Not Enough Bookshelves: Author Appreciation Week: Day 4

Author Appreciation week has been so fun. It could be author appreciation year, and I wouldn’t get through all the authors, whose books have taken me into new worlds and made me laugh, cry, empathize and fall in love.

So to all the authors I’ve read, thank you! To all the authors I haven’t read, thank you too, for filling the shelves with choices.

I’m finishing this week of posts, talking about two of my all time favourites, Melina Marchetta and Philip Pullman.

My absolute favourite Young Adult book is Saving Francesca. It’s about as close to perfect, as a book can be. Wonderful, unforgettable characters. A moving, funny, true story. An ending that is both realistic and hopeful. I can’t recommend this one enough. I also can’t wait to meet these charcters again, in The Piper’s Son. Honestly I feel like old friends are coming for a visit.

Having just finished Finnikin of the Rock, I can tell you Melina Marchetta writes fantasy just as well. I wish she had a blog, but then maybe she’d write less books, and I’d hate that.

Philip Pullman’s His Dark Material series; Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass is my favourite. So much so, that my son is named after one of the characters. I’ve read this series, four times now, and every time I find something new to appreciate.

I love the worlds Pullman creates. I adore the characters, Lyra and Will and Pantalimon, of course, but the supporting characters, are just as rich and varied. The ending, while it always destroys me, still manages to be full of hope.

Which I think is the thing, Melina Marchetta and Philip Pullman have in common. They don’t tie everything up, in a happily ever after, pink bow. They leave you with the sense that the story is continuing and the knowledge, that the characters you love, have grown enough and learned enough that they’ll be alright, no matter what happens to them. Which is a great message to leave a reader with.

Author Appreciation Week was the brain child of Heidi R Kling, author of upcoming novel Sea. The beautiful banner was made by Sara at Novel Novice. Thanks to Heidi and Sarah.