Top Ten Tuesday: My picks for 'Popular Authors That I Haven't Read'

Well it's that time of the week again folks (my favourite time of the week)! Top Ten Tuesday! This week's topic is 'Top Ten Popular Authors That You Haven't Read'. I found thinking of this week's list ridiculously easy because there are a lot of popular authors that I haven't read. In fact, a good majority of these makes people go "What, you've not read a single one of their books? Not even <Insert Book Title I Haven't Read Here>?!" In my defense, I plan for this to change with regards to most of these authors. A good many of them are on the 'to read' list and it's just a matter of planning when. So let's get started!

1) J.R.R. Tolkien.

I can already hear the cries of outrage. How can I call myself a lover of the Fantasy genre if I haven't even read 'The Lord Of The Rings' or 'The Hobbit'?! I hang my head in shame, I really do. 'The Hobbit' is sat in my bookshelf and is on the To Read list, and I plan to get my hands on the other books ASAP because I loved the movies and I really want to read them too! What?! I've seen the movies and not read the books?! I think I'd better move on before I'm lynched.

2) Charles Dickens.

Now this might come as a bit of a surprise too. I've not had much interaction with the world of Dickens, classic author that he is, at all! I've seen film adaptions of 'Great Expectations' and 'A Christmas Carol' of course, and 'Oliver Twist' has been adapted into one of my favourite musicals! But have I ever actually read one of his books? No. Do I even know the story-lines of 'The Old Curiosity Shop', 'A Tale Of Two Cities' or 'Nicholas Nickelby'? I'm afraid, again, no. I have a gorgeous copy of 'Great Expectations' that I bought from a Charity Shop, it's a leather-bound hardback. If I get the time, perhaps I ought to read it.

3) Neil Gaiman. 

Yet another classic Fantasy Author whose work I have yet to delve into. I have seen the films 'Coraline' and 'Stardust' and so many of his works have been recommended to me that I feel I really ought to get on and read some. But up until now, I haven't had the time. I think this might be a job for the Kindle if I'm honest, there's so many I want to read and so little shelf space to do so. I would love to read the two previously mentioned, and 'American Gods' looks really good too!

4) Arthur Conan Doyle.

Ah, the infamous Sherlock Holmes. We've all heard of him. Indeed, one of my favourite TV Shows is based on the books written by this classic author. I know a lot of the stories. But I've never picked one up and read it. I feel like I am sorely missing out, I have seen so many TV and Film adaptions of these tales that I can't believe I haven't encountered one of the books at some point in my life. This needs to be remedied I feel. 

5) Suzanne Collins.

I remember when 'The Hunger Games' series first became popular. Everyone I knew was talking about it, told me I should read the books. Part of me wanted to, I really did! But part of me was still recovering from what I like to call the 'Twilight' ordeal. I had thrown myself into that series when it rose to fame, and found myself increasingly disappointed as time went on. I worried that the same would happen again. When the film came out, I loved it so much that I immediately slapped myself for being silly and bought the book. I still haven't had time to read it though, it's on the list. 

6) E.L. James.

Well the moment I read the category title for this week I knew this one was going on here. I have never read the 'Fifty Shades Of Grey' series. I don't want to either. I really don't understand the hype. It's not that I'm immature or shy away from sexually explicit books at all, but my friend read an excerpt to me and not only did I feel it wasn't that well written anyway, I thought the relationship sounded a bit too one-sided and bordering on abusive. I understand that I haven't read the whole thing, I might be taking this one section out of context, but when I heard the concept sprung from 'Twilight' fanfiction (Bella and Edward's relationship has always given me creepy vibes) I thought it best I just didn't waste my time with a series I know I won't enjoy and will end up picking apart and arguing with it's fans about.

7) Terry Pratchett.

I see his name pretty much everywhere. Libraries, blogs, bookshops, I have grown up knowing that Terry Pratchett is a huge name in book writing. Yet I've never read a single one of the numerous stories that he has written! I looked up his bibliography and there are so many! Some of the titles I've heard of, but I couldn't tell you what they were about. I feel like they may be a little young for me now, but I should maybe pick one up just so that I can say I have. I once saw a clip of Marc Warren playing a character called Teatime in an adaption of 'The Hogfather' and I thought it looked great!

8) John Green.

This author has really come to my attention in recent months. I have seen reviews and promos for 'The Fault In Our Stars' everywhere, and my sister actually owns the book. But despite raving reviews for that, and many of his other novels, I've never read any of them! I plan to amend this of course because it looks really good (I don't normally get into romantic novels very well, but this one has caught my eye). I can't wait to give it a read, I've heard so many good things about all of his books and I hope they live up to the attention that surrounds them!

9) H.P. Lovecraft.

In the past, I have enjoyed reading Horror books. They aren't my favourite genre, but I do like a good scary story when the mood takes me, something to really send a chill down my spine and make me think twice before going to sleep. H.P. Lovecraft, so I'm often told, is the master of the Horror genre, and his books contain such nightmarish creatures that I'm intrigued to say the least and would love to get hold of a couple of his stories and see what all the fuss is about. 

10) George R. R. Martin.

The 'Song Of Ice & Fire' series, I've seen everywhere. It was a hit from the first book among my friends and it's been thoroughly recommended to me on numerous occasions as an epic political fantasy. When the 'Game Of Thrones' TV Series started, even more of my friends started raving about it. I've never read them though, and I refuse to watch the TV series until I have. So I'm behind on both counts and I need to rectify this situation. Soon.


And there we have it! My Top Ten Authors that I probably should have read by now, but for whatever reason, haven't. Next week's category is 'My Top Ten Books in 'X' Genre'. This means I choose a genre and ten books that I love from it! Should be an interesting one!