!
Yay for Elizabeth Gaskell and Winston Graham! I just read Poldark last week and wow, could not put that book down xD How far into the series are you? I hope to pick up Demelza at some point…when my TBR pile becomes smaller perhaps, haha…Great list! 😀
My TTT
I’ve read just Ross Poldark and Demelza (which cover the first season of the TV series), but I have the next two on my shelf. Demelza (the book) is fantastic. Have you watched the show yet? SO pretty…
I need to read Cat Winters sometime! And some others on the list, too… I feel like I’m always catching up!
Oh, me too. It never ends! Cat Winters is amazing — I hope you give her a try.
I used to read London a lot when I was younger, but I never knew anyone else who had read him/liked him!
Well, this was definitely a first for me! What other London books would you recommend?
I should have clarified that by “a lot” I meant I read The Call of the Wild and White Fang a lot (and watched the movies)! I always meant to look into his other works, but I’m not sure I ever did (though I might have had to read a short story of his once for class–apparently it wasn’t that memorable).
I’ve been thinking White Fang should be my next London — I’ll have to find a copy.
I want to read some Cat Winters! I’ve heard great things.
Highly recommended! I loved both of the books I’ve read by her.
Other than Jack London, I can’t say as I recall reading any of the other authors on your Top Ten Tuesday post this week, so I have some new to me authors to check out for sure.
Here’s a link to my TTT post for the week: http://captivatedreader.blogspot.com/2015/12/top-ten-tuesday-top-ten-new-to-me.html
Jack London is one of those authors I probably should have read ages ago! So glad I finally did. 🙂
I love that we both read the Uninvited and the Cure for Dreaming this year. I have In the Shadow of the Blackbirds by her which I’ve heard is also amazing.
I have it too! I just picked it up at the library, and it’s at the top of my to-read stack!
Nice! Love to read your thoughts if you write a review.
Felicia Day! She’s an awesome actress and person in general, can’t wait to read her book. My TTT.
I agree – she is awesome! I was lucky enough to hear her talk and have her sign my book. She was fantastic in person, and the book is really great.
I’m so glad you read North and South! I am still working on it. I love the BBC adaptation and decided to read it after seeing that. I also loved Cranford by Gaskell. Thanks for sharing!