Unread Authors Challenge
Posted by: Eva on: February 29, 2008
Hosted by Sycorax Pine, this challenge had participants pick six books by new-to-them authors (it didn’t have to be six authors, though). I picked the following books (click through for reviews):
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters
That Night by Alice McDermott
Kim by Rudyard Kipling
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
The Stolen Child by Keith Donahue
The best book: Honestly, I loved all of them except Bel Canto: they were all well written and engaging. But there’s only one that was epic: Pillars of the Earth. But really, The Stolen Child was exquisite, Morbid Taste was fun, Kim was a window into a different world, and That Night had a beautiful style. You should go read all of them!
What book could I have done without? Bel Canto: I just didn’t buy the interpreter’s abilities (and they kept calling him a translator, which is a pet peeve of mine). And without that, the rest of the story kind of fell apart.
Any new authors? That was kind of the point. 
Books I did not finish: None! (yay!)
What did I learn from this challenge? I discovered several new, awesome authors. And what’s better than that?
9 Responses to "Unread Authors Challenge"
2 | Eva
February 29, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Trish, I still like you too. I know a lot of people who really liked this one, and I totally expected to, but in the end I didn’t. Which is why I didn’t review it, lol!
3 | Literary Feline
February 29, 2008 at 10:29 pm
Congratulations on completing the challenge, Eva. I fell one short on my list, but I can live with that. I’ve been reading so many new authors lately that it really more than makes up for it–at least on a personal level.
I’ve heard such great things about The Stolen Child and am looking forward to reading it.
4 | Eva
March 1, 2008 at 12:08 am
Literary Feline, thanks! I fell one short on my Outmoded Authors list-I still think it counts as a success. 
The Stolen Child was really good; fortunately, I didn’t read a ton of hype beforehand, but I read some very laudatory reviews, and the book lived up to them.
5 | verbivore
March 1, 2008 at 6:04 am
I have to put my thoughts together on Bel Canto for this week. I both liked it and found it fairly annoying, not the least of which for the interpreter-translator thingy. I’m a translator and its such an important distinction. Also, his absolute fluency with so many languages was just impossible to believe. And he becomes so important to the story that Patchett could have worked on him harder.
Anyway, so glad you liked That Night! Such a lovely book. And I am going to be reading Pillars sometime soon, looking forward to it!
6 | Emily Barton
March 1, 2008 at 7:02 am
The only one of these I’ve read is Pillars of the Earth (good choice, no?). I’ve been meaning to read Kim forever, though. Maybe I will this year.
7 | Debi
March 1, 2008 at 8:52 am
I’ve never read any of those authors. (I know, that’s hardly a surprise!) But I did just buy Annie an old copy of Kim at an antique shop a couple weeks ago…maybe I’ll have to go borrow it.
8 | Eva
March 1, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Verbivore, I’m so glad you agree w/ me about the interpreter. It was just too much! That Night is a lovely book-I really enjoyed all of your posts about McDermott. Charming Billy is on my list for my next read of hers!
Emily, not sure if you read my review of Kim, but the first forty pages were really difficult for me to get into. After that it picked up, though! I also didn’t really like the last twenty pages, lol. But I’d love to read your thoughts on it. (And yes, if I could only read one of this list, I’d go with Pillars)
Debi, see my note above to Emily. A Morbid Taste for Bones and That Night are both really short, in case you’re thinking about doing the novella challenge. hint, hint
9 | Sandra
October 1, 2008 at 5:29 pm
I loved Bel Canto myself, athough it had its flaws. I really liked Charming Billy so now I have to read That Night. I coulsd stiill do this challenge if it goes to the end of the year.
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In Loving Memory
February 29, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Sorry, I had to pick myself up off the floor. Bel Canto is in my top three favorite books of all time. I still like you, though.