My all-time favorite author is Edith Wharton, who wrote my all-time favorite book, The Age of Innocence (see review under Book Reviews). 

However, I have some favorite modern day authors I’d like to share with you.

In the fiction category my current favorites are Tracy Chevalier and Khaled Hosseini.

Chevalier’s most famous work is Girl with a Pearl Earring, which was made into a movie staring Scarlet Johannson and Colin Firth. While the movie was good, the book was better.

Chevalier has published five books, my favorite is Falling Angels, a story told in the first-person by many different characters; no small feat for a writer. It follows two families during the women’s suffrage movement in London, England.

I like Chevalier because she writes like a painter; the story unfolds one colorful brush stroke at a time until a well-crafted, beautiful story is revealed. She develops strong settings through the use of vivid descriptions and strong characters through the use of good, believable dialogue. Chevalier’s most recent work is Burning Bright (read my review under Book Reviews From the Berthoud Surveyor).

Hosseini has published two books, The Kite Runner, now a major motion picture, and A Thousand Splendid Suns. The setting of both stories is Afghanistan, though The Kite Runner also takes place in the United States. Hosseini writes straightforward, yet haunting stories that are as believable as they are heart-wrenching. 

In A Thousand Splendid Suns, the two main characters are women. As a female writer, I have never attempted to write anything but female main characters and I have always been impressed with authors who take on this challenge and Hosseini does it well. 

Though many book critics disagree, I thought A Thousand Splendid Suns was better than Hosseini’s first book. I enjoyed the intense character development and that the entire story takes place in Afghanistan (the country has always intrigued me).  

To learn more about these two authors, visit their websites: 

Tracy Chevalier - www.tchevalier.com/

Khaled Hossein – www.khaledhosseini.com/

In my next post I’ll share my favorite, modern day, non-fiction writers.